The Endless

Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, The Endless follows siblings Justin (Benson) and Aaron (Moorhead) as they return to the commune/cult where they spent their formative years in an effort at attaining closure and moving on with their lives – with complications ensuing after it becomes more and more clear that something very strange is transpiring behind the scenes. Filmmakers Benson and Moorhead, working from Benson’s screenplay, kick The Endless off with an underwhelming and egregiously deliberate opening stretch that doesn’t exactly bode well for what’s to come, with the arms-length atmosphere perpetuated by Benson and Moorhead’s competent yet far from dynamic work as the movie’s less-than-sympathetic central characters. And although the picture improves substantially once Justin and Aaron arrive at the aforementioned commune/cult, with the emphasis placed on a series of decidedly ominous encounters and happenings, The Endless‘ effectiveness is increasingly hindered by the narrative’s meandering bent and lack of concrete context – with, in terms of the latter, the inevitable big dump of expository information doing little to alleviate the hands-off vibe (ie it doesn’t make much sense, ultimately). By the time the intriguing yet predictably uninvolving climax rolls around, The Endless has cemented its place as an ambitious misfire that might’ve worked had it been trimmed down substantially (ie the thin premise is, at 111 minutes, consistently stretched to its breaking point.)

** out of ****