NEON Unveils Surreal Horror Trailer for It Ends
NEON has released the first official trailer for It Ends, giving horror fans a haunting preview of one of this summer’s most intriguing genre offerings. The upcoming film marks the feature directorial debut of Alexander Ullom and heads exclusively to cinemas on 21 August.
You can watch the official trailer below.
Rather than relying on familiar haunted houses or masked killers, It Ends takes a simple premise and twists it into something deeply unsettling. The story follows four recent college graduates who set out on what should be an ordinary late-night drive. Instead, they find themselves trapped on a seemingly endless stretch of road that refuses to end. As the miles continue to roll by, the group encounter mysterious stragglers who periodically attack them, forcing them to develop routines for when and where they can safely stop to rest. The journey stretches into thousands of miles, with exhaustion, uncertainty and repetition gradually wearing away at both their sanity and their friendships, yet they continue driving in the hope that the road must eventually lead somewhere.
The trailer leans heavily into atmosphere and mystery, revealing just enough to establish the nightmare while carefully avoiding major story reveals. Endless highways, deserted landscapes and increasingly desperate conversations create an oppressive sense of isolation, while the appearance of the enigmatic figures stalking the road hints that whatever is happening extends far beyond a simple survival story. Rather than answering questions, the footage raises even more, making It Ends one of those rare trailers that leaves you wanting to know what on earth is actually going on.
Leading the cast are Akira Jackson, Phinehas Yoon, Mitchell Cole and Noah Toth, who play the four friends at the centre of the increasingly surreal ordeal. Much of the trailer focuses on their chemistry and the emotional strain placed on their relationships as hope slowly begins to fade, suggesting that the film is just as interested in its characters as it is its horror.
Speaking previously about the project, Ullom explained that the film was never intended to be solely about frightening audiences, but about exploring how people continue living after experiencing unimaginable terror. He joked that he had always wanted to see the family from Hereditary giving a “postgame interview” after everything they’d endured, adding that It Ends constantly recontextualises the events unfolding on screen. It’s an intriguing philosophy, and one that appears to shape the film’s blend of psychological horror, existential anxiety and dark humour.
Early reactions have already generated encouraging buzz. In her four-star festival review, Bloody Disgusting’s Meagan Navarro praised the film for capturing the uncertainty and pressure that comes with entering adulthood, describing it as a story that taps into the anxieties surrounding the transition from college life to becoming a fully-fledged adult. That underlying theme appears to run throughout the trailer, where the endless road feels as much like a metaphor for life’s uncertainties as it does a literal nightmare.
It Ends also represents a significant milestone for Alexander Ullom. While this is his first feature film as writer and director, the industry has already taken notice of the filmmaker, with Ullom recently announced as the director of the upcoming horror project 4 x 4: The Event, a film that has been described as combining elements of Battle Royale, Saw and Climax. Although It Ends is his debut, the early attention surrounding both projects suggests he’s quickly becoming one of the genre’s emerging talents to keep an eye on.
NEON has built a strong reputation for championing distinctive and unconventional horror, and It Ends looks set to continue that tradition. Rather than giving away its biggest scares, the trailer thrives on mystery, creating an unsettling sense of dread around an endless journey that may have no destination at all.
It Ends arrives exclusively in cinemas on 21 August, and if this first trailer is anything to go by, horror fans should prepare for a road trip unlike any they’ve taken before.
