SXSW 2025 Review: The Surrender Is a Grief-Fueled Horror Masterpiece Starring Colby Minifie
In this haunting new film starring The Boys‘s Colby Minifie, The Surrender had its world premiere at SXSW and was immediately snatched up by Shudder. One of the most original entries on this year’s festival lineup, writer and director Julia Max weaves a jarringly real and personal story about grief and loss, using the horror genre as a device to elevate the question she poses from the very first frame—how far would you go to bring your loved ones home?
The film excels in lulling you into a vulnerable state by lassoing your sense of empathy and pulling you into this story of familial grief before gutting you with its expertly crafted scares and gore. At the root of The Surrender is a story of the horror embedded within one’s acceptance of grief. It is a shockingly surreal and touching story that uses a supernatural ritual as a vehicle to explore one woman’s relationship with her parents and what those relationships look like in truth and in fantasy.
Max’s writing in this film proposes countless scenes and scenarios between its powerhouse leads Colby Minifie and Kate Burton in which we begin to understand and fully empathize with their complicated relationship. The first half of this film truly feels like we are witnessing the troubles of a real family, brought to life by deliveries and dialogue that feel transcendent of their medium. By the film’s end, audiences are guaranteed to be deeply moved, particularly by Minifie’s dedication to the genre and script, but also because of the potent realism Max has injected into this story inspired by true events.
Max excels in exploring the nuances that come in tandem with familial relationships, particularly the microaggressions that festering resentment can breed in intimate relationships. It’s hard not to see ourselves in these characters, neither of which are the villain by any means, but seem to find it impossible to find any common ground. In fact, they suffer a miscommunication so grave that it results in disaster. But how are any of us any different?
There are times when The Surrender plays like theater, with shots that refuse to cut away and camera positions that have us watching these two women arguing from afar. We can’t help but feel like bystanders, suspending our understanding of their pain until Max brings us in closer, inviting us to feel everything. This is a tremendous use of the genre packed with some harrowing shots and sequences, particularly in the third act.
In our interview with Max and Minifie, we discussed the film’s themes and inspirations. When discussing how being part of a project like this can differ from Minifie’s current endeavours on The Boys, she explains how exciting it feels to explore another character after playing Ashley for so long.
Colby: Getting to do this movie in between seasons of The Boys was really satisfying to me and important for my artistic health because when you’re on a show this long…. The tone of the boys is very specific and very heightened. And sometimes I’m like, is this all I can do? So to get to do this movie and to have Julia trust me so much…. It was very satisfying to do this other tone, this other very fun thing and then to dive into our last season, go out with a big hoorah and see what’s next!
We certainly speak for everyone when we say we’re also very excited to see what’s next for Max and Minifie, whose latest collaboration The Surrender is an undeniable triumph.
[Review by guest blogger Jurgen Sosa]