'It Ends' - Like a Creepy Pasta brought to the screen.

Josh
Dec 22, 2025
4 min read

Alex Ullom (2025)

A bottle movie on wheels.

A little gem to wrap up the year, It Ends. The first directional debut by Alex Ullom, and in the kindest way possible, is a short psychological horror movie akin to a Creepy Pasta. A solid enough concept that is clever enough not to overstay its welcome with a runtime of 89 minutes. Essentially a bottle movie on wheels, our characters get stuck on an endless road where they’re unable to stay still for too long without getting attacked by randoms from the forest around them. Once again, in the kindest possible way, this feels very much like a student film. But an outstanding student film. Where the subtext feels like something coming from a university student, freshly graduated and figuring out what the real world is like.

Spoilers

The story is simple: a group of recent university graduates takes a trip together and gets stuck on a never-ending road. Each character represents the outcomes of most early to mid-20-somethings. James, played by Phinehas Yoon, is an ambitious young graduate with his career of choice already in his hands. Even when playing a game with two carefree graduates still finding their way, Day and Fisher (Akira Jackson and Noah Toth, respectively), James will take a fun theoretical game and break it down to the most logical degree. Breaking down the concept of 1 gorilla versus 100 men thought experiment to a logical conclusion. While the quiet driver, Tyler (Mitchell Cole), skipped the uni lifestyle to join the military, he returned to visit his friends for a late-night food run. On the trip, they realise their turn never comes. And upon turning around, their previously accessible road turns into a shrubby dead end. While idling for a little over a minute, hordes of people run out of the woods, desperately trying to get back into the car, ripping and pulling at anyone in their way. Their only option is to drive forward.

*It Ends (2025) courtesy of Letterboxd Video Store*

The dynamic between each character felt very organic. With each actor being relatively new to the craft, they came across so natural with one another. As presented earlier, the characters try to come to terms with their situation. James goes through every idea logically. Is it death, are they in limbo, do they need to repent their sins, an alternate dimension or in a loop? Sorry, kids, it’s a lot scarier than that. They manage to do everything you would expect them to do. Which, with a limited concept like this, was good for them to get it out of the way early. They figure out the car isn’t using gas, or basic human needs don’t affect them at all. All they can do is drive. They do their best to keep this bottle concept as interesting as possible. The inside of the car evolves and as they set up makeshift rooms or doodle on the inside out of boredom. All with the goal, inspired by an abandoned car on the side of the road, to cap out their speedometer until the end. However, after seeing the interior of the car for a while and with a limited range of exploration in the woods around them, like the characters, you get sick of the car. Even accounting for its short runtime, it does visually starve the audience.

As mentioned, there’s this feeling of film student energy behind the concept. Where you can hear them saying in the writers' room, “Bro, the road is like a metaphor for life”. Yet it doesn’t feel so heavy-handed. It’s subtle enough that you can view it as a psychological horror/thriller and leave it at that. Like in life, or in their case, their first true experience of adulthood, the road is always moving forward and you cannot go back. In life, you will lose friends. Such as when Tyler goes into the woods and doesn’t want to return. One can look at that like a suicide, especially with his military background. While James is constantly focused on getting to the end, he focuses on results, getting to the end no matter the cost. Like someone purely focused on the hustle culture. While his friends in the back are having fun, they want to slow down and dance, scream, relax and play games on their trip. And once they’ve hopped off the journey, whether you want to view that as a death or just a loss in friendship, James continues until the end. Which he hits. It's just the end, there's nothing special. And all he can do is finally scream.

For a debut, Alex Ullom has done a fantastic job, showing their skills in executing a concept and managing a strong tone throughout. Without it being a frequent sob fest, but letting the characters elevate or darken the mood through their emotional state. While also bringing a group of actors together to feel natural and connected. With a few grips being with pacing throughout the middle when the concept is established and rules are set up, it feels like you’re stuck on a long road trip. As well as getting the desire to want to see more of the world, but only being limited to a small car, it got rather tiring visually at points. But it didn’t stop me from enjoying the concept as a whole and the subtext below it. We’re all riding on the same road and we’re all going to arrive at the same dead end. Might as well just stop for a second, scream and do a dance with your friends.