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2026 has been a pretty decent year for young horror directors making their feature debuts on films about endless liminal spaces. And with the upcoming “It Ends,” Neon is hoping to carve out its own slice of the success that A24 found with “Backrooms.” It even uses the film‘s poster as an opportunity to brag that the two movies share a producer.
“It Ends,” which serves as Alex Ullom’s feature debut, follows an ensemble of teenagers whose joyride turns existential when they find themselves on a winding road that doesn’t seem to end. Written and directed by Ullom, the film stars Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Mitchell Cole.
An official synopsis for the film reads: “A group of recent grads head out on a late-night drive for grub, hoping to enjoy one final hangout before their paths diverge. Instead, they accidentally turn onto a never-ending, two-lane hellscape surrounded by untold horrors and cosmic forces beyond their understanding. Cramped together inside a Jeep Cherokee and with the miles stretching infinitely ahead, they face a choice: embrace their new existence or fight to escape it.”
“It Ends” premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film and TV Festival, where it was acquired by Neon.
As we reported earlier, the film gained post-festival attention after being one of the few films made briefly available through Letterboxd’s newly launched Video Store, designed to let audiences digitally rent undistributed festival films.
Neon already has rights to Ullom’s next film project, “4 X 4: The Event.”
“What if you were driving on a deserted, tree-lined road in the middle of the night — an already eerie scenario that plenty of filmmakers have used to freak people out — but the road just never ended? What if you just kept going and going for thousands of miles?” Esther Zuckerman wrote in her 2025 IndieWire review. “There are moments throughout Alexander Ullom’s debut feature that are genuinely unnerving, as four 20-somethings try to figure out just what the hell is going on from the confines of their white Jeep. Ullom uses the car’s features to his advantage, mining the uncomfortable glow of flashing hazard lights and the incessant beeping of an open door, for tension.”
Neon will release “It Ends” in New York City and Los Angeles theaters on Friday, August 21 before expanding nationwide the following week. Watch the trailer below.
English (US) ·