When a man dies, his wife and daughter call someone to perform a dark ritual that will bring him back from the dead.
Flawed, yet intriguing and dark.
Well, it cuts right to it. Its opening scene immediately pulls you in, planting a question that lingers throughout: what is that – and how on earth are we going to get there? It’s a confident start, and one that signals the kind of journey writer/director Julia Max is interested in taking us on.
Beneath the horror lies something dramatic, yet very much human. The film taps into the devastation of watching someone you love deteriorate – someone who was once strong, almost invincible, now reduced to fragility and suffering. That helplessness, that inability to do anything about it… It hurts. And that pain becomes the very foundation upon which Max builds her horror. Not shock, not spectacle – love. Unconditional love, slowly mutating into something darker.
Because, of course, humanity has always flirted with the idea of cheating death. From ancient civilisations to modern pseudoscience – and even legitimate scientific ambition – we keep asking the same question: can we bring people back? Cinema has explored this obsession time and again, from Re-Animator (1985), Pet Sematary (1989/2019), Flatliners (1990), A Dark Song (2016): https://kaygazpro.com/a-dark-song-2016-drama-fantasy-horror/, Birth/Rebirth (2023): https://kaygazpro.com/birth-rebirth-2023-drama-horror-thriller/. And the pattern is always the same: grief becomes obsession, love becomes control, and reason slowly gives way to something irrational, metaphysical… and dangerous. The Surrender follows a similar path to A Dark Song, but the latter is more “dangerous” as it actually follows, almost to the letter, the ritual that one can allegedly use to bring someone back from the dead (known as the Abramelin Operation). Yeah, please don’t try it at home…
I also have to mention the casting. Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Vaughn Armstrong, and Neil Sandilands feel like real people. Not polished, not idealised – just human. And that quality makes everything that unfolds far more unsettling and way out of Hollywood-looking.
Narratively, the film delivers on its promise. Barbara, in particular, is almost infuriating in her narcissism, but she is also essential. Without her, the ritual – and the consequences that follow – would never unfold.
Yes, there are small imperfections here and there, the kind that a slightly bigger budget might have smoothed out. But honestly, that feels secondary. What matters is that Max and Shudder craft a horror film that raises questions and provides plenty of food for thought. One that feeds on guilt, on grief, on the endless “what ifs,” “should haves,” “could haves,” “would haves,” and “if onlys” that tend to haunt us long after loss.
And that, in many ways, is far more terrifying than anything supernatural. Be it purgatory, the underworld, or even who/what comes back from these places.
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