THE ENDLESS is a creepy a 2017 tour de force for the team of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, who not only play the lead roles but split the chores of writing, producing, directing, photographing and editing. Their indie mind-messer is a stellar addition to the loop trauma cabinet that has been opened for a workout in Run Lola Run, for laffs in Groundhog Day, and for ‘Killing Private Cruise’ in Edge Of Tomorrow. The 111 minute find blends SF with supranatural horror, mystery and sibling drama, scoring in each category. Instead of cheating you with cheap shocks or repulsing you with gore, it builds unease by methodical degrees of revelation and intensity, and tops it with a finale that is both ambiguous and satisfying.

When they were younger, brothers ‘Justin & Aaron Smith’ (Benson, 34, & Moorehead, 29) fled a high desert commune. Aaron’s memory of the place is warm, Justin’s is that it was a UFO death cult. They’re both unsatisfied with their lives, and Aaron convinces Justin to make a one-day revisit to the self-sustaining, seemingly pleased folks at ‘Camp Arcadia’. One evening doesn’t suffice to quell Aaron’s longing or banish Justin’s concerns. The people they once knew don’t seem to have changed at all, and an accumulation of bizarre and unexplained events goes from odd to weird and into frightening and unbelievable. Time to get out again? Too late?

Film-making partners Benson & Moorhead are in perfect sync in their performances as the brothers, and equally skilled in mastering the other cinematic elements they perform. The supporting cast is airtight, with particularly fine work from Tate Ellington as ‘Hal’, the calm unofficial leader, Callie Hernandez as ‘Anna’, with a casually dreamy air, James Jordan as ‘Shitty Carl’, who is less-than-thrilled with his situation and Kira Powell as ‘Lizzy’, whose drawings are as spacey as her resigned-to-it gaze.

Filmed close to the California town of Descanso, in the Cuyamaca Mountains near San Diego, the production tab was less than $1,000,000. Film festival reaction and critical was strong. Box office take looks to be $960,114 worldwide.  With Lew Temple, Shane Brady, Emily Montague and Vinny Curran.