The Australian filmmaking brothers that shocked the world with their feature debut Talk To Me (2023) return with their newest horror, Bring Her Back. Directed by Michael Philippou and Danny Philippou (who shares a writing credit with frequent collaborator Bill Hinzman), this juggernaut of grief, ghosts, and gore is a strong and accomplished sophomore effort, with some of the boys patented NSFL body destruction, but ultimately held together by an A-Class performance from Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water).
Playing with familiar themes of loss, Bring Her Back follows two orphaned siblings as they settle into their new lives with their mysterious and eccentric foster mother Laura (Hawkins). Andy (Billy Barratt) is only a few months away from applying for guardianship of his blind sister Piper (Sora Wong), but that will all be dependent on Laura’s feedback. And, surprise-surprise, Laura isn’t about to let Piper