Alexander Ullom on 'It Ends' and the Fear of Forever

"It Ends" is a 2025 existential horror road-trip film directed by Alexander Ullom, distributed by NEON, that follows four recent college graduates trapped on a never-ending road where they face ninety-second respites before being attacked by screaming hordes. The film blends horror and hangout movie genres to create a meditation on growing up, depression, and finding meaning in a world devoid of traditional structures. According to the interview on RogerEbert.com, the film premiered at SXSW and later screened at the 2025 Chicago Critics Film Festival before its theatrical release on August 21.

Key Facts

The following table presents the verified factual anchors from the source interview regarding the film's production, release, and creative details.

What Is the Premise of "It Ends"?

"It Ends" follows four recent college graduates—James, Tyler, Fisher, and Day—who embark on a late-night drive before going their separate ways, only to discover they have turned onto a never-ending road where they receive only ninety seconds of respite before hordes of screaming people swarm and attack them. As the odometer climbs and days blend together, each character must wrestle with what this purgatory means for the futures they once thought they had. The film uses this supernatural premise to explore themes of liminality, depression, and the dissolution of traditional societal structures.

Director Alexander Ullom described the film as "religious trauma coded" while clarifying he has "nothing against religion." The film's characters grapple with existential questions about eternity and meaning, with Ullom noting that for his generation, the relationship with infiniteness "stems less from a religious place and more from the fact that we don't really have a destination to 'arrive at' anymore."

The film's central conflict emerges from the characters' inability to reconcile their desire for narrative resolution with the reality that adulthood offers no such tidy conclusions.

How Does the Film Address Religious Trauma and Spiritual Angst?

The film explores religious trauma through characters who revert to crying out to God in moments of crisis, despite having left their faith backgrounds, with one character lamenting that his mother might think he is going to hell because he told her he was not religious. Ullom drew from personal resonance in crafting these spiritual struggles, noting that "anything that would give people a sense of comfort as they're dying is probably a good thing, and we have an increasingly short supply of those balms."

In the original two-and-a-half-hour cut, Ullom included scenes where the group tried to remember stories from the Bible, including a discussion about Lot's wife turning to a pillar of salt. Ullom explained the scene's humor: "Like, dude, if God–like literally, God– fucking showed up and was like, 'Do not turn around or else …' I would be like, 'Yeah, absolutely. Assignment understood.'"

"The film is definitely religious trauma coded, but I have nothing against religion. Anything that would give people a sense of comfort as they're dying is probably a good thing, and we have an increasingly short supply of those balms."

— Alexander Ullom, director of "It Ends"

Ullom connects the dissolution of religious structures to a broader cultural loss, stating that "the tent poles of structure that used to hold up society, whether it was having a family or buying a house, or literally religion–which used to be one of the moral center points of what held all the kids together–all of those structures have kind of dissolved."

What Rituals Do the Characters Develop to Process Their Suffering?

The characters in "It Ends" develop specific rituals—screaming, sharing memes, and dancing—each crafted to process a specific emotion, with the screaming serving as "the physical sensation of getting the fear out" and memes functioning as "brain gooping, to give your mind space to unwind." Ullom explained that these practices were designed with guide rails: each ritual processed a distinct emotional need rather than serving as generic coping mechanisms.

Regarding the dancing sequences, Ullom articulated a more complex intention: "One of the things I was trying to communicate was how, within the confines of capitalism, every emotion and physical need is exploited, individual time that needs to exist inside of a larger structure. So dancing was a way to break free from some of that."

The rituals represent humanity's tendency to create liturgies to process suffering, even in the absence of traditional religious frameworks.

How Did Growing Up Online Shape the Film's Approach to Trauma?

Ullom attributes a "functioning numbness" and "collective dissociation" to growing up terminally online, citing personal experiences of seeing a cartel execution at age twelve and the Russian Brick Video at age fifteen as formative desensitizing events. He argues that repeated exposure to simulated emotion through screens depletes a finite emotional reservoir: "It feels like we only have a certain reservoir for a specific emotion, and over time, it gets ground down and down. You run out of it, and the more you're online watching stuff, the more I think you use up that reservoir."

Ullom drew a contrast between medieval witnesses to real violence and modern consumers of digital horror: "I'm curious if someone in medieval times who saw their family's heads chopped off in real time would process it better than how we're processing similar images now because their emotions are rooted in witnessing something real."

