Posthumous (2026) by Josh Tanner

Director: Josh Tanner

Year: 2026

Country: Australia

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Trying to make ends meet, a young woman finds solace in a series of videotapes that are designed to bring her closer to her mother, who died during her birth, but the more she watches, the more she becomes convinced that a supernatural entity is targeting them and must find a way to stop it.

Review:

Overall, there’s quite a lot to like here. Among the better factors here is a strong and surprisingly likable main setup that gives us a strong connection to what’s going on as it builds toward a genuinely likable main running line. With the initial setup here involving the sense of comfort provided by the tapes and what watching them all means as she tries to make do with her father despite the series of issues they face together while looking to reconnect, it gives this a great touch with the way it sets up how watching the tapes is so integral to what’s going on. The longer she watches them, the more she finds the idea behind them terrifying, as the mysterious anomalies and unsightly issues regarding what’s going on that don’t unnerve anyone else but her spark the need to investigate and bring her into contact with the former members of her parents’ friend circle to understand what’s going on.

That also brings about the intriguing idea of realizing the descent into madness that her mother experienced is the same thing she’s currently going through trying to figure out what’s going on, giving the story a strong central throughline into the later half when it starts to turn more supernatural and ominous. While it slowly becomes apparent that her mother went crazy through the strange supernatural ritual that went on they performed and released a terrifying entity that targeted the family, she’s going crazy as a result of the figure coming back for her, as the setpieces here are short, quick-shot jump scares involving something jumping out of nowhere to attack someone. With her father getting worse and the entity getting bolder in trying to confront her, this picks up considerably and becomes more frenetic and fun, with the finale confrontation being immensely fun. Overall, these manage to give this one quite a lot to enjoy here.

There are some drawbacks here to keep it down. The main issue here is a surprisingly underwhelming and genuinely troublesome final half where this gets slightly derailed from what it was originally about in favor of something else entirely. Rather than focus on this strange ritual that was shown on the tapes that involved her and the parents taking place that has this generally appreciated quality to set up this released entity haunting her and her family because of the ritual, this one turns instead to a series of poorly-framed and lackluster series of interactions that are built on trying to contain the spectral figure through the use of confusing camera trickery similar to the home movies she was watching. This is all way too confusing and doesn’t tie into this one as well as it seems to exist in a rather overblown manner compared to what the rest of the film offered up, and is what really holds this back the most.

Overview: ****/5

An incredibly strong and likable feature, this one manages to bring up a series of effective elements that keep it going, despite a few minor drawbacks that hold it back. Those with an interest in this kind of genre fare, who are curious about it, or who don’t mind the drawbacks on display, will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.