The Surrender

There is something uncertain and magical in The Surrender as a mother and daughter struggle to manage as they face the dying of their husband and father. The metaphysical supernatural aspects made me ponder the notion of death in light of accepting this inevitability or fighting against letting go. In this aspect, the film is successful; the acting and direction set the scene well to contemplate this and ponder on this release.

The part that drew me away from this contemplation was the general annoyance of the two main characters. The mother and daughter fought, complained, bullied, capitulated, ruminated, and whined about each other for the present and the past. I once called put for the daughter to "Shut up!" even though I was annoyed at the mother for her inability to see past her own needs and desires. (The daughter was suggested to have her own purposes that were selfish as well.)

The family dynamics were a bit too dysfunctional for a clearer focus on grief and recovery. The extreme here lead me to think of a Greek tragedy, but the characters and the plot were too small to match that. Still, I left the film with a sense of having found my own way in grieving and glad I didn't need these extremes to find resolution in my own life.

Sometimes a movie night throws you a curveball, and this was one of those times. The crew-Willow, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow-went in completely blind for The Surrender, thinking we were just in for another spooky horror ride. The only thing we knew? It had something to do with a ritual. Sounded promising, right? Well, it was... sort of.

The idea behind the film is honestly pretty captivating: a family ritual where you're asked to "surrender" to something beyond life-spiritual, emotional, and frighteningly real. That was enough to get all of us hooked early on. But when the movie dives deeper into this ritual, especially surrounding the death of the father, it starts raising the question: why not just let the man rest in peace? Still, we knew if that happened, there'd be no movie.

Things escalate fast when the supernatural elements kick in. It is a scary movie-no doubt about it. Tails literally tapped out mid-way through when the intensity cranked up (no spoilers, but it got wild). Willow, Knuckles, and Shadow were vibing with the thrills, but both Knuckles and Shadow called out the main character for being kind of weak in those monster scenes. They joked she could've taken them down with half the effort if she actually tried. Classic.

Amy, on the other hand, got pulled in deep once the ritual scenes started going dark. Like, real dark. She was tense throughout-especially when the blood came into play-and said the ritual arc was easily her favorite part, even if it creeped her out. Honestly, same.

But here's where the movie kind of lost all of us: the pacing and the emotional drama. There's a lot of back-and-forth between the two main characters, and while we get it's meant to show grief and trauma, it felt repetitive and dragged out. The emotional weight just didn't land like it should have. The story kind of stumbled in building the supernatural world, too-like, the ritual was cool, but why it happened and what it really meant? That part was foggy and undercooked.

By the time it wrapped up, we all agreed it was fun to experience together, especially in the dark with the volume up. It had moments-definitely creepy, visually strong at times-but as a full package, it didn't live up to what the concept deserved.

Final score from the crew: 4/10. Cool idea, scary at parts, but not quite the horror gem we hoped for.

"The Surrender" was not a movie that I was familiar with prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2025. So I didn't know what I was in for, aside from it being a supernatural horror movie. And given my lov of all things horror, of course I had to check it out and give it a fair chance.

The storyline, while there was potential, proved dull and uneventful. And when things actually started to happen, the movie abruptly ended. So I can't claim that writer Julia Max, whom also directed the movie, delivered a particularly entertaining or enjoyable script for the movie.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, aside from leading actresses Colby Minifie and Kate Burton. The acting performances in the movie were fair, despite the fact that the script proved to be a dud.

There was an excessive amount of screaming, crying, and calling out for dad throughout the course of the movie, almost to the point where it was too much and started to ruin the movie.

The effects in the movie were okay, but there wasn't an abundance of special effects to be enjoyed.

"The Surrender" was a strange movie, and it didn't particularly entertain me all that much. I actually dozed off twice along the way, as the narrative was a swing and a miss. It was more of a mother/daughter drama than it was a horror movie. If you sit down to watch "The Surrender" with the hopes of a horror movie, like I did, you'll be sorely disappointed.

This is definitely not a movie that will grace my screen a second time, as it was a struggle to watch it the first time around.

My rating of writer and director Julia Max's 2025 movie "The Surrender" lands on a very generous two out of ten stars.

I went into this flick with fairly low expectations and was pleasantly surprised, even though it doesn't quite stick the landing in the end. We follow Colby Minifie, who is visiting her parents' house after her father becomes ill and eventually dies. With a rather difficult relationship with her mother, she now tries to reconnect with her. However, her mother is planning to perform a resurrection ritual, and things obviously don't go as planned.

Let me start off by saying that I would love to see Colby Minifie in more projects. I already really liked her in The Boys, and here she does a commendable job as well. She is able to convey the emotional weight packed into this film but also has great comedic timing and an overall unique screen presence. Her mother, played by Kate Burton, was also convincing and portrayed the role of a grieving woman desperate to bring her husband back very well.

The movie starts off rather slow, exploring the family dynamics by combining emotional depth with small comedic moments. The mixture overall works well and pulls the audience into the narrative. Once the ritual begins, the first harrowing moments occur, and the movie picks up the pace slightly. Despite the slow pacing and dialogue-driven opening, it never gets boring.

When they finish the ritual, I was hoping for the grand finale that had been teased in the film's earlier moments. The tone completely shifts, and the setting becomes almost otherworldly, with the characters trapped inside a protective circle surrounded by nothing but black. It creates a tense and eerie atmosphere.

Without spoiling the ending, I have to say I wasn't fully satisfied with the film's conclusion. Sadly, the ending is often the most memorable part of a movie, and with this one showing such potential, it's disappointing that it didn't quite stick the landing. Still, it's a decent horror film that explores familiar themes in a unique and interesting way, even if it doesn't deliver anything particularly memorable in the end. I enjoyed the final product, but I couldn't help but leave feeling a little unsatisfied. [5.8/10]

This started off bad and got worse, setting the scene and building characters is important. But this dragged on for 45 minutes or so, then the guy comes who is going to do the magic....

As if by this point I wasn't ready to call it a day and succumb to fact I'd utterly wasted 50 minutes the decision was made.

The acting is weak and it gets weaker, whilst I only made it to minute 50.. I'd urge you to save yourself at least 50 minutes. Plenty of other good horror's/thrillers.

In the first part of the film I watched it simply goes over and over the same content, giving the sick guy his meds. Mummy is not happy with the daughter and over and over it goes, one might even go so far as to say this is meant to build plot. It doesn't, the only thing is builds is boredom and the certainty that you made a big mistake putting this film on!