Much has been made recently about the supposed shift in Hollywood towards the Youtube generation of filmmakers; specifically, about how it equates to the 70s, when the studios turned to the similarly aged outsiders like George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper, etc … Time will tell if this is a genuine movement with legs or just a momentary, Dogma 95-like blip (the fact that Obsession and Backrooms have made a ton of money preliminarily suggests the former). Something about it all that I find interesting is how the Easy Riders and Raging Bulls of the 70s made films about tearing down and breaking free of the system, while the current crop seems to be making films about how overwhelming the world/system is and how absolutely nothing makes sense.

Anyway, regarding It Ends (Alexander Ollum, 2026) and Backrooms (Kane Parsons, 2026)… Being late to the latter, I don’t have much new to say other than I enjoyed it quite a bit. Not being familiar with the lore (I watched the first Backrooms Youtube video beforehand, but that’s it), I don’t really know what’s ultimately going on, but the journey is, at least, compelling enough, thanks largely to some very intriguing production design and some interesting direction. I assume many people have pointed out that this is basically an unofficial adaptation (intentionally or not) of Mark Z. Danielewskie’s House of Leaves.

As for It Ends, the less I say about this one the better. I knew a fragment of the premise going in, and that bit was more than enough to pique my interest, but it would have been even better not knowing anything, so I won’t even share that. All I’ll say is that if you like existential horror/speculative fiction/cool genre fare, then definitely check it out. It’s really good, and easily one of my favourites of the year so far.