Echo Valley (film)

Echo Valley
Release poster
Directed by	Michael Pearce
Written by	Brad Ingelsby
Produced by	Ridley Scott Michael Pruss Brad Ingelsby Kevin J. Walsh
Starring	Julianne Moore Sydney Sweeney Domhnall Gleeson Kyle MacLachlan Fiona Shaw
Cinematography	Benjamin Kračun[1]
Edited by	Maya Maffioli
Music by	Jed Kurzel
Production companies	Apple Studios Scott Free Productions Black Bicycle Entertainment The Walsh Company
Distributed by	Apple TV+
Release dates	June 6, 2025 (2025-06-06) (United States) June 13, 2025 (2025-06-13) (Apple TV+)
Running time	103 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English

Echo Valley is a 2025 American thriller film directed by Michael Pearce, written by Brad Ingelsby, and starring Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney, Domhnall Gleeson, Kyle MacLachlan, and Fiona Shaw. The story follows a woman who lives in a farm in Pennsylvania and discovers that her daughter has come to her in an alarming state.

The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada on June 6, 2025; ahead of being released on Apple TV+ on June 13.^[3]

Kate Garrett works as a horse trainer on her farm, Echo Valley, in southern Pennsylvania. Kate is reeling from the tragedy of losing her wife, who died in a riding accident, and is struggling to make ends meet with the operation of the farm. She seeks financial help from her ex-husband, Richard, an attorney, but Richard refuses to invest any further in the farm, and chastises Kate for squandering her money to help their Claire, a troubled drug addict who has been in and out of rehab. One night, Claire returns to the farm unexpectedly to visit her mother. Their reunion is interrupted when Claire's boyfriend Ryan arrives and the two have an argument, after which Claire leaves with him.

Later, when Claire is on the farm, she is confronted by Jackie Lawson, a violent drug dealer who is seeking repayment from Claire, who inadvertently threw a stash of his drugs into a river. Jackie physically assaults Claire, but Kate intervenes and threatens to call the police. An unstable Claire flees with Ryan, telling Kate the two are going to camp for a few days.

Several nights later, Claire returns home in a bloodied shirt, and confesses that she killed Ryan during an argument by pushing him and causing him to hit his head on a rock. In Claire's car, Kate finds a corpse wrapped tightly in a sheet. Desperate to protect Claire, Kate drives the body to a nearby lake to dispose of it, weighing it down with a cinder block. She returns home, assuring Claire she has taken care of the matter.

Some time later, after Kate pays Jackie his sum of money, Claire disappears from the farm. When Kate goes to search for her, she finds her with Ryan. A shocked Kate asks Claire whose body she disposed of, but Ryan pushes her to the ground before fleeing with Claire in his car. Kate struggles to maintain her composure, and seeks emotional support from her friend, Jessie.

Jackie arrives again at the farm one day, threatening to extort Kate over her disposal of the body, whom she learns was that of a local addict, Greg Kaminski, who overdosed on fentanyl Jackie dealt him. Claire, aware that her mother would cover for her, manipulated her into disposing of the remains. Jackie drugs Kate by sticking her with a hypodermic needle, and coerces her into a plot to burn down her barn for insurance money. As a cover, Jackie temporarily stays in the apartment above the barn, posing as Kate's newly-hired farmhand. Late one night, Jackie watches as Kate lights the barn on fire with a road flare before he flees in his car.

The following morning, Kate is questioned by police, who inform her that the charred remains of a body were found in the rubble. She suggests they could be that of Greg Kaminski, whom she says was a friend of Jackie. Jackie, who denied knowing Kate, is brought in for questioning. It is revealed that Kate, with Jessie's help, had retrieved Greg's body from the lake, and placed it in the barn's apartment just after Kate started the fire, effectively framing Jackie. Kate intentionally left behind a metal pin from the road flare, which Jackie was seen purchasing via store camera monitors; police assume Greg overdosed inside the apartment, and that Jackie started the blaze to cover up his death.

Kate is cleared of suspicion, while Jackie is charged with the crime. Back at the farm, Kate hires a crew to bulldoze and remove the rubble from the barn. Late one night, Kate is awoken by her dog barking, and finds Claire crying outside on the doorstop. The two stare at one another from the front door window.

The film was announced in March 2023, with Brad Ingelsby writing and Michael Pearce directing. It was produced by Scott Free Productions and The Walsh Company, with Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss, Ingelsby, and Kevin J. Walsh as producers, with Sydney Sweeney, and Julianne Moore set to star in the film.^[4] In April 2023 Domhnall Gleeson was also added to the cast.^[5] In May 2024, Kyle MacLachlan, Fiona Shaw and Edmund Donovan were announced for the cast.^[6]

Principal photography commenced in New Jersey in May 2023, under the title Wildvale, and concluded in late June.^[7][8][9] Filming locations include Hunterdon County and Morris County.^[7][10]

It was released in select theaters in the United States on June 6, 2025, before being added to Apple TV+ on June 13.^[3]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 56 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Julianne Moore's committed turn and the relatable premise of how far a parent will go for their child gives Echo Valley some high peaks, but soporific plotting sends it sloping back down to routine territory."^[11] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[12]

• Echo Valley at IMDb