Director Alexander Ullom wants you to sit with the horror in ‘It Ends’

What’s more, he’s remarkably self-assured and intuitive, making excellent use of a small budget to craft a tense yet philosophical thriller that taps into generational anxieties without pandering. Ahead of its nationwide release last week, I spoke to Ullom about his journey to the big screen, his influences, and the tribulations of independent filmmaking.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

Devan Suber: Did you first conceive It Ends as a horror movie with existential elements, or vice versa?
Alexander Ullom: I've always wanted this to be a horror hangout movie. I always wanted to see after a horror movie where all the characters could sit down and be like, “Holy sh*t, what we just went through is f*cking insane. How do we process that?” That’s how my cohorts or generation etc. process the terrors of the world now: seeing a head get blown off online, and then the next video a guy twerking or something.

DS: Were you worried about potentially dating the film, either through dialog or things like memes?
AU: I wrote the film in 2019 and 2020, so I just got lucky that it hasn't aged out, you know? It's very funny, because you can tell when a movie can't make a f*cking meme. And I think this one's more about the character. Memes are just about emotionally processing stuff, they're not about the meme itself. The only reason it didn't age out is because we were actually children when we made it, and going through stuff.

DS: You've mentioned that it was reshot. Can you expand more about what wasn't working, or why you decided to just reshoot everything?
AU: There's two reasons. One, we protected our crew because a lot of the time on independent productions, they operate off exploitation, and every time we got up around 12 hours, we'd be like, “Alright, f*ck it, the whole scene's one setup, cram the actors in there, let's just shoot something.” And so on a visual level, my direction struggled, because I was also just a delusional child. I knew the stuff that I needed to do to go back and fix it. The second time was just because I wanted to fix it even more.

DS: As a child of North Florida, I clocked the setting almost immediately. Was the setting more out of convenience or did you plan it for the woods?
AU: It was convenient. Every single part of this movie was through convenience that we just got lucky that we got.

DS: Even the car (a Jeep Cherokee), I'm guessing.
AU: That one I really wanted, but also it is a cheap car, and, you know, it has really nice, tight right angles, which looks really nice when it's contrasted with the craziness of the road.

DS: What was filming in it like? I imagine you couldn't get the road closed off officially among other challenges.
AU: It was actually easy on the stage, and much harder when we were outside, because we shot in the summer in Florida, and the AC kept f*cking breaking. Every single step of the way was an absolute scrap in the mud, and it was only brought to the finish line by the supportive, loving community around the film and the actors.

DS: How did you envision writing dialogue for people who have exhausted all topics over such a long time?
AU: It was probably very similar to how I used to talk when I was depressed. You feel like time almost doesn't exist, and you just are trying to have a conversation in the middle of a void, it's hard to process anything.

DS: Were there any characters you identified with most strongly, or do you consider all four of them as parts of yourself?
AU: Originally, when I made it, I was definitely James, but now I think I'm more Day now.

I've found peace with life a little—actually, that's not true. I definitely have not found peace, but I’m working on it. All of them are little pieces of me. They really got filled out because of the performances, because the cast are what carries the f*ck out of the movie.

DS: Did you think about their identities at all when you were writing them?
AU: I think it's built into my brain rot, I think it's just built into the fact that I have Internet psychosis brain rot.

DS: Don't we all? Speaking of, the style is very subdued and controlled. Can you talk about your choices there?
AU: Visually, the first half, I wanted to lean really into the horror stuff, and then the second half, having that be a lot more of the hangout stuff, so the camera chills out a bit.

DS: What were some of your influences? Obviously (existentialist philosopher and writer Jean-Paul) Sartre and No Exit, but I get a little absurdism as well.
AU: Richard Linklater. I love Don Hertzfeld, a little bit of Terrence Malik in there, because I’m pretentious, and I love him. Genre-wise, it's weird, because it's almost like a John Cassavetes approach to genre, where it’s just slamming the camera up into a closeup, because we have no money, and as long as you see a face that's stressed out, it’s good. I love John Carpenter as well.

DS: As a fellow child of the South, how did religion influence the philosophy of the characters and the film?
AU: I think growing up in the South definitely influenced the film, but mainly just from the people. You really interact with every walk of life, it’s a super melting pot.

DS: You’ve mentioned going through some personal struggles during conception and production. Is anything in the film directly inspired by parts of your life, or is it more a melange?
AU: There is definitely some of my friends in there. James (Phineas Yoon), the kid that looks like a more attractive version of me, is the one that was my self-insert at the time.

DS: It Ends was one of the first films to be released on Letterboxd’s Video Store prior to being acquired by NEON. Were you worried you’d have to self-distribute?
AU: Yeah, actually, I was prepared to upload this film on YouTube, so I'm grateful that anyone's watching it at all. I actually had a meeting on the Universal lot, and I hopped a fence, and snuck into the Jurassic World press event, and met the movie influencers there. And that's when Nick Curcio first saw the movie. There was an outpouring of support from the horror community online, that was really what led to the Letterboxd offer, which then led to Neon.

DS: What do you ultimately hope the audience takes away from It Ends?
AU: They should take away whatever they want, but I just hope that it comes from a place of optimism and hope. It's a dark thing, but I would say the people in your life are very important.