The film's characters experience what Fisher describes as "weaker shades of emotions" as a direct consequence of digital desensitization.

What Role Do Silly Questions Play in the Film's Philosophy?

Ullom argues that in the absence of objective truth and traditional moral structures, debating silly hypothetical questions—such as whether a gorilla or bear would win in a fight—has become "essentially a spiritual battle" and potentially "the unifying moral structure our generation can push together in the absence of religion." He described these debates as "a truth in a way," noting that "the actual limit of the human experience is questions with no answers."

The film opens with characters bickering over a "100 men versus gorillas" meme-based question, which Ullom noted may appear to copy the meme by release time, though the interview confirms the film predates the trend. He explained that "like modern art, people use memes to process what they're going through, and that's what will be familiar, less so the content of the meme itself."

Ullom personally credited a silly debate about whether a gorilla or bear would win in a fight with helping him through a dark period, galvanizing something that made life worth living.

How Does the Film's Tone Reflect a Battle Between Horror and Hangout Genres?

The film's aspect ratio changes to reflect its tonal war: the frame widens during hangout moments and tightens during horror sequences, representing a directorial struggle transplanted onto the characters themselves. Ullom explained that horror and genre films are "built on overcoming conflict as quickly as possible," rooted in the hero's journey framework of conquering an obstacle and returning changed—"That is not how adulthood works at all, or real life."

The characters embody different responses to this tension. James represents the genre audience member who "can't accept that relationships and the people you love are what give life meaning," while Fisher and Day "are just trying to hang out" after the time jump. Ullom noted: "There's a healing in vibing, and that helps save us from the period of transition we're in."

Ullom described his younger self in terms similar to James: "I couldn't be present. I couldn't live in a world where I couldn't get an answer for that, partly because of my religious upbringing too."

Who Is This Film For?

"It Ends" is designed for audiences aged approximately 18 to 25 who are navigating the transition to adulthood, particularly those who have experienced religious deconstruction, grapple with digital desensitization, or feel the dissolution of traditional societal structures such as family, homeownership, and organized religion. The film speaks to viewers who recognize the "long transitional state" of contemporary life and seek narratives that validate both existential despair and the redemptive power of human connection.

Ullom's follow-up project, "4×4: The Event," extends this thematic concern to the next life stage. He described the escalation: "If 'It Ends' is like 'Hey, don't kill yourself. Love the people around you,' '4×4: The Event' is very much 'Okay, now that you didn't kill yourself, we need to unite.'" The follow-up addresses "watching the people I love's lives be deeply and negatively affected by the state of the world."

The film's ideal viewer is someone who understands that "if everything's horrifying, terrifying, and meaningless, then the only reaction is to hear everyone talking about it."

Common Questions

What does the ninety-second respite represent in "It Ends"?

The ninety-second respite is the brief period the characters have before hordes of screaming people attack them. It functions as a narrative device to explore how individuals process fear and grief, with each character developing rituals—screaming, memes, dancing—to cope during these limited windows of safety.

How does "It Ends" differ from traditional horror films?

Unlike conventional horror films built on the hero's journey where conflict is overcome quickly, "It Ends" blends horror with hangout movie elements to reflect real adulthood. The film's aspect ratio changes to represent this tonal battle, widening during hangout moments and tightening during horror sequences, rejecting the notion that problems are cleanly resolved.

What is the significance of the "bear versus gorilla" debate in the film?

The debate represents Ullom's philosophy that silly hypothetical questions have become a replacement for traditional moral structures. He argues these debates are "essentially a spiritual battle" and potentially "the unifying moral structure our generation can push together in the absence of religion," serving as a way to connect through conversation.

Sources and Methodology

This article is based exclusively on the interview "Alexander Ullom on 'It Ends' and the Fear of Forever" published on RogerEbert.com. The interview combines two conversations: one conducted in person during the film's Chicago premiere and one conducted over Zoom after Ullom wrapped principal photography on "4×4: The Event." The conversation was edited and condensed for clarity by the original publication.

All quotes are verbatim from the source material. No external data, statistics, or claims beyond the source interview have been incorporated. The film's release date of August 21 and distributor NEON are confirmed in the source. The original interview can be accessed at: https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/alexander-ullom-it-ends-interview

This article was last updated on February 2026.