Running Time: 99 minutes
This feature from A24 opens exclusively at cinemas on May 30th.
In 2023, Australian twin filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou scored a surprise hit with “Talk to Me,” a little $4-million-dollar independent horror feature that went on to gross over $90 million worldwide. Thankfully, their follow-up is not a sequel, but another original tale filled with chills and a palpable sense of dread. “Bring Her Back” is anything but a feel-good summer movie, but that isn’t its intent and it is a memorably unsettling moviegoing experience.
17-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) is a high school student who spends much of his time caring for his visually impaired 12-year-old sister, Piper (Sora Wong). One day, they discover their father dead in the shower. After the traumatic incident, Andy is informed that he can’t file the paperwork and assume custody of Piper until he turns 18. The two are told they will be placed in foster care, and that the young man can proceed with his request in a few months. They are taken to a secluded home, where they meet eccentric guardian Laura (Sally Hawkins) and Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a mute child under her care. The foster mother attempts to connect with the pair by revealing that she has also experienced a tragic loss, that of her teenage daughter. While Laura makes a personal connection with Piper, she and Andy butt heads. It soon becomes clear the guardian has complete control over their future, and as events escalate, may also have something dastardly in mind for them.
The film is being sold as a possession thriller, but that element of the story is secondary to the drama involving loss, grief, and the battle between Andy and Laura over Piper’s care. This is a horror movie, but the most chilling events all involve tense interactions between the residents in this closed-off environment. Virtually all of the central characters have lost important people in their lives, and the filmmakers do an excellent job early on of establishing them and presenting their psychological states with more depth than one might anticipate.
Andy’s relationship with his father (and, to a degree, sister) is far more complicated than it initially appears. As Laura slowly undermines the teenage boy and becomes a more and more intimidating force, one can see the horrific lengths that she is willing to go through to get what she wants. Her behavior is both surprising and unsettling. Memorable bits involve an unusual request at the funeral for the deceased, and a surprising reveal involving some secret nighttime activities. Moments with young Oliver are especially unsettling, as the youngster unexpectedly acts out in shocking ways (including a horrifying act of self-mutilation). None of these scenes are easy to forget.
Some of these shocks could easily have been overplayed, but there is a grounded approach to the story and performances that make them convincing. Hawkins is an Oscar-winner who always gives exceptional performances, and really gives her all to the role. It’s very interesting to watch the performer, who often plays introverted characters, become more outwardly threatening in this feature. And the younger cast members are equally exceptional. All the performances are convincing, allowing the story to eventually go to even darker places.
As mentioned, the film’s most effective elements do come from the disturbing games being played by Laura on her foster teen, perhaps because they feel more relatable and realistic. So much so, that the finale, which features the potential for the supernatural, almost doesn’t seem necessary. And, as many may have already noticed, one should be warned that the psychological and physically distressing things the young characters are put through can be hard to watch, especially for parents.
This is not an upbeat horror feature that ends on an adrenaline-filled high, but that isn’t what these filmmakers are going for. In this story, loss, despair and guilt clearly pushes all of these characters to their absolute limits, only to meet with more grief and suffering. One can’t deny that the atmosphere and uncomfortable air that permeates the entire film is the work of expert filmmaking. “Bring Her Back” wants to rattle viewers and does so with considerable ease.