I watched Sender as part of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, where it had its New York City premiere on October 19, 2026. Director Russell Goldman was present for a Q&A after the film.
Sender is a film that’s all about the actors, although that doesn’t seem entirely fair to all those who worked on the cinematography, the costumes, the sounds and, of course the writing and directing. All those are indeed excellent, but Sender showcases a tour de force performance by Britt Lower as the lead character.
From the moment we first see her, Britt Lower’s Julia seems to be on a knife-edge – hunched over, too thin, intense, wired, restless. She’s moving into a new apartment, has just lost her job, and is sort of looking for what’s next – a job, an MFA? She’s also in recovery, and her alcoholism was clearly the reason she lost said job (although it doesn’t seem like it was much of a loss). Indeed, the seeming deadness of Julia’s job may go some way to explain her excessive drinking. She always, as one co-worker put it, threw the best parties. What else was there to do?
