It Ends

It Ends
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alexander Ullom
Written by	Alexander Ullom
Produced by	Carrie Carusone Evan Barber
Starring	Phinehas Yoon Akira Jackson Noah Toth Mitchell Cole
Cinematography	Evan Draper Jazleana Jones
Edited by	Alexander Ullom
Music by	Matthew Robert Cooper
Production companies	Growing Up Dead Films Snoot Entertainment
Distributed by	Neon
Release dates	March 7, 2025 (2025-03-07) (SXSW) August 21, 2026 (2026-08-21) (United States)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80,000
Box office	$1 million

It Ends is a 2025 American road horror thriller film written, directed, and edited by Alexander Ullom, in his directorial debut. It stars Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth and Mitchell Cole. It follows a friend group of graduates who go on a late night drive, but accidentally turn onto a two-lane highway which appears to go on indefinitely.

It Ends had its premiere at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. It was available as a digital rental for a limited period starting on December 10, 2025, via Letterboxd Video Store. The film was later acquired and theatrically released by Neon in the United States on August 21, 2026. It received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Recent graduates James, Day, and Fisher are picked up by their friend Tyler, whom they have not seen in a year. Tyler drives them down a forested road while James and Fisher have a theoretical discussion about which animals would win in a fight. Struggling to find a turn off the road, Tyler turns the car around, whereupon they find the road inexplicably blocked by a thick wall of trees. After Tyler exits the car to investigate, a horde of frantic people emerge from the forest and swarm the car, pleading for entry. The four manage to drive off down the road, but Fisher's arm is clawed in the attack. When they stop to tend to Fisher's wound, the car is swarmed again. As they shakily make sense of their predicament, they notice that the road is seemingly endless.

After driving through the night, James notices that the fuel meter has not changed. Reasoning that the engine should not be functioning, Tyler instructs the others to not turn off the ignition. Continuing for a full day and driving in shifts, they realize they feel neither tired nor hungry, yet Fisher's injury is still healing. They begin to theorize why they are trapped on the road; James surmises that they have died and are in some kind of Hell or purgatory, then presses the others to confess if they have done anything that would warrant divine punishment. Day admits that she attempted suicide the previous year, shocking the others.

Using their phone timers, they deduce that they have 90 seconds after stopping before the car is attacked. Tyler explores the woods and finds that the people are docile within. They inventory the items within Tyler's car, including a Clif Bar, which James suggests they not eat. Frustrated, Tyler and James restrain and interrogate a man in the forest for answers, but he is unresponsive. Later, they find an abandoned car on the opposite side of the road, its keys missing and its odometer maxed out at 999,999 miles.

After over 50,000 miles of driving, a despondent Tyler resolves to stay in the forest as the rest of the group continues. Some time later, Day and Fisher have adapted to their situation, taking items from abandoned vehicles to amuse themselves, abiding by a routine of similar conversations and stop breaks, and having daily screaming sessions to vent their frustration. Meanwhile, James remains determined to figure out how to escape the road. While inspecting another abandoned car, they realize that nobody is emerging from the woods anymore. James is elated, believing that the change must mean something, but is frustrated when Fisher and Day are less enthused.

At 835,000 miles, Day removes the keys from the ignition while the car is stopped. She and Fisher implore James to stop driving, having accepted that there is no escape and believing James is torturing himself with false hope. James wrestles the keys back and desperately tries to restart the engine, which seemingly fails until he prays aloud. James drives off without Day and Fisher; the pair embrace for comfort as they cry.

At over 1,100,000 miles, it begins to rain, confusing and scaring James. After an inordinate amount of driving later, he encounters dozens of abandoned cars blocking the road. Walking past them, he finally reaches the end of the road, which comprises a circle of asphalt surrounded by cars from various periods and a single sign reading, "ROAD ENDS". Aghast, James sits on the ground for several days before returning to the car, where he breaks down in tears as he finally consumes the Clif Bar. He begins screaming before entering the car and beginning to drive back down the road. James finds another empty vehicle, and drags a lethargic man from the side of the road into his car. As he drives, James begins to converse with the now responsive man about which animals would win in a fight.

Cast

The cast and crew of It Ends at the 2025 South by Southwest Festival.

• Phinehas Yoon as James
• Akira Jackson as Day
• Noah Toth as Fisher
• Mitchell Cole as Tyler
• Jon Linstad as Interrogated Man
• Jenny Doyle as Voice of Fisher's Mom
• Ian Weir as Lost Man
• Alexander Ullom as New Passenger

Release

It Ends premiered at the South by Southwest Festival on March 7, 2025.

On December 8, 2025, Letterboxd announced that the film would be one of the first exclusive premium video on demand films that would be made available to digitally rent for limited availability on its newly announced service feature Letterboxd Video Store, a platform containing curated unreleased independent films without distribution. It was released on the platform on December 10, 2025, and expired on January 9, 2026.

On December 18, Neon acquired worldwide rights to the film for a theatrical release. The film was released in the United States on August 21, 2026.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 105 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Smartly driven by its magnetic young ensemble and mounting sense of dread, It Ends twists a perpetual road trip into an existential nightmare." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Siddhant Adlakha of Variety praised the film as a "brilliant" modern spin on Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit.

External links

• Official website
• It Ends at IMDb