It Ends In the final decade, a rising variety of movies and TV exhibits have iterated the time loop: Russian Doll‘s nested doll approach, Inception‘s infinitely spinning top. Alexander Ullom’s characteristic debut It Ends subverts these style expectations at each flip—or relatively, at each absence of a flip. Premiering in SXSW 2025’s Narrative Feature Competition, the movie may superficially be grouped alongside similar-sounding style titles like It, It Comes at Night and How It Ends. But as Ullom defined to me, his intentions had been each extra playful and somber. In a way, this story about 4 zoomers who get right into a automobile and discover themselves on an countless street, menaced at any time when they cease by screaming hordes working from the woods, is a pandemic movie—edited over two years and shot in two 20-day stretches. The first was half exterior and half in a digital manufacturing facility at Florida State University, Ullom’s alma mater; the second of which consisted of reshoots and fixes that occurred after Snoot Entertainment got here on board with funding. The movie has scares aplenty, with room for philosophizing on the roadside shoulder. Be warned: particular spoiler alerts are labeled.
Filmmaker: Why this movie now?
Ullom: I made the movie once I was the identical age because the characters, coming into the actual world. There is a stage of functioning numbness [they] dwell with post-horror, within the second half of the film, [which] is fairly related to how lots of people are very desensitized—we dwell in a fairly wild time! Not to say, the children within the film are about to enter the job market, so it [driving in an endless loop, with only 90-second breaks before starting again, while otherwise continuously confined] might be one-to-one what would have truly occurred to them.
Filmmaker: The movie seems to be about Gen Z, however do you assume the story is generation-specific?
Ullom: The method they discuss is at all times going to be rooted within the time I grew up in, however the movie’s actually only for anybody who’s ever needed to develop up. I don’t understand how a lot I completely purchase in a generational principle. It’s common; everybody’s searching for which means.
Filmmaker: You have mentioned in a previous interview that with this movie, you wished to have a narrative that transitions from horror to hangout. That’s a nifty description! Can you discuss slightly bit extra about that?
Ullom: The present area of horror in motion pictures is superior, and actually probably the most commercially viable framework to do tons of type and tone experimentation on a low funds. It’s sort of a godsend for indie. [But] I like hangout motion pictures [laughs]! I’ve been attempting to coin the phrase “hangout horror.” It in all probability received’t catch on. I’ve at all times been extra serious about what occurs method after the horror. I make this joke an excessive amount of, however I like the thought of the Hereditary household giving a post-game interview and being like, “That was fucking terrifying. I hated that!,” and seeing individuals attempt to compartmentalize and dwell with this ever-present concern. It’s much less about preventing and overcoming the risk, and extra about attempting to type it, as a result of it exists without end in your life always. You should create a functioning numbness, or tragic stage of optimism, as a result of this [threat] is true right here always. It was sort of what it felt like rising up. All the characters react in several methods; James has the toughest hassle processing it.
Filmmaker: My personal expertise watching was that I stored anticipating to get scared even whenever you’re giving us proof that issues have modified. Maybe that is the way in which we as horror viewers have been skilled to really feel. Does that make sense?
Ullom: It’s positively such a spoiler that the scares slowly trickle off. I’m very to see how that performs. When you compartmentalize concern, you’ve a stage of PTSD the place you’re able to be scared, however you’re extra prepared for it. So, as [the characters] are happening this street, they might be extra emotionally geared up to take care of it, and so is the viewers. I’ve a great consideration span, however I’ve discovered that in plenty of typical horrors, by the third act I’ve a stage of desensitization to the sound, rhythm and cuts of a film. Those style methods are much less efficient after I’ve been accustomed to the theater and what’s been occurring for the final hour. So, I positively wished to play with expectations; the film desperately depends on that. The major character [James] has expectations the complete time as he’s actively searching for plot and battle and causes to be scared in order that he can in some way discover a solution. It’s a really comparable journey to the viewers, who at that time are very shocked that [two of the other characters,] Fisher and Day are simply attempting to hang around and vibe. And it’s like, “We’re in a horror movie. You can’t just start making jokes about the premise of the movie!” But to play with expectations, you additionally should ship on horror within the first half. You can’t utterly abandon it. I like horror and style as an method, and I’ve a lot love and respect for the good horror filmmakers, however the plan all alongside was [to get the characters to that hangout point in the second half].
Filmmaker: [Spoiler Alert] Would you say that is an countless street movie, a loop movie like Groundhog Day, neither or each?
Ullom: Neither. It’s a very scary character piece. There’s positively a brand new context to the ending. I wouldn’t say that [the main character] is restarting his journey. He has a special perspective on it. The whole film is continually attempting to recontextualize itself, and that’s what the ending does. [Spoilers End]
Filmmaker: I learn that you simply shot all the inside automobile scenes inside a digital manufacturing facility at Florida State University, and that you simply did so by plasma-cutting a Jeep into components and reassembling it again on stage as a result of the automobile wouldn’t match by means of the door. Could you speak about some great benefits of this chance to shoot inside a automobile in a digital manufacturing facility?
