A dark and disturbing horror drama headlined by an excellent Sally Hawkins, Bring Her Back balances heavy thematic material with shocking gruesome visuals, resulting in a suitably macabre and surprisingly mature sophomore effort by the Philippou brothers.
Following an impressive debut movie like Talk to Me is a tall task, yet directors Danny and Michael Philippou live up to expectations with Bring Her Back, in the process confirming that they belong in the conversation for best horror filmmaker working today.
Tackling similar thematic material found in Talk to Me where characters naively engage in demon-play, Bring Her Back has a much heavier air to its horror story, with all-consuming grief the catalyst for a terrifically tense and at-times moving horror experience.
Bring Her Back suitably begins with a death, as stepsiblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) find themselves orphaned when their single father (Stephen Phillips) suddenly passes away. With three months until Andy can petition for guardianship of Piper, the pair are placed under the care of foster mother Laura (Sally Hawkins) who is still recoverin from the death of her daughter (Mischa Heywood), a grief that has led her down a dark path that involves the eerie presence of a mute young boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips.)
As mysterious as it is thrilling, Bring Her Back showcases the Philippou brothers’ impressive ability to deliver genuine scares amidst a psychological drama of intense emotional interplay between its three main characters, who with every passing moment find themselves submerged deeper into a dark pit of hell.
Billy Barratt and Sora Wong are terrific in their roles as teen siblings thrust into a sinister scheme both macabre and paranormal, as is young Jonah Wren Phillips who is often at the centre of the films’ brutally effective nightmare horror scenarios.
It is Sally Hawkins who is the standout here, delivering a turn both monstrous and sympathetic that ranks high alongside Toni Collette in Hereditary and Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist in the horror-drama performance stakes. With frazzled appearance and fine Australian accent to boot, Hawkins teases and then flips her “happy-go-lucky” persona to reveal a monster of misery that is as engrossing as she is frightening.
Set and filmed in South Australia, Bring Her Back see’s the Philippou brothers proudly (and thankfully) waving the Australian horror flag high, with their latest film another example how Australia delivers some of the best modern horror movies. Yet the themes of Bring Her Back traverses all border’s and cultures, as does the ability to frighten and disturb, which the Philippou brothers continue to do once again with great success.
