Every generation deserves its own postgrad malaise movie. Not every attempt is going to be 鈥淭he Graduate鈥� or 鈥淔rances Ha,鈥� but even when they鈥檙e mediocre, they鈥檙e also often a from a young filmmaker about what their contemporaries are feeling at that exact moment.
Though the details may change 鈥� the clothes, the hairstyles, the gadgets, the soundtrack 鈥� the vibe kind of stays the same even in a high concept horror like 鈥淚t Ends,鈥� in which four friends find themselves on an endless road to nowhere. It鈥檚 kind of reassuring, unlike, say, the encroaching doom of adulthood.
鈥淚t Ends鈥� was written and directed by Alexander Ullom, who graduated from college during and is open about how he struggled with dissociative depression. You don鈥檛 need to know this to watch the film, but it makes sense once you鈥檝e met James (Phinehas Yoon). He鈥檚 the rational and inquisitive one whose seen-it-all-already jadedness about his future is its own kind of poison.
Somehow, however, he hasn鈥檛 alienated his high school friends. They still like him enough to help him move into his new apartment (which is, by all accounts, super depressing). We meet them as they all cram into a white Jeep Cherokee to find some food. Tyler (Mitchell Cole) is driving, and Fisher (Noah Toth) is leading a spirited discussion about which animals they鈥檇 pick to defend them (10,000 rats, 50 hawks, one man with a gun, or five gorillas etc., etc.). It was, apparently, a popular meme for a time. Day (Akira Jackson) is navigating with her phone鈥檚 maps app and wondering whether she could choose gorillas trained to use guns as a loophole.
Tyler is the outlier in this group, the one who didn鈥檛 go to college. He went into the military and has been working for some time in HVAC. He鈥檚 even talking about wanting to get married sooner rather than later. And he鈥檚 the only one with a discernable Southern accent (they鈥檙e apparently in Florida).
The others are all just out of college and really feeling it. Day is ambling around on job search sites, trying to put her graphic design degree to work. James has an entry level engineering job and his future all mapped out (although the way he describes his inevitable life in a Midwestern city in which he鈥檚 married with kids and making six figures sounds like a death sentence). He鈥檇 rather, he says, be in a medically induced coma hooked up to 鈥渙xy serotonin鈥� cocktails. Personally, I prefer Noah Baumbach鈥檚 line from 鈥淜icking and Screaming鈥� about wishing they were just retiring after a lifetime of hard work to the drugged out coma thought, but I long ago aged out of the postgrad demo.
Is it believable that these four would have stayed friends in high school and beyond? Not really, especially Tyler. But there needs to be a few different types to handle their new predicament of seemingly being stuck forever on a country road in this Jeep. Some hope in vain for a way out. Some are content to pass the time as happily and aimlessly as they can (learn dances, tell jokes, scream sometimes). James just wants to understand. And then there鈥檚 the question of the zombielike people in the woods who attack when they stop for more than 90 seconds, which is good for a few jump scares. The metaphors might not be especially subtle, but the film does have a kind of hypnotic appeal.
With its minimalist approach, 鈥淚t Ends鈥� almost feels like a pandemic-era production. It鈥檚 a neat concept that wears a little thin after a while, but it鈥檚 a movie that shows promise not only in Ullom鈥檚 ability to create a sustained, ominous mood, but in his eye for casting a group of talented and essentially unknown actors.
Ullom鈥檚 bio says that he 鈥渕akes films for anyone going through stuff.鈥� And Gen Z, like all the generations before them and all the generations after, are certainly in the thick of 鈥済oing through stuff.鈥� Maybe 鈥淚t Ends鈥� is just what they need.
鈥淚t Ends,鈥� a Neon release in New York and Los Angeles on Friday and nationwide Aug. 28, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥減ervasive language.鈥� Running time: 89 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
