General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Echo Valley

Echo Valley is a 2025 American thriller film directed by Michael Pearce and written by Brad Ingelsby, starring Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney as a mother and daughter whose relationship is tested when the daughter arrives at her mother's farm covered in someone else's blood. It was produced by Apple Original Films and released in a limited theatrical run on June 6, 2025, before streaming on Apple TV+ from June 13, 2025.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director / writer	Michael Pearce (director); Brad Ingelsby (writer and producer)¹
Producers	Ridley Scott, Michael A. Pruss, Kevin J. Walsh, and Brad Ingelsby³
Cast	Julianne Moore (Kate Garretson), Sydney Sweeney (Claire Garretson), Domhnall Gleeson (Jackie), Fiona Shaw, Kyle MacLachlan, Edmund Donovan³^•⁴
Release	Limited theatrical release June 6, 2025; streaming on Apple TV+ June 13, 2025²
Runtime and rating	1 hour 44 minutes (104 minutes); rated R for language throughout, some violence and drug material²^•⁵
Critical reception	Metascore 54 (mixed or average); 53% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 93 reviews⁶^•²
Recognition	Nominated for a 2026 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film, Streaming or TV⁷

Spoilers

Plot and premise

Kate Garrettson (Julianne Moore) is a horse trainer living a quiet life on a secluded farm in southern Pennsylvania, grieving the death of her partner and struggling financially after paying for her daughter's rehabilitation.⁸^•⁹ Her estranged daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney), who struggles with drug addiction, arrives late one night hysterical and covered in blood that is not her own, claiming she was involved in a violent altercation with her boyfriend.⁸ As Kate pieces together what happened, she is drawn into a dangerous cover-up, and a threatening figure from Claire's life, her dealer Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson), pulls her into a blackmail situation.⁸^•¹⁰

Apple's press synopsis frames the story as a tale of love, sacrifice, and survival, asking how far a mother will go to try to save her child.¹ Reviewers described the film as shifting registers: a domestic family drama for much of its running time, a psychological thriller once the dead body is introduced, and a crime caper in its final act.⁹

Cast and characters

Julianne Moore as Kate Garretson, a horse trainer and grieving mother³
Sydney Sweeney as Claire Garretson, Kate's troubled daughter³
Domhnall Gleeson as Jackie, a threatening figure from Claire's life³^•⁸
Fiona Shaw as Leslie Oliver, Kate's best friend³^•⁹
Kyle MacLachlan as Richard Garretson, Claire's father³^•¹⁰
Edmund Donovan as Ryan Sinclair³

Production

The screenplay came from Brad Ingelsby, the writer of Mare of Easttown, and the story was inspired by his aunt, who operated a horse farm named Echo Valley. Director Michael Pearce said he visited the real farm but found it not quite right for the screen.¹¹

Although the film is set in Pennsylvania, it was shot in New Jersey, including Hunterdon County and Rockaway, with a large part of Moore and Sweeney's scenes filmed at a farm in Delaware Township, New Jersey. Pearce said the search for a location that was both idyllic and atmospheric enough to sustain most of the film took a long time, and the chosen farm was found very late in preproduction while it was in escrow.¹¹

Strikes and completion. The production wrapped six weeks of filming before being shut down by the 2023 actors' and writers' strikes, then paused for a full year before returning for final scenes, including underwater sequences filmed at Pinewood Studios, with the rest shot in New Jersey.¹²

Reception

Critical response was mixed. The film holds a Metascore of 54, classified by Metacritic as mixed or average, based on 22 critic reviews, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer of 53 percent from 93 reviews.⁶^•² The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus credits Julianne Moore's committed performance and the relatable premise of how far a parent will go for their child, while faulting the plotting.²

Positive reviews singled out the performances. Collider gave the film 80 and called it a tense thriller propelled by Moore, Sweeney, and a "never scarier" Domhnall Gleeson; The Telegraph and The Times also scored it 80, with The Telegraph praising Ingelsby's use of phone tracking and instant messaging as dramatic assets.⁶ More negative reviews included IndieWire's 58, which described the later sections as a soapy crime saga that diverts attention from the central relationship, and the NME review headlined that even Moore and Sweeney could not save what it called a hollow thriller.⁶^•¹³

Several reviewers converged on the same structural criticism: the mother-daughter relationship is strongest in the first half, while the third act shifts toward crime-thriller mechanics that some found rushed or implausible.⁹^•⁸ Common Sense Media highlighted the film as much about the toll addiction takes on relationships as about its plot, noting Sweeney's portrayal of a character who moves between loving daughter, fearful tears, stoned detachment, and violent outbursts.¹⁴

The film received one nomination at the 2026 GLAAD Media Awards, for Outstanding Film, Streaming or TV.⁷

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2025–2026 films › Psychological and erotic thrillers

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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