You can always count on horror to push the limits of cinematic experimentation. One of the last vestiges of go for it filmmaking, the genre allows for creators to run wild on tiny budgets in pursuit of being the next master of the macabre. The Philippou Brothers are the latest rising voices in horror, and hot off their debut breakout “Talk to Me” they’re back with their follow up “Bring Her Back,” an unsettling, stomach churning new tale about grief, trauma, and lost. The best horror films get under your skin and leave you changed, and “Bring Her Back” is a fascinating exercise in unassailable gnarly imagery clashing against pedestrian storytelling. It’s a tale as old as time that unfolds like many others working in the vein of slow burn, elevated horror told in unforgettable visual execution. “Bring Her Back” is proof these boys know how to haunt your dreams but struggle to say something more important about their nightmare fuel.
The Philippou Brothers seem overly interested in the who and the what rather than contexualizing their imagery with the why and the how. This imbalance makes “Bring Her Back” a sometimes frustrating experience, their over reliance on what they can show dulls the knife of what they can tell. It makes the conventional story beneath the truly visceral imagery much more glaring, unable to hide their reductive narrative we’ve seen a thousand times before. It is so excellent in its violence and dread inducing atmosphere one can be forgiven for being forgiving. No one is delivering visual scares quite like the Phillippous, and we are all the better for what they’re doing and what the continue to do in the space. “Bring Her Back” may have more questions than answers and struggles to blend the visual strength with its story, but it more than succeeds in leaving you changed with sights you won’t be able to unsee.
Written and directed by Daniel and Michael Philippou, “Bring Her Back” follows brother and sister Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) who, after the sudden and violence death of their father are forced to be placed in foster care. Piper is blind and Andy is a bit of an older trouble maker, so the system’s first option is to split them up. Willing to keep them together despite only wanting Piper, Laura (Sally Hawkins) agrees to take them both. Laura lost her daughter (who was also blind) in an accident a few years ago, and takes to Piper a little too much. They also discover that Laura has another foster child in Oliver, a strange boy who doesn’t speak and is often locked in his room by Laura. As the siblings try to settle in, Andy can’t seem to shake the feeling that something isn’t right with Laura and Oliver, and that she may not be the loving, caring foster mom she pretends to be. As his suspicion grows, so do the strange occurrences, and the escalation in violence and unexplainable events that will forever change everyone. The film also stars Sally-Anne Upton, Stephen Phillips and Micia Heywood.
“Bring Her Back” is a smaller, more focused outing than “Talk to Me,” mostly taking place in a single location and small cast. Most of what happens takes place at Laura’s home, and you know I’m a sucker for pressure cooker chamber pieces so this kind of laser focus framework definitely worked for me. Of course, there’s what the Brothers can do on screen that really sets this film apart from many of its peers. There are some truly gnarly scenes that however much you don’t want to look, happen before you get a chance to look away. It is not for the faint of heart, and if you’re even the least bit squeamish you’ll want to make sure you’re fully prepared for what they brothers have in store for you. They have such sights to show you even if they can’t find an original way to tell them, making this the feel bad movie of the year.
Sally Hawkins is an absolute standout, delivering a tour de force performance that injects the tension with heightened, edge of your seat drama. Hawkins has always been great, but she is the emotional crux of this terrifying affair. Barratt and Wong are great child performers that compliment Hawkins’ unraveling as her true nature and intentions are slowly revealed. This movie has all of the makings of a great horror film, but its the surface level exploration of grief and trauma that hold it back. Flooding the screen with horrifying imagery is welcomed in the genre but without something unique to capture its context or tell a resonating story to match, it borders on torture/misery porn. I actually found it to be narratively regressive despite being visually innovative, showing the promise the Phillippous have as directors but also showing their weakness as writers.
I know this visual push and narrative pull point feels belabored, and it gives the impression that I’m lukewarm on this film. I ultimately end in the more forgiving category, about to overlook most of its narrative missteps because what’s on the screen truly rattled me. It takes an awful lot to get me to squirm in my seat and even more for me to take those things home in my mind, and it instills an unshakable uneasy and cements itself as a new terrifying face of horror. Misgivings aside, we need more of this in horror. Patient and slow-burn pacing that slowly escalates in dread and quietly sinks its claws into you so that by the time you feel you need get out and get some fresh air, “Bring Her Back” has you its its grasp and refuses to let go. It may not land the plane as cleanly or as uniquely as something so creepy and chilling deserves, but you won’t find anything this disturbing and unsettling anywhere else.
“Bring Her Back” may be generic at its core, but its excellent visuals and powerful performances make it a bone chilling experience. Deeply disturbing and genuinely bleak, it’s a strong but flawed effort that you won’t forget and even if you’re not as forgiving as I am will leave you excited to see what these boys do next.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
“Bring Her Back” is in theaters May 30th. You can watch the trailer below.
