Missed it in the brief window it was at cinemas, The Endless (2017) is a low budget, independent sci-fi mystery focused on two brothers (played by the directors, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead). They’ve spent ten years living together working dead end jobs after escaping from a religious cult in the woods – one of the brothers idealises their upbringing and receives a video tape from one of the cult members. They decide to head back and things get stranger from there. What I appreciated was that even as it creates this weirdness, there’s a dry, laconic tone to it all, particularly when the two brothers talk about what might be going on. There’s something matter of fact and unpretentious about it, even as the film deals in the same terrain as David Lynch or M. Night Shyamalan. Effective use of special effects (though post production fire never looks right, but you forgive it) and a nice mix of humour and unease. I dug it.
VHS Tracking 