Title DossierCrime

The Apology

CrimeDrama

Twenty years after the disappearance of her daughter, a recovering alcoholic is preparing to host her family's Christmas celebration when her estranged ex-brother-in-law arrives unannounced, bearing nostalgic gifts and a heavy secret.

Year

2022

Duration

1h 32m

IMDb

5.2

Poster Feed

Cast

Alison Locke

Director

Anna Gunn

Darlene Hagen

Linus Roache

Jack Kingsley

Cast

Alison Locke

Director

Anna Gunn

Darlene Hagen

Linus Roache

Jack Kingsley

Janeane Garofalo

Gretchen Sullivan

Mary Leeholland

Sally Hagen

Esmé McSherry

Young Sally

Zena Leigh Logan

Reporter

Alison Locke

Writer

Trailer

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Comments

10 Comments

Hassan Amadil حسن اماديلJun 14, 2025

This is not a Shudder horror movie, but it is excellent drama by first-class actors around a horrifying subject. It reminded my husband and me a little of when we first started watching David Mamet's movies. At first, you're a little taken aback, because all of his characters speak in such a way that the words, not the emotional delivery, convey the power of the moment, so that when you first start watching a Mamet film, you think for a moment, "What's wrong with all these people?", and then the magic clicks, and you're entranced. Not that Locke's style in anyway copies Mamet, it's all her own. Nevertheless, we had a similar experience with this movie. At first, we wondered why these wonderful actors seemed a little awkward, and then suddenly what was being conveyed clicked, and we were caught up. Excellent film.

Derisse Ondo♥️Jun 14, 2025

This film is misnamed because there's no real apology offered, in fact the murderer sexually assaulted the missing daughter as a sixteen year old minor and blamed her for screaming saying "it was an accident." He took a child to an isolated area and started kissing her and broke her neck for screaming. He even tried to sexually assault the mother earlier in the film, after not seeing her in nearly twenty years, claiming he returned because he "loves her" so much. This entitled man actually thinks he's going to have a calm talk with the love of his life about how he murdered her underaged daughter and his niece (by marriage) during an attempted rape. He brought a gun "for his protection" and cut the phone lines because "she's so smart." THEN after he's tied up to a chair in a basement after she managed to sneak attack him when he holds her hostage, he proceeds to complain about how "he was used for money" during his marriage to her sister. This isn't the best film I've ever seen and it's certainly not a surprising or satisfying mystery but it's still decent for this accurate portrayal of how "normal" and entitled the average white male abuser thinks he is our society, fifty years after the second wave of feminism.

Taati KröhneJul 6, 2023

source: The Apology

Ahlamiitta🍓🍓Jul 6, 2023

First of all, I NEVER review movies. I watched without looking at the reviews. I didn't want to be dissuaded from watching. I usually turn on a Thriller or Horror movie while I'm working since I work with data all day. I've seen a lot of these kinds of movies lately, and this was, by far, the best one I've seen in a long while. The movie just unravels in a way that makes sense. You learn a little at a time, and when you think you're coming up on a potentially boring Act II, you instead find the very necessary, and extremely well done scene where Anna Gunn's character expresses what it's like to go through something as is portrayed in the movie, and she is very believable. I watched, and the whole time I thought, "this is seriously what this situation would be like between these two people." The antagonist was apologetic in a way that you'd expect. Talking verbal and physical beatings and being understanding about it all... for a while. There was the smallest bit of "Girl Power" in the movie, but I don't mind that at all. It wasn't full on man hating by any stretch, the woman in the movie had more than her share of things to answer for.

Chimwemwe MlombwaMay 29, 2023

AMU GRG SHAHMay 29, 2023

source: The Apology

Ahmad JaberMay 23, 2023

For a low budget psychological thriller produced by Shudder, this film was actually not half bad. The screenplay is definitely not great even by Shudder standards. However, Anna Gunn's terrific performance is the saving grace that carries this film & makes it actually watchable. We already knew Anna Gunn is an incredibly talented actress based on her work in Breaking Bad, but in this film she portrays a broken mother who's daughter has been missing for the last 20 years - a nightmare every parent dreads happening to them. Anna Gunn's heartbreaking anguish is all on full display and it helps make the film a compelling watch. While the overall film is not perfect and I understand why some may not like it, id recommend watching it just for Anna Gunn's performance alone. The movies only 90 mins long, so it won't feel like a total waste of time.

King KMay 23, 2023

The Apology is a cheap movie and by that I don't mean just the budget. Sure it is a low budget movie but there are good low budget movies, unfortunately this isn't one of them. The story is very predictable, not well written in my opinion and the execution was just average. The acting wasn't that great either. Linus Roache, I can't say I'm a big fan of his performance, found it a bit bland and not convincing at all. As for Anna Gunn it was just average as well. Never been a big fan of her either. The Apology is the kind of movie I will forget everything about it by tomorrow and that's a good thing.

mtantoush77May 23, 2023

Started out ok enough. That is if you forgive the whole 'car broke down' thing. But still, we will give them the benefit of the doubt there. Was actually getting into it. Obviously there was no shock or surprise with the big reveal, I think we could see that one ambling down the road for some time. Again, forgivable, there are only so many stories out there and it soon becomes apparent that we aren't watching anything new. Still nice enough little story. But then.......one can only assume that whoever was writing this had left it until the last minute and it was due in the next day. The scrip falls apart completely with some cringe-worthy dialog (fair play - the two leads managed to deliver it without looking for the director to check it was actually correct). The introduction of the 'neighbour' character who was nonchalantly walking the dog was equally as contrived. I expect the writer had recently watched Fargo and thought - "that was good - I'm going to do one of them". It seems It isn't that easy though is it.

abenalocalMay 23, 2023

The man has intent of confessing and apology but with a gun at his hand and appears to be not a man feeling remorse. The woman has intent of killing the man who killed her daughter but she tried to hurt him and make him confess who is there to confess the murder. The scenario is really mind-bender. And the female character, Anna Gunn, was showing us very good acting with screams, tears, halucinations, and so on, losing herself in the story, and deeply feeling the pain of her missing and murdered daughter, while the male, Linus Roache, became poor and limited as a character actor, or failed to catch up with his partner. Also, I saw a scene on the bed in which he blinked his eyes for the cloth hit them in a moment though he's blacked out. And they would have made a scene longer where he was having a panick attack in the basement. It ran through in a second. The whole film was built upon Anna's character acting and remained so poor. You would like to go ahead and follow the story and actions and you find yourself lost out of where. The script you took your daughter's best friend away from her, came to me unnecessary or it seems as if she was trying to get him felt guilty conscience so that he could act better :) Anyway... I see Anna worked so hard to upgrade the movie but remained alone. Applauses to Anna Gunn...Thank you.