Review: Bring Her Back

Image courtesy of A24.

Australian filmmaking brothers Danny and Michael Philippou's first two gruesome features focus on characters who are grieving and ultimately find themselves mixed up in body horror stories involving supernatural elements. I thought their first film, "Talk to Me," was a little overrated, but mostly good, whereas their latest, the grim and gloomy "Bring Her Back," is just overrated.

The film follows two siblings - Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) - as they find themselves in the foster care system after discovering their father dead in the shower. It is suggested that the hulking Andy was traumatized by his experiences with his father and previously found himself in some trouble, while Piper, who is blind, was the favored child and Andy's stepsister. There seems to be some question as to whether he'll successfully be able to gain custody of her when he turns 18.

The two land in the home of Laura (Sally Hawkins), a former social worker who lost her daughter, also blind, some time before in an accident. Laura comes off as warm and inviting, a goofy individual who likes to blast music in the house, curses off the bat in front of Andy and Piper, and even gives in to Andy's request to allow them to take some whiskey shots.

There's also an unexplainable presence in the house - a young boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) who will not speak, has a shaved head, and a bruise of some sort underneath his eye. Andy never seems to get the response he wants when enquiring about Oliver's backstory. 

Not too long after they have been staying at Laura's, some odd things occur. Andy starts wetting himself and we later discover a nefarious explanation. At every turn, Laura appears to undermine Andy in front of Piper, reminding him that her report on their relationship could make or break his efforts to later be her guardian.

Much like after a particularly memorable gruesome sequence in "Talk to Me" - a scene involving a younger sibling playing a deadly game - things go haywire in this movie after a nauseatingly gruesome sequence in which Andy tries to feed Oliver some melon. From there, things get more disturbing.

There's a lot going on in "Bring Her Back" and, truth be told, there's insignificant explanation for much of it. The filmmakers continually show clips of some sort of ritual involving a cult that become increasingly grotesque, but the role they play in the film's story is nebulous to a frustrating degree. There are also numerous scenes of horrific body horror gore involving children and most of them appear to exist solely to shock.

Hawkins, a great multitalented actor, convincingly portrays Laura as a person whose grief turns monstrous, and Barratt and Wong are both solid as the children unfortunate enough to be in her care. But one of my quibbles about "Talk to Her" was that, though impressive in many respects, it ultimately didn't add up to more than just being a decent horror movie. "Bring Her Back" is more extreme in this respect: It's unrelentingly gruesome and grief is clearly an important element of the story, but it mostly feels skin deep - which might seem like a bad pun considering how much flesh is torn in this picture.

The Philippou brothers are obvious talents - "Talk to Me" was, if nothing else, a series of impressive set pieces - but they have taken a step back here. "Bring Her Back" ultimately left me cold. It's the feel bad movie of the summer and while it puts its audience through the ringer, there's little payoff to make the experience feel worthwhile.