Imagine you receive a mysterious message from a “UFO death cult” inviting you to revisit them. It’s been ten years since you had managed your escape the first time. But, like so many, many others, you’re after closure. So back you go.
And back we go to yet another “science-fiction horror” flick.
Things get tricky here. It’s science fiction so there will be elements that may or may not be explainable one day by science. But it’s also horror. So there may be elements that are entirely “supernatural”. Stuff that is made up in someone’s head. Stuff that may not actually be possible at all.
And then the part where it becomes pure “fantasy”.
You simply have to accommodate whatever your own frame of mind might be about what you see up on the screen to whatever another’s frame of mind might be. Sometimes they’ll mesh, sometimes they won’t.
If nothing else, we get to explore the phenomena of “cults”. Why they exist, how they keep on managing to exist, the reasons that people might be drawn to them.
Sometimes it just revolves around living a meaningless, shitty, boring and/or almost-always-broke life. The promise of adventure – or of “meaning”, or of “family” – can engender the sort of “suspension of disbelief” that enables you to dispense with “I” and become more at one with “we”.
Here in fact we clearly see why they can be appealing to lots of different people. For one thing, you can convince yourself that it’s not a “cult” at all; it’s a “commune”. You simply sink down into that soothing feeling of belonging to something much bigger than an infinitesimally tiny and insignificant “me”.
And then [here] how this particular cult/commune gets sucked up into what amounts to more or less reasonable speculation about the nature of the “space-time continuum”. Think of it all as a reflection on Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence. Only the loops here are considerably shorter. Still, you find yourself pondering which option you might choose yourself if any of this really were actually possible.
On the other hand, one suspects that there was no “it” at Jonestown. Or in the Heaven’s Gate compound. That was all just us.
Right?
As for the ending [not to mention with this one the beginning and the middle] this is one of those films that prompt “explanations” like this one: digitalspy.com/movies/featur … esolution/
Please be quiet.
IMDb
[b]The filmmakers use the song House of the Rising Sun throughout because the lyrics are in public domain, which helped them stay within their limited budget.
At one point in the movie, Benson is being shown a card trick by a member from the cult. The card which Benson draws is the King of Hearts, otherwise known as ‘the Suicide King,’ as it holds its sword behind its head. Benson believes that the cult is a suicide cult.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Endless_(film
trailer: youtu.be/qMHpWCN0byw
The Endless [2017]
Directed by Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
[b]Title card: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” H.P. Lovecraft
…
Justin: I said that right before we left, I was told that they were all were gonna kill themselves. And that’s why we left the cult.
Aaron [of the video they just watched]: She didn’t say anything about killing themselves. She didn’t.
Justin: It’s a UFO death cult. It’s what they do. They just call it something different. I rescued us from a cult. I saved you from mass suicide. You’re welcome.
…
Aaron: You know they used to feed us real food. You know, vegetables and fish that’s not powder.
Justin: I’d rather be alive and eat Raman than be dead and eat corn.
…
Justin: I know they were going to do it, now they clearly are, so I was, like, ten years off.
Aaron: They didn’t say anything about killing themselves. They said said they were going somewhere, and we don’t know how long or where they were going…
Justin: Good.
Aaron: How’s that good? If we were back at the camp, we’d have, like, good food and support, and we wouldn’t be one dirty house away from being homeless.[/b]
That’s the thing – the draw – with cults, right? Sustenance…and meaning.
[b]Justin: And, um… the cult sent us a good-bye video.
Woman [just a voice counseling him]: Whoa. What was that like?
Justin: I mean, I was relieved, at first, because…they’re not dead. And then I felt bad. Because now Aaron thinks I pulled him out all those years ago for no reason. All of his memories of the cult are as a kid or a teenager or whatever. So all those memories are good, and he sees our lives here as horrible. But, to me, the thing that makes our lives here better is thinking for ourselves.
Woman: Recovery from cult mind control is a lifelong process, and if he resents you for pulling him out, that’s common.
Justin: Whether he resents me or he doesn’t, feeling responsible for his well-being 24/7 is exhausting.
…
Justin: Why do you wanna go back?
Aaron: We can say good-bye. Get some closure. They were our family.
Justin [after a long pause]: One day. One night. We come straight back. Will that make you feel better? Uh…because if that’ll get you out of this slump, we can go back.
…
Aaron: It’s not a cult. It’s a commune.
Justin: Uniforms. Redefining words. Calling death “ascension.” Worshipping a deity in the forest that no one else knows about. And…castration.
