Alexander Ullom shot "It Ends" for $80,000. Four estranged friends drive into a forest and find a road that never ends. No hunger. No fatigue. No way out. The film spent more than a year on the circuit, from its South by Southwest premiere in March 2025, before Neon opened it wide on August 21.
The reception: 96% on Rotten Tomatoes from 67 critics, averaging 7.4 out of 10. The site'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." Variety called it "a brilliant, existential road thriller for and by Gen Z."
Ullom also wrote and edited the film. His cast: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Mitchell Cole. The result is less a survival film than a philosophical test set on asphalt. Variety's critic drew comparisons to Sartre. DiscussingFilm, which gave it ★★★★½, wrote that the film "provides a more distinct, lasting flavor of horror than anything in a long time."
Named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2024, Ullom made his debut precise enough that the next move is the real story.
