Endless owes a bit of a creative debt to both Ghost and Twilight.
As much as Endless feels like it had elements of tone and story from Twilight grafted onto it, there’s also a lot of DNA from the ‘90s classic Ghost. With the eventual encounters that Riley feels from Chris’ otherworldly spirit, there’s more than a hint of the same sort of romance that Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze shared decades ago. Swap out pottery for cutting up a tomato, and you’ve got a toned down scene of romance for the teen audience the new supernatural romance is trying to attract. But rather than merely copying either of those inspirations, the film does work those elements into the mix in such a way that it doesn’t distract. The comparisons aren’t deal breakers, but rather a key ingredient to the story that helps some pieces work better than others. You need to believe this couple is really in love, and both Alexandra Shipp and Nicholas Hamilton craft a relationship that is a hair more believable than a standard teen romance. But the heavy lifting of Endless definitely goes to Ms. Shipp, as we see Riley go through the wringer, and all of the tolls it takes on her psyche as she deals with her trauma.
