One’s individual feelings about this year’s pair of independent horror smash hits, Backrooms and Obsession, may vary, but what’s undeniable is the impression the respective young directors, Kane Parsons and Curry Baker, have left on the industry.
I’m here to tell you that 27-year-old Alexander Ullom, whose debut feature It Ends hits theaters this weekend, belongs on the podium right alongside them.
It Ends follows four friends: James (Phinehas Yoon), Day (Akira Jackson), Fisher (Noah Toth), and Tyler (Mitchell Cole) who hit the road together. The first three are recent college graduates, while Tyler it seems graduated a year earlier. Their lives are about to separate, adulthood is about to begin, and they just want to grab a bite to eat before worrying about all of that.
On their way to dinner, driven by Tyler, they turn onto a two-lane road lined on both sides by forest. The turn they were expecting next never arrives, and upon pulling a U-turn, they hit a dead-end. They’re stuck, and every time they stop and get out of the car, they are swarmed by massive hoards of panicked people who run out of the forest, screaming for help and mobbing them. The road, it seems, is never-ending. The radio stops working, the gas gauge does not move. None of them ever get tired nor hungry. They’re just forced to drive, endlessly.
As far as horror goes, It Ends is a bit more Backrooms than Obsession, but doesn’t accurately fall into either specific bucket. There are horror elements, but by Ullom’s own admission it quickly turns into more of a hangout movie. “I always wanted to pitch it as if Richard Linklater made a horror movie,” Ullom said.
It’s a fitting comparison, not just stylistically but thematically. Linklater’s work deeply prioritizes human interaction to more typical plot devices, and his films commonly force introspection. It Ends is a very clear allegory of the much-discussed dread felt by Gen-Z about growing up and entering adulthood, a feeling that is simultaneously unique in their personal experience but also relatable to generations that have come before them.
Our quartet epitomize these feelings. While they are clearly close friends, each has their own very distinct personality, and those traits show through as they come to terms with their predicament. There’s the scientific mind, trying to rationalize their way through something seemingly supernatural. There’s the impulsive actor, the worrier, the person who just can’t deal.
The existential dread is palpable, and again, entirely relatable. It’s the best I’ve seen a film exemplify the feeling of being afraid of what comes next, of getting stuck, of being unsure you’ll fit into the bucket of life laid in front of you. This is about Gen-Z anxiety, but it could be about getting married, having children, changing jobs, or any other big step we take in life.
Maybe it’s reductive to compare Ullom to Parsons and/or Baker as if going over the tale of the tape in a sporting event, but it’s a natural inclination: these are three young, male filmmakers with small-budget horror films that released in 2026.
There are differences, of course, even when considering that we’re stretching the comparison to include the 21-year-old Parsons with Ullom (27) and Barker (26) — although it’s worth noting that principle photography of Ullom’s It Ends took place four years ago.
Parsons and Barker made uber-successful horror films, shattering box office records and expectations, with their two films combining to make nearly $900 million worldwide as of this writing.
From that perspective, Ullom will undoubtedly fall short. It Ends even reaching the point of worldwide distribution seemed far from guaranteed not all that long ago. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in early 2025. I caught a screening at the Chicago Critics Film Festival a few months later, and even in late 2025 it was still without a distributor, instead getting a small run on the new Letterboxd Video Store rental app that seeks to platform overlooked or under-distributed films.
Neon came to the rescue during that Letterboxd run, acquiring distribution rights in December of last year and giving it a full theatric release, mercifully and at long last, starting this week. While I’m hopeful the type of rabid horror films that made Backrooms and Obsession so successful will eventually migrate toward It Ends, even the rosiest forecasts for this film will undoubtedly fall well short of two films that literally outgrossed a Star Wars film.
Making It Ends was “like film school,” according to Ullom, who during his Q&A in Chicago a year and a half ago talked about how surreal it was to be on that stage when he was just trying to make a movie with his friends. From that perspective, he’s far greener than either Parsons or Baker, who had garnered significant YouTube followings prior to jumping into feature film.
Ullom sells himself short, though. While comparing It Ends with Backrooms or Obsession is mostly futile — they’re three very different films — Ullom’s feature is made with the confidence and maturity of a much more seasoned filmmaker. It might not be hitting theaters with the same marketing machine behind it, but it belongs on the stage every bit as much.