Where are we? That’s the question which opens up End Times and, certainly, when you see the cities burning, you’ll be asking the same question. Turns out, we are in Los Angeles. Only it’s not the city you think you know as a deadly pandemic (sound familiar?!) has turned the metro area into a zombie-infested free for all.
And Claire (Jamie Bernadette (I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, NCIS: New Orleans) and Freddie Craig Stark (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight) are desperate to get out. End Times (originally titled State of Desolation) is gore-iffic; full of bullets through the skull moments as survivors must kill their loved ones and so on. It is damned unforgiving in its tone, too. Bringing a seriousness to the whole apocalypse that is a good move for The Asylum.
Written and directed by Jim Towns (House of Bad, The Possession of Anne), and starring Jamie Bernadette (I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, NCIS: New Orleans) and Craig Stark (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight), End Times is a post-apocalyptic thriller that does not disappoint as a pair of mismatched travelers, Claire and Freddie (Bernadette and Stark), traverse the now wasteland of L.A. and form an unexpected bond that challenges both of them, living as they now do with guns loaded.
End Times puts a gritty reality up front and center, allowing the drama to come naturally from the situation as there is quite a bit of story to get across to the audience. From surviving rape to surviving the zombie uprising, this tense and sometimes ugly landscape is full of violence, deranged people and cults, and surprising moments of peace as America and our two journeymen find themselves in the middle of battle for their very soul.
Claire is a privileged young suburbanite ill-equipped to survive in this hostile new landscape, until she meets Freddie, a retired soldier who lost his daughter to the virus. As they travel together to reach the perimeter, Freddie teaches Claire the skills that will enable Claire to survive, and the uneasy partnership between the two grows into something more akin to a father/daughter relationship.
But. before they can reach safety, the two will have to escape brutal gangs, cannibals, cults, the undead, and their own desires for the life they want to lead in this brand new world.
The supporting cast includes Dominique Swain (Lolita), Jessica Morris (One Life to Live); Kaiwi Lyman (Den of Thieves, American Horror Story), Dan Buran (True Blood, General Hospital), Stefanie Estes (Soft & Quiet), Maria Olsen (Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief; I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu), Sadie Katz (Wrong Turn 6), and Victoria De Mare (The Beast Inside).
End Times are upon us. But are you ready to make the ultimate sacrifice? The film is produced by Jamie Bernadette, Jim Towns, and Craig Stark and will have a limited theatrical run in the US beginning July 14th.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 113 mins
Director: Jim Towns
Writer: Jim Towns
Cast: Jamie Bernadette; Craig Stark; Dominique Swain
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Judgment Has Come.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: The Asylum
Official Site:
Release Date: July 14, 2023
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: Follows a pair of mismatched travelers, Claire and Freddie, as they try to escape a deadly pandemic that has turned Los Angeles into a zombie-infested wasteland. Claire is a privileged young suburbanite ill-equipped to survive in this hostile new landscape, until she meets Freddie, a retired soldier who lost his daughter to the virus. As they travel together to reach the perimeter, Freddie teaches Claire the skills that will enable Claire to survive, and the uneasy partnership between the two grows into something more akin to a father/daughter relationship.