THE CONFESSION movie poster | ©2026 Quiver Distribution
Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Italia Ricci, Scott Mechlowicz, Zachary Golinger, Terence Rosemore, Craig Kolkebeck, Ron Fallica, Jay DeVon Johnson, Fleming Moore, Justin Matthew Smith
Writer: Will Canon
Director: Will Canon
Distributor: Quiver Distribution
Release Date: January 16, 2026
THE CONFESSION turns out to be a riff on a Robert Browning book, but it handles the elements so loosely that characters have to keep referring to it for us to identify similarities.
In the town of Elbe, Texas, 120 miles outside Dallas, Pastor Arthur Riley (Craig Kolkebeck) of the Mt. Calvary Church leaves a tape cassette message for his daughter, then drowns himself in the local lake.
Nine years later, Riley’s recently-widowed adult daughter Naomi (Italia Ricci) moves back to her father’s house in Elbe with her nine-year-old son Dylan (Zachary Golinger).
Dylan doesn’t want to be here, insisting that the house is “weird.” Naomi at first thinks this is just the boy complaining because he wants to return to California but eventually has to agree.
Naomi finds the tape, which contains Riley’s confession of murdering a man named Royce Cobb (Fleming Moore) because at time he thought it would stop an unspecified phenomenon. However, on the tape, Riley says that if Naomi finds the tape and the rats come back, “it” is starting again.
Naomi doesn’t immediately bring the tape to the police, turning instead to old high school pal Grayson (Scott Mechlowicz) to check out whether Royce Cobb was a real person, let alone her father’s victim. Meanwhile, Dylan’s behavior gets stranger.
Director/writer Will Canon initially sets up a good, creepy supernatural mystery. He is aided by strong performances from Ricci, who is suitably tense, maternal, astonished and anguished, and Golinger, who can be touchingly plaintive or alarmingly matter-of-fact.
THE CONFESSION even holds up when it takes a definitive dive into Christian theology. However, once Canon settles on the narrative he’s updating, the movie seems to jump tracks. It tells us rather than dramatizes what we’re meant to feel and the connections we’re meant to make.
As with a lot of horror movies, THE CONFESSION unfortunately becomes less scary once we know what’s happening. It’s also unclear why things work exactly the way they do.
THE CONFESSION is okay as a well-acted spooky outing, but its content doesn’t match its articulated themes.
Related: Movie Review: WE BURY THE DEAD
Related: Movie Review: ANACONDA
Related: Movie Review: AVATAR: FIRE AND ICE
Related: Movie Review: IS THIS THING ON?
Related: Movie Review: MANOR OF DARKNESS
Related: Movie Review: DUST BUNNY
Related: Movie Review: SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT
Related: Movie Review: DEAD MAN’S WIRE
Related: Movie Review: INFLUENCERS
Related: Movie Review: THE KING OF COLOR
Related: Movie Review: FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2
Related: Movie Review: THE MANNEQUIN
Related: Movie Review: THE WILDERNESS
Related: Movie Review: 100 NIGHTS OF HERO
Related: Movie Review: MAN FINDS TAPE
Related: Movie Review: WICKED: FOR GOOD
Related: Movie Review: HAMNET
Related: Movie Review: THE RUNNING MAN
Related: Movie Review: LAST DAYS
Related: Movie Review: CHAIN REACTIONS
Related: Movie Review: PETER HUJAR’S DAY
Related: Movie Review: DIE MY LOVE
Related: Movie Review: YOUR HOST
Related: Movie Review: SHELBY OAKS
Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X
Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: THE CONFESSION (2026)
Related Posts:
Loading ...