Aaron: Okay, yeah, that’s a cult. But I actually don’t remember any of those things. I just remember, like, bonfires, family time, and good food. It wasn’t like they were keeping us prisoner or anything.
…
Aaron: Actually, hang on a second. If they were gonna be, like, pointing machine guns at our heads and make us drink cyanide Kool-Aid, why would you be driving us there right now?
Justin: All right, I never saw anything specifically like that. But in your distorted memory, we were, like, petting deer and dancing with koalas.
Aaron: We were, I remember that.
…
Justin [now at the cult, looking at a chalkboard with an obscure mathematical equation on it]: You, uh… you figure it out yet?
Aaron: Not yet. Eventually, though.
Justin: I gotta ask…what’s it solve?
Aaron: You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.
…
Hal: Listen, uh, I just wanted to tell you again that everything you did, it ranges from “I don’t care” to “All is forgiven.” Now, that being said, why come back now?
Justin: The video you sent.
Hal: What video?
Justin: The video. With Anna talking about…the end.
Hal: Never been a suicide on this property that I’m aware of. In fact, I can assure you that nothing here ends. All that happens here is that people live long and healthy lives. Because of that, they grow to be the people they want to be. Pretty simple. There is something bigger than us out here. And now that you’re both at an age where you can understand it, it’ll become…evident.
…
Aaron: Hey, why doesn’t Dave talk?
Anna: Brain injury. Hal says he fell off a building while working construction, and Tim told me it was self-trephination. You drill a hole in your skull so you stay permanently high. He drilled too far.
…
Hal [to everyone]: All right! Who’s ready for The Struggle?
…
Hal: It’s like I said. You’re at an age now where you can become a part of it. So it’s gonna be more apparent.
Justin: Yeah, but you always speak in metaphors.
Hal: So you don’t trust me? And you’re gonna stand there, you’re gonna tell me that you have never experienced anything before?
Justin: I mean, I remember some things from when I was a kid, but kids have imaginations, and as a grown man now, I guess the reason why I sort of dramatically asked you to come out here is for you to just tell me, in your own words, what…is…it?
…
Hal: Who’s the leader here, Justin?
Justin: Uh, you?
Hal: There’s never been one. I just talk more. It’s not a very flattering quality, if you ask me, but one of the things that I talk a lot about is that I don’t have answers. None of us do. You wanna know what it is that runs all this? You go find it.
…
Hal: You know that physics equation in my room?
Justin: Yeah.
Hal: That’s what it is to me. And I still haven’t finished that. But what I can tell you, is if you and Aaron, you stay one more day, you go fishing in the lake, and you go out to this buoy, you dive straight down and you grab what you find there. You’re gonna have your answer.
Justin: You know how culty that sounds, right?
Hal: Confirm this thing for yourself and you’ve gotta admit it. There it is. A higher power? A governing force? God? Infinity solved. Now, wouldn’t that be a weight off your shoulders? And if you like having that weight gone, you and Aaron have a home here.
…
Aaron: This is why you sent me that video.
Anna: What?
Aaron: The video you sent us talking about the ascension.
Anna: No, I didn’t. I mean, yes, I made videos in case you or my sister or someone came back to the camp and we weren’t here, but, no, I didn’t. I didn’t send that. That’s really strange because we all kind of agreed that we wouldn’t share things like that, especially after your brother, you know?
Aaron: My brother what?
…
Jennifer: You’re…You’re all harmless. A little brainwashed but mostly harmless.
Justin: So you’re not part of the camp?
Jennifer: My husband Mike disappeared near here. So I came out looking for him. He just sort of lost it. And I wandered until I almost passed out. Must have been dehydration or something. Hal found me. He said we’d find him. It’d take some time… but we’d find him.
Justin: So how’s the search going?
…
Aaron: There’s something out here, isn’t there?
Justin: Yeah. Yeah, there is.
Aaron: I saw some things last night that… I… I can’t… Hey, you’re gonna hate this. Um… But what if we stayed?
Justin: Like permanently?
Aaron: Yeah. You know, we’d be taken care of. Nothing to worry about except for doing our own thing. There’s kind of an order to things here, you know? It’s fair. Like something really is watching out for us.
Justin: I don’t know. I always thought that if I did experience that there was something more to all of this, that I’d like start going to church or something.
…
Justin: Last night I was walking back to the cabin and there was this girl at one of the cabins, and she was…
Aaron: What?
