The Surrender

I went in not expecting much and was very pleasantly surprised. It kept our attention for the entire length of the film, which is something most recent horror movies have been unable to do.

Excellent performances from Colby Minife and Kate Burton. Their chemistry was just right, and both played effortlessly off each other.

The movie was fast paced, the cinematography was beautiful and captivating.

If you liked A Dark Song and Anything For Jackson, you might enjoy this movie. It combines elements of both while retaining some uniqueness.

My only gripe is, much like A Dark Song, the final act was lackluster. The ending was rather abrupt and clunky. It would've been nice to see it fleshed out a little more.

Still, overall, a solid watch.

But there's something about Julie Max's first direct debut "The Surrender" that delves deeper into the darker sides of the human psyche, exploring the different impacts of what it's like for two people to experience a void from the same common denominator. In reality, you could look at this film is contained for its benefit. It's confined to a couple of indoor spaces with four characters. At the most annoying fracture is a mother/daughter relationship. How many times did the daughter called her (mom)? The entire film? Is very annoying, get this the ending of the movie will feel like it needs about 10 more minutes of the story and unfortunately 91 minutes without the credits went by fast. So I am rating this a 5.6/10 because the first time director should give massive credit to her work she'd accomplish.

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!

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" is a supernatural folklore-horror that centres on a mother-daughter conflict.

Despite its promising premise-a meditation on death, grief, and the unbearable pain of loss-the story never quite fulfils its potential.

The writer-director Julia Max's feature debut reveals a striking eye for visuals and atmosphere. Her aesthetic choices are superb, especially in the film's last moments, where grief tension simmer beneath the surface.

However, when the narrative shifts from family drama to occult ritual, coherence begins to falter. The film descends into a kind of beautiful nonsense, evoking echoes of Hereditary, Talk to Me, A Dark Song, The Babadook, and, more recently, The Shrouds.

Max draws layered performances from her leads. Megan (Colby Minifie) and Barbara (Kate Burton) are emotionally distinct and compelling.

Barbara is cold and resolute in her quest to resurrect her husband Robert (Vaughn Armstrong) after a tormented illness, while Megan wrestles with doubt, torn between empathy and skepticism, burdened by the ongoing pain of watching her father suffer.

The core idea is clear, and there's real potential for emotional impact in its exploration of the truths we're most reluctant to face.

The narrative gaps and tonal inconsistencies are too evident to ignore. The film digs into deep themes but struggles to land with clarity and keep viewers engaged.

There are moments worth honoring, such as how the film plays intriguingly with trauma, hope, and monstrosity-blending psychological horror with gore and body horror elements.

It stirs something compelling, even if the final result feels more like an atmospheric sketch than a fully realised vision.

"The Surrender" doesn't over-explain itself-a refreshing choice in a genre often burdened by exposition. Yet at times, it veers too far into the cryptic, resembling a literal descent into a hellish purgatory, leaving the audience more adrift than intrigued.

Is it a bad film? Absolutely not. It's flawed, but not without merit. Flawed but worthwhile, especially for fans of visually rich, boundary-pushing indie horror.

While "The Surrender" doesn't quite stick the landing, Max's bold vision and confident aesthetic suggest she's a filmmaker to watch.

Horror needs voices like hers-unsettling, ambitious, and willing to take risks.