The acclaimedThe Endlessis an absolute must watch for Lovecraft fans. Making movies out ofH.P. Lovecraft’s storiesis uniquely challenging for a few reasons. Most of his famous tales are very short, he refuses to describe the creatures haunting his protagonists, and they’re mostly very, VERY bleak.
Still,there are Lovecraftian movieslike John Carpenter’sIn the Mouth of MadnessorAnnihilationthat nail the author’s sense of dreadand cosmic horror. Another entry to that genre came with 2018’sThe Endless,fromdirecting duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.
This sees two brothers and former members (played by Benson and Moorhead themselves) of a “UFO” death cult returning to their camp a decade later, and discovering a dark secret. The movie wasn’t a major hit back in 2018, butit received critical acclaim, nabbing 91% onRotten Tomatoes.
The Endless Is An Overlooked Horror Gem
The Endless is endlessly rewatchable
I honestly wasn’t the biggest fan ofThe Endlesswhen I first saw it, as I didn’t quite get on its wavelength. Upon multiple rewatches,I think it’s one of the most creative and inventive horror movies of the 2010s. It starts as something of a dark comedy, before slowly unfurling the cosmic horror lurking behind Camp Arcadia.
The Endlessisn’t a jump scare machine that prods viewers with sudden jolts; instead, it’s a slow-burn ride filled with incredible ideas and an ever-increasing sense of dread.Despite being so acclaimed, it’s a shameThe Endlessdoesn’t seem to get mentioned muchanymore.
The Endless has earned its cult following, though it’s still in need of more love…
The story turns time itself into a weapon and the ultimate source of horror, as a mysterious entity uses time loops to torment its victims.The most horrifying instance of this is an unnamed man the heroes encounter, who is doomed to exist in an endless five-second loophe can never escape.
That’s just one of many creative concepts in a movie littered with them, while Benson and Moorhead make for surprisingly compelling leads. The film has earned its cult following, though it’s still in need of more love.
The Endless Is Perfect For Fans Of Lovecraft
The deity itself could have come out of a Lovecraft story
On one hand,The Endlessis too humanistic to have ever come from Lovecraft’s pen, but the film is undeniably inspired by his work. First of all,there’s the unseen monster causing the time loops, which impassively observes the pain of its trapped victims, which is a very Lovecraftian notion.
James Wan (Saw,The Conjuring) is set to adapt H.P. Lovecraft’sThe Call of Cthulhuas his next movie.
The movie has a creepy meta quality too, since rewatching it is essentially condemning the brothers to live through another time loop.The Endlessalso explores the nature of storytelling itself, including the audience’s need for a neat resolution and why people are compelled to return to a story they love too.
The Endlesshas plenty of Lovecraftian nods too, from mention of an “impossible color,” an homage to Lovecraft’sThe Color Out of Space,to its refusal to actually show the monster. The movie is a horror treat, and genre fans must check it out at least once - or torment the leads further via endless rewatches.