Ullom: I can solely communicate to automobile images, as a result of we didn’t attempt to put the actors in an precise area. There was by no means a quantity shot the place they had been within the woods. All the woods stuff was exterior. One factor it did is [create] infinite blue hour. There’s three scenes the place it’s that crack-of-dawn feeling. You get excellent lighting each time, such as you would get on a studio lot. However, as a result of we had been a smaller movie, we had been nonetheless shifting fairly quick. It’s simply you and the actors as soon as every part will get arrange. It’s positively tougher for actors when the complete crew is standing proper there in a quiet room and watching, however the actors had been so gifted, it didn’t even matter. I personally assume it seems to be it seems to be extra life like than a inexperienced display would have. You additionally get reflections from the display on the actors’ faces. There’s upsides and disadvantages, and we had been positively figuring it out whereas doing it.
Filmmaker: You mentioned one constraint of taking pictures contained in the digital facility is that you simply at all times should stabilize the background. How do you do this whenever you’re taking pictures the actors in a medium shot, then getting a closeup?
Ullom: The movie has an enormous time soar, so there’s both first half or second half scenes. First half, the takes can rattle off a bit extra as a result of it’s extra shut up and kinetic. If it was a peaceable scene, we had been locked off and wider, and there’s extra of the automobile. I might solely get one set-up per actor. If we had time, we’d get plenty of different protection. We blocked every part production-wise by time of day. If there was a morning scene, we had been knocking out each single morning scene, as a result of the lighting changes and plates would take the smallest period of time to alter. It was extra shot design and fewer protection. It’s a lot simpler to shoot the thriller stuff as a result of it’s proper right here [as a closeup] and there’s much less to gentle. Last addendum: if we had a very intense screaming scene, we’d not put that subsequent to a enjoyable scene. [The actors] must come down after that. That took major precedence.
Filmmaker: Was there was any scope for improvisation within the dialog? It appeared to me that throughout the movie’s calmer stretches, when the characters are simply chatting, there might’ve been scope for improvisation, however you’re additionally taking pictures protection.
Ullom: Surprisingly, not an excessive amount of improv was on the day of. We would discover in rehearsals, so improv method beforehand.There can be a bunch of scribbles on the facet of the script to make the dialogue extra pure, or when [we] reduce a line. The actors are bettering the dialog.
Filmmaker: [Spoiler Alert] Another method you might be subverting expectations just isn’t having the characters who depart the automobile ever return. Audiences may assume that if a personality’s not useless, then they’re going to return again. But then we simply don’t see them once more! Did you at all times know earlier than you wrote the script that they might by no means come again, or did you uncover that throughout the writing course of?
Ullom: [Spoiler Alert] At the tip of the film, James is heading again to get his pals. There might have been a model the place he discovered them they usually all get collectively once more. But I feel his determination to return for them is extra vital than truly seeing them once more. Once he’s emotionally dedicated to that, he’s already modified and reached the tip of his arc, so I don’t assume he wanted to see them. Tyler is a lot farther again that it will be very laborious to get him. He’s in all probability on the market changing into king of the woods or one thing. [laughs] I don’t know. [Spoilers End]
Filmmaker: You mentioned you forged off Instagram. What’s the newbie’s information to doing that?
Ullom: I suppose simply posting? Two of the 4 actors had been from Instagram, two had been individuals I knew personally. I used Backstage too. I met Mitchell Cole [who plays Tyler] in faculty. He’s an precise HVAC repairman in actual life, actually within the boonies of Florida. Noah Toth, who performs Fisher, had auditioned for certainly one of my thesis movies. It didn’t work out however I saved an image of him on my pc with the notice, “Work with this guy again”). Then, simply chemistry reads with one another; all of them bonded.
Filmmaker: So, you place out a casting name. Were you additionally randomly profiles?
Ullom: I used to be DMing some random individuals, however to no response [laughs].
Filmmaker: What do you assume makes James, performed by Phinehas Yoon, completely different from the remainder of the characters? As you mentioned, he’s at all times searching for battle but additionally modifications probably the most. At the identical time, you don’t introduce an excessive amount of backstory with any of the characters. Which character might the viewers relate to most?
Ullom: I feel each character reaches a particularly legitimate conclusion, however James positively has the toughest time processing every part. Quite a lot of the characterization simply comes from how they work together with one another. Quite a lot of the time, James is an asshole and a management freak, so it is smart that he has plenty of issues giving up management. He’s hyperrational, hyper logical, so he has a tough time accepting that nothing is smart. Whereas, with the tiny items of character [work] you get, [you know] Fisher and Day have already handled a sure stage of intense struggling, Tyler particularly. Part of the explanation he leaves is as a result of he’s simply additional alongside his journey of acceptance than the others.
Part of the explanation James has the toughest time is that the others all discover which means in several methods—Fisher and Day discover it in one another, [for example]. James is basically solely shifting ahead as a result of that’s the one factor that he’s connected himself to, the construction that he’s on—this street, maturity, capitalism, no matter. It’s the one factor he has shifting ahead and that’s exterior, then as soon as he confronts the tip, he realizes, “Oh shit, I actually just enjoy talking with my friends.” The place he was deriving which means from was not from him; that was simply the construction he existed within.
Leave a Reply