Justin: She wasn’t all “Kumbaya” like the rest of the camp. She was really scared and sad about something. I don’t know, I just…I don’t think comfort is worth dying for.
Aaron: Look, man, there is no mass suicide here. You’re, like, leaping to conclusions. We can’t go back to our, like, regular shitty lives knowing that there’s actually something out here.
…
Aaron [watching Justin shed his clothes in a boat in the middle of a lake]: What are you doing? What are you doing?
Justin: Hal said the answer is at the bottom of this lake. So I am going to bottom of this lake. Answer to what? Exactly what “it” is.
…
Justin [after leaping back into the boat]: It’s not a god, it’s a monster!
Aaron: What?!
Justin: There’s something down there! I saw it! It held me down!
Aaron: What?!!
Justin: I don’t know! Go!
…
Justin [back on shore]: We’re leaving.
Aaron: It’s a tape.
Justin: I don’t care, we’re leaving.
Aaron: Look, man, I know you’ve been just dying to make something up and get me out of here. But I didn’t see a monster or anything. And actually, everything’s fine here.
Justin: Fine, you can stay. I’m leaving.[/b]
Cue “the tape”.
[b]Hal: Everybody…Justin and Aaron found a message in the lake today. That’s awesome. We haven’t had one of those in a while. Thought we’d have a viewing ceremony. To send 'em off.
Aaron: What is it?
Hal: It’s how it communicates with us. With images.
[then the tape plays]
Michael [on tape]: I’m, uh… I’m Michael. So you guys are, like, in a church group?
Justin [tens years ago]: Uh, nice to meet you, Mike. We’re prophets of the Camp Arcadia faith. Our whole thing is just making sure that people know that self-sacrifice for the one true god is the only way to begin the journey into the cosmos.
Aaron: Yeah, Justin’s taught me a whole lot about our coming apocalypse, so, you know, if you ever wanna come worship with us at the camp, we’d love to have you. We’re just devoted to…to…to…to…to…to
…
Hal [following the brothers out of the building]: Guys, guys, guys. Guys, wait up. I didn’t know that’s what it would be. It’s not supposed to be embarrassing. It’s a lesson.
Aaron: What does that mean?
Hal: Forgiveness. We forgive you for going out and evangelizing us as a UFO death cult or whatever. Then telling the press, among other things, that all of us are castrated.
Aaron: You are castrated.
Hal: As far as I know, everybody here has their sex organs.
Aaron [to Justin]: You told me the camp… they had to do that. That they sanctioned all of that.
Justin: I never said that.
Aaron: Yes, you did! Why…Why did we tell that story?
Justin: I knew there was something wrong here. And there is something very wrong here. And I did what I had to do to keep to safe.[/b]
Now what to believe?
[b]Justin: Fuck you.
Hal: I pulled the both of you out of your mother’s burning car. I gave you food, I gave you shelter, I gave you every opportunity to grow. And what you did to undermine us…Let’s just forget the fact that we are never gonna get Dave to take that damned white button-up shirt off…Can you imagine trying to sell your beer when someone can find a news article that makes you look like a dickless, poison Kool-Aid drinking, Heaven’s Gate offshoot? That is our livelihood. So, no! Fuck you!!
…
Shitty Carl: So, a decade ago, I tell you that you’re livin’ in some sort of death cult, and not only were you not bright enough then to figure it out, you actually came back. You are not smart. You never have been, no. I mean, all kids are dumb, but you’re like some sort of retarded hobbit or something.
Justin: I’m sorry. I, uh…I don’t know how I got lost. I don’t know how you’re hanging in there and standing in front of me. I don’t understand what’s going on at that camp.
Shitty Carl: Bunch of loopin’ prisons, man. Like shitty pods of time. Repeatin’ over and over and over again like rats tellin’ stories for that thing’s amusement!..You gotta kill yourself before the restart or that thing, that thing’ll do it for ya. And it’s much worse than anything you can do to yourself…But the camp prefers that thing doin’ it for 'em, doesn’t it? Yeah, considers it sacred even.
…
Tim [to Aaron]: Don’t do it if you don’t want to.
…
Justin: I just really got to get back to Camp Arcadia and get back to my brother.
Shitty Carl: I can do that for you.
Justin: Great. How do I get back?
Sitty Carl: Oh, not for free. Big 'ol fuck no. No, you gotta suck my dick first.
Justin: What?
Shitty Carl: You have to suck my dick first.[/b]
He’s just fucking with him. But right about now you are completely bewildered. About, for example, whatever might happen next.
