Format: Streaming video from Amazon Prime on Fire!
Movies about cults feels like an untapped genre to me. There is something inherently upsetting about cults, and in many ways, there is something fascinating about them as well. I say this as a person with no religious faith and happy to be that way. I won’t go into a diatribe here, but I do think the notions of religion are inherently disturbing on a cosmic scale. Most religions essentially tell us that we are the surveilled playthings of something of infinite power. The Endless is a film that makes this idea manifest.
Brothers Justin (Justin Benson, writer and co-director/producer) and Aaron (Aaron Moorhead, the other director/producer) are survivors of a cult that they left when they were very young. Justin remembers this as a cult where the people talk about mass suicides and the men castrate themselves. Aaron, who is younger, remembers it more fondly as a place where he was safe and was fed decent food. Aaron is fed up with the life he and Justin are leading—broke, working menial jobs, and always hungry. They receive a video tape from Anna (Callie Hernandez) welcoming them back to the group. Aaron is interested and coerces Justin into going back for one night.
Once back at the compound, what Justin and Aaron find is completely normal, except that it clearly isn’t completely normal. They have been away from the cult for a couple of decades, but no one seems to have aged a bit. Aaron seems to slide right back into old ways and immediately feels comfortable in the group while Justin stays much more aloof and on his own. There are further inexplicable instances that happen. The people in the compound play tug of war with a rope that appears to be hanging in the middle of the sky; Justin is convinced that there is another member of the group on a ladder in the distance. He also can’t explain what appears to be an actual magic trick performed by one of the group members.
As the brothers explore further, more and more strange things seem to happen around them. Justin is sure he is being observed and finds photographs that appear to have been dropped for him to find. Odder, at night there appear to be two moons in the sky. Justin is told that two moons brings truth and three moons signifies ascension, the word that he remember as being associated with a Heaven’s Gate-style mass suicide.
So what is going on? It’s revealed over some time, and it’s not something that should be spoiled on a blog for you. Suffice it to say that there is something going on around the cult’s compound and those things that Justin and Aaron are noticing are not merely figments of their imagination—there are others experiencing them as well, and not all of them are members of the seemingly idyllic cult.
There is a question that The Endless is trying to answer, but it’s not one that can be addressed without a spoiler. Consider the rest of this under a spoiler tag.
* * * THIS IS THE SECRET OF THE ENDLESS * * *
While this is under a spoiler tag, I’m going to try to keep this as spoiler-free as I can. In large part, The Endless is a movie that asks the question of what it would be worth to try to achieve legitimate eternal life, at least of a sort. How much would you be willing to put up with to have an eternal existence? What restrictions would you be willing to endure to experience that eternity? And how much of your physical existence would you be willing to give up to something that could kill you and restore you?
One of the things I like about science fiction is that it asks interesting questions when it’s done well. The Endless is asking questions that typically only get asked in discussions of philosophy and religion. Science fiction and horror can ask those questions—you’re not going to get these sorts of deep existential issues in a pot boiler murder mystery or romance. The Endless not only asks the questions, but asks them well, and doesn’t actually clearly provide an answer, which is the best way to handle something like this. The answers are for the audience to determine on their own.
* * * THE SECRET IS OUT * * * Benson and Moorhead are writing interesting and vital films. They are clearly fascinated with the idea of cosmic horror and eternal entities (I still need to see Synchronic), but also with finding resolutions that aren’t designed specifically to hurt the audience. I’m curious to see where they go next, because if nothing else, their stories are interesting and told in ways that resonate.
Why to watch The Endless: What a great idea for a movie!
Why not to watch: It’s very much going to break your brain.
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