| The Surrender | |
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 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.
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]
The Surrender was released in the United States on March 9, 2025 at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival. [2]
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]