Five-Legged Iguana

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2018

Candidate #9

THE ENDLESS

(April 2017)

"Can you have power over yourself if you give up any amount of authority to something else?”

Okay, full disclosure, I have, thus far, loved all the cinematic work I’ve seen from co-directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead:

Resolution, which landed squarely in the ¡Qué horror! 2013 rundown (check out the original Candidate post for it here; check the Comments!);

“Bonehead,” their contribution to V/H/S: Viral;

And Spring, which I talk about here, a post where “Bonehead” is also briefly mentioned.

They’re back with their third co-directed feature, The Endless, and yes, indeed, I love it too!

“So a decade ago, I tell you that you’re livin’ in some sort’a death cult, and not only were you not bright enough then to figure it out, you actually came back.

“You are not smart. You never have been, no.

“I mean, all kids are dumb, but you’re like some sort of retarded hobbit or somethin’.”

Benson and Moorhead, playing brothers Justin and Aaron, escaped a so-called “UFO death cult” and have been trying vainly to reintegrate into society for years, but find themselves returning to Camp Arcadia for a “visit” in the hopes that it can help get Aaron out of his “slump.”

Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), Aaron’s hopes for closure bear some bizarre and unsettling fruit.

For those of you who’ve already seen Resolution, the experience of watching The Endless will be enriched by that previous viewing of Benson and Moorhead’s initial co-directed feature, and what you saw in Resolution will likewise inform your viewing of The Endless.

Let’s be clear though: you don’t need to have seen Resolution for The Endless to make sense, but if you’ve seen both, it raises your appreciation for both films significantly.

And now, as usually happens here at the Iguana, I will need to leave it at that.

Best to come into The Endless knowing as little as possible, or, to co-opt a line from Hal (Quantico’s Tate Ellington), “Saying more would be like trying to explain an impossible color.”

“Don’t ever give in. Not once.

“The trick to this whole thing is to not be afraid of something that’s… horrifying. And everyone’s afraid of it.

“But if you let it control you one time, it’s gonna f*cking control you over and over again.”

(The Endless OS courtesy of impawards.com.)