‘The Surrender’ Review (Shudder)
Stars: Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Chelsea Alden, Vaughn Armstrong, Riley Rose Critchlow, Mia Ellis, Lola Prince Kelly | Written and Directed by Julia Max
When the family patriarch dies, a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual and bring him back from the dead.
When I selected The Surrender for viewing on Shudder, little did I expect the emotional rollercoaster that awaited me. With a running time of 96 minutes, Julia Max delivers a truly profound and powerful insight into grief and the demands of palliative care on the family as well as the patient, something rarely seen within the horror genre.
The script also effectively shows how memories of the same event can be changed through different perspectives, in this case when it comes to a daughter idolising her father over her mother, alongside the tensions that arise from parents trying to protect their children from the true reality of their failing health as they age.
Kate Burton (Barbara) and Colby Minife (Megan) shine throughout, totally relatable with their historic generational mother / daughter conflict and differing ideas of care for the father’s final days. Add this to the fear of leaving their loved one for any length of time in case they deteriorate and you have a commanding portrayal of the isolation and worry that comes from caring for an unwell family member, followed by overwhelming feelings of loss when they pass.
Kate’s performance as the mother is solid; she is secure in the knowledge of the process she needs to follow and focuses her grief on these arrangements. Prior to this we see her effectively self-harming and attempting anything, including alternative medical approaches, in a bid to help her husband.
In contrast her daughter Megan (played by Colby), is only going along with the ritual preparations as she believes it will fail and sense will prevail, is fraught with anguish and regret. There is a particularly poignant scene where the leads are bathing the father in readiness for the ritual, one outwardly calm and in control but torn up inside and the other obviously heartbroken, confused and tearful.
However, it is Colby whose eyes we experience the film through and this allows her to showcase the true range of her acting ability. Together the pair form a formidable casting and their performances are captivating. This is in part due to Julia’s use of framing as the closeness effectively pulls the audience into the characters turmoil and actions, especially apparent when they are trying to close the father’s mouth and eyes before the rigor mortis sets in, a scene resonating with humanity as they forget their differences to share a joke as well as their grief in the moment.
The sets are impressive, though these are almost unacknowledged as we progress through the film, intended only to highlight the wealth of the family to facilitate the ritual rather than being a focal point of the story. I did like the changes to the colour palette as we moved through the film, finding it became increasingly claustrophobic as darkness took over the screen and the ritual progressed, effectively reflecting Colby’s emotions to force the viewer to experience the same uncertainty at what may happen next.
The Surrender is beautifully shot, contrasting the openness of the outside world against the rooms of the house this family is currently living within. The soundtrack is used effectively, coming in to build tension but Julia also allows her actors to work in silence to drive the film along.
I found The Surrender completely compelling. It is not a film full of gore or jump scares, it is not intended to be. Its fear is more complex than that. Yes, there are a couple of small scenes of body gore, but I don’t believe that is to shock the audience but more to enhance the unsettling feeling of the unknown. Instead, I feel that Julia’s aim is to take the audience on a journey of grief and the inevitability of loss as the dialogue repeats the message death cannot be escaped or erased.
The only issue for me was the sudden unexplained ending. I’m assuming it’s so the audience can interpret in their own way and again reflects the uncertainty or consequences of actions etc, but I personally wanted to know more on which direction this was going to take. Regardless, I appreciate what Julia is trying to bring to the fore, and the tension built up in the second half of the movie is still good, albeit unresolved.
Overall, The Surrender is definitely well worth a watch, and though its slow burn nature may not appeal to everyone it’s nice to see something a little different to the usual horror offerings.
The Surrender is available to watch now on Shudder.
