Samuel Goldwyn Films has set The Girl in the River for September 4, 2026, with a day-and-date release that puts it in limited theaters and on digital platforms at the same time.
The new trailer and official synopsis frame it as a small-town Mississippi abduction case that curdles into a murder mystery: twin sisters are taken, and later one of them turns up dead in the Mississippi River. Devon Sawa plays a veteran criminologist close to retirement. Maggie Grace is a young forensic psychologist. Tiffany Haddish plays the police captain, and Ralph Macchio fills out the top-billed cast.
People are already zeroing in on the trailer, the early fall release date, and Tiffany Haddish stepping into more dramatic territory. Samuel Goldwyn Films also points out that Brando Benetton is making his feature directing debut here, and that he moved the script from Italy to Mississippi before shooting in Canton, Vicksburg, and Jackson. That shows. The river imagery, the shut-in small-town atmosphere, and the procedural side of the story all feel baked into the mystery, not pasted on as scenery.
If ensemble crime thrillers, Southern procedurals, and prestige-minded indies with a psychological streak are your thing, The Girl in the River looks like one to put on the watchlist. The limited theatrical and digital release also feels right for an adult-skewing mystery like this.
You can watch The Girl in the River in select theaters or on digital platforms starting September 4, 2026.
