So I saw The Endless last night. Indie film, so not in all theaters.
It's Lovecraftian-inspired horror, if that's your thing (it's mine!).
This film is not perfect, I will say that up front. However, most of the flaws are in the script, so my complaints are coming from the perspective of someone who has a degree in the field. I am more critical than your average movie goer. The issue with movies is that you have to strike a balance between dialogue that appears natural and dialogue that carries the story along. In this case, they leaned a bit too far towards natural and it had a tendency to pull me out of the moment. Moreso than the humor (which is unusual for a psychological, suspenseful film to have so much of) that I actually loved.
The story between the two brothers was great and the flaws of the elder brother were well-done and provided the depth needed to carry the turning point of the story. There was no need for an exterior element to force the struggle (this is always, always a good thing! When you don't have to concoct a reason for things to go from bad to worse because it's already a part of the story). And like all good mysterious, Lovecraftian tales... there was so much to pick up on throughout the film that I'm sure I missed things.
I also really appreciated the fact that there was more to the story -- more stories told -- than just the central element (if you watch it, you'll understand).
That all said... The first act -- the introduction -- was a bit slow. Our "ordinary world" worked, but it just didn't do it for me. I feel like it could have been shorter to give us more time in the meat of the film itself or otherwise adapted to better introduce us to the brothers themselves. Either way, it just didn't really fit with the rest of the movie overall. Secondly, I feel like they could have spent a bit more time on the history of the <REDACTED> and shown more of the <REDACTED>.
Finally, even though I enjoyed the film and the mythology of it, I honestly and truly think it would have worked much better as a video game. If you watch it, you'll understand why.
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When the brothers finally go into the locked shed towards the end, we get glimpses of all the reels and tapes. The oldest dates I saw were back to the 40s, but the tent we see towards the beginning had a man from what I would guess was the late 1800s (a good time period for a Lovecraft-inspired film).
It's almost disappointing that things at that point are so rushed that we don't get a chance to see anything more than the 'ascension' itself.
I would have loved a reel from the 40s showing some of the members of the camp (another good Lovecraftian time period for 'more modern' settings). Anna's style of dress sort of hints at a 60s type feel, for example.
There's a lot of other unanswered questions (when exactly did Lizzy join the camp since she wasn't there when the brothers were kids, what happened to Jennifer & Mike's kid, is Jennifer stuck in the loop?, etc... but they aren't strictly necessary to have answers to. I just think the above would have actually made things much more engaging in the film mythos.
Alton.