[b]Sitty Carl: All right, and you’ll find this smelly junkie named Chris who’s got a gun collection that’d give Yosemite Sam a boner. Now, you bring me back a real nice one. Okay? And I’ll draw you one of these fancy maps, get you back to your brother. Oh, and, uh…use this compass. And trust only this compass, not what you see.
Justin: All right.
Shitty Carl: It doesn’t let me sleep. Funny thing is, I don’t get tired. I just… It doesn’t let me dream. It does that so my mind never leaves this place. These three hours…Using space and time as its horsewhip.
…
Hal [of “it”]: I have this theory that it’s made up of impossible colors. See, retinas only have three types of cone cells, so maybe none has the signal strength to see it in our normal state. Just a theory, though. What we do know is that… it shows us what it sees. It has a powerful elegance to it.
Aaron: So, it was looking at me. Why did it send me a picture of a trailer?
Hal: Probably where to go.
Aaron: I was actually gonna go find Justin.
Hal: Well, there you go.
…
Hal: I don’t know anything anybody else doesn’t know about life. But last night’s got me thinking. Can you have power over yourself, if you give up any amount of authority to something else?
Aaron: I mean… I really do have to find Justin. I mean, it’s a good question. Always has been, always will be.
…
Hal: I really hope you make your own choice. Before the third moon is full.
Aaron: Hal? Hal. Tell me what that means.
Hal: Saying more would be like trying to explain an impossible color.
…
Mike [on a videotape]: Can we try it another way?
Chris [on tape screaming]: Please! Please!
Mike: I guess that didn’t work.
Justin: What was that?
Mike: It was either our past or our future. Doesn’t really make any difference. Practically the same thing. See, we’ve been stuck in this infinite loop, and we’ve been trying to do different things to get out of it, and I guess that didn’t work.
…
Chris [to Justin]: Hey, can I impart some wisdom upon you? Don’t ever give in. Not once. The trick to this whole thing is to not be afraid of something that’s…that’s horrifying. And everyone’s afraid of it. But if you let it control you one time, it’s gonna fucking control you over and over again. I mean, look at me and Mike. We’re just a couple of assholes taking someone else’s shit. You gotta floor it the fuck out of here. And if you see that thing, you don’t apologize to it, you don’t bow down to it, you don’t conform, you just fucking run. Like your life fucking depends on it, man, because your fucking life does depends on it.
…
Mike: You know, it is so strange seeing how close another loop is to this one, closed, shitty little area.
Justin: How long have you been stuck in this loop?
Mike: Well, that’s hard to tell. I mean, when we first got here, I said if I got Chris clean in a week, we’d leave, and that was, um… that was a lot of weeks ago. Yeah, I keep thinking there’s like this configuration that’s gonna break us out of the story, you know, like a “Life Rubik’s Cube.” The one thing I do know for certain is I would rather reset things on my terms than allow that fucker to do it for me.
…
Mike [about to set fire to his whole world, to “it”]: Because fuck you.
…
Aaron: I gotta talk to you about something.
Justin: Great. Tell me on the way back to the car.
Aaron: No, man. Can you just have a seat for a second? I’m staying. You can stay, too. I know you’re not going to, but, you know…you can.
Justin: You wanna die over and over and over and live your life on repeat from here to eternity?
Aaron: You act like it’s crazy, like I’m the first person in history that actually wants to live forever. With people that like him. You know, there’s not much difference between being stuck in a loop and being stuck repeating the same shitty day over and over like back home until I die.
Justin: But back home, anything could happen. It could be so much better than the camp.
Aaron: We tried that, man. For almost a decade. And I’m ready to go back to not hating my life. Dying just takes a second. And a shitty life is long.
Justin: Aaron, I think you are making a very, very big decision with very little thought. And you realize that you do this once and you can never leave?
Aaron: Anything is better than the life you make me live.
…
Justin: I’ll feel guilty the rest of my life if I leave you here, so I guess I’m staying, too.
Aaron: You’re respecting my decision to stay?
Justin: Uh, I guess. If that’s the way you wanna think about it, yeah, sure, I’m doing that.
Aaron: All right. Let’s go.
Justin: What?
Aaron: All I ever wanted was…[/b]
Cue the script.
Justin [to Aaron]: All right, listen, on tombstones it says things like “Beloved Mother” or “Beloved Brother”, not “Beloved Camp Member”. And there’s a reason for that.