Director duos such as the Wachowski brothers or Coen are certainly known in the film world. This can’t necessarily be said about Benson and Moorhead, although it’s probably more in relation to the Marvel series ‘Loki’ and ‘Moon Knight’, which they directed several times. Her niche and sometimes crazy works, on the other hand, are much less known. So it is high time for this to change. Today I introduce you to “The Endless”, released in 2017, and without giving much away it almost seems like something between “Nope” and “Midsommar” – because here too crazy things happen in the circles of a cult. You can stream the slightly different kind of mystery horror movie with an Amazon Prime subscription.
This is what “The Endless” is about:
Justin and Aaron’s childhood was anything but rosy. Growing up in a rural community in Southern California, they were long in the hands of a cult that pursued a deceptive UFO belief. After their escape from the community ten years ago, one day they suddenly receive a videocassette with images from the community. Although Justin wants to put all this behind him, Aaron pushes him until they return to their childhood together to investigate the incident.
Once there, none of the residents know anything about the cassette. However, the brothers soon discover that something is wrong. The focus is on supernatural phenomena, which Justin and Aaron soon come into contact with. The enormous power and interpersonal discord that develop not only between the brothers and the community but also among each other, create a field of tension from which there is seemingly no escape.
Cosmic horror meets science fiction
Benson and Moorhead stand for two things above all: atypical and unconventional indie cinema and anything but cheap horror. Instead of jump scares, they attract the audience through other means. Her works, which are often about higher powers, sometimes fall into the subgenre of cosmic horror, in which the supernatural plays a central role. Unlike other sci-fi and mystery films in which monsters are literally shoved under the audience’s noses, the directing duo brings their own ideas and impressively shows that horror can also be done in a completely different way.
The intro already contains a quote from the forefather of cosmic horror HP Lovecraft: “The oldest and strongest emotion of humanity is fear and the oldest and strongest fear is the fear of the unknown.” An extremely appropriate quote around which Benson and Moorhead build their film. Just as in ‘The Color from Space’ (also based on Lovecraftian horror), the big question arises: how can an unknown and elusive creature be staged à la Lovecraft? The director brothers have their own style to answer this question which is completely captivating.
But it doesn’t stop there, because at some point science fiction also comes into play. ‘The Endless’ jumps into a triangle again and again – from horror to mystery to sci-fi. Admittedly, at first glance it is an unusual concept that you have to work with. However, indirectly the film combines the strongest points of the most popular sublime horror films of recent years. As surprising as ‘Nope’ (especially in terms of the unknown and unpredictability) and bizarre as ‘Midsommar’ (also about life in a cult), ‘The Endless’ is a great middle ground. Overall, it’s a genre film worth watching that achieves a big impact with few resources and shouldn’t be missed.