The Surrender
The Surrender is a 2025 supernatural horror film written and directed by Julia Max, starring Colby Minifie and Kate Burton.
| The Surrender | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Julia Max |
| Written by | Julia Max |
| Starring | |
| Distributed by | Shudder |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
The Surrender is a 2025 supernatural horror film written and directed by Julia Max, starring Colby Minifie and Kate Burton.
Premise
[edit]Robert, a family patriarch, is ill and bedridden, and is looked after by his wife Barbara and daughter Megan. After Robert dies, Barbara enlists the help of a mysterious figure to bring Robert back to life by means of an occult ritual.[1]
Cast
[edit]- Colby Minifie as Megan
- Alaina Pollack as Young Megan
- Kate Burton as Barbara
- Chelsea Alden as Young Barbara
- Vaughn Armstrong as Robert
- Pete Ploszek as Young Robert
- Riley Rose Critchlow as Lacey
- Mia Ellis as Nikki
- Neil Sandilands as The Man
Release
[edit]The Surrender was released in the United States on March 9, 2025 at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival.[2]
Reception
[edit]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 40 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Extracting a maximum amount of creepy mood from a simple setup while reaching surprising poignancy as a mother-daughter story, The Surrender is a victorious feature debut from writer-director Julia Max."[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[4]
Simon Abrams, writing for RogerEbert.com, gave the movie 3 stars out of 4, praising the performances and calling it "an eerie and accomplished gut-muncher that also happens to have grief and mother-daughter trauma on its mind."[5] Shaina Weatherhead, writing for Collider, said that the film is "unafraid to take risks" and "ultimately delivers a fraught family drama replete with gag-inducing body horror and a whole lot of blood."[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Earl, William (May 23, 2025). "Julia Max Was Told to Cut Down the Family Drama in 'The Surrender.' She Ignored the Notes and Created a Ferocious Horror Debut". Variety.
- ^ https://schedule.sxsw.com/2025/films/2206372
- ^ "The Surrender". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 20, 2025.
- ^ "The Surrender". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved September 20, 2025.
- ^ "The Surrender review". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved September 20, 2025.
- ^ "'The Surrender' Review". Collider. Retrieved September 20, 2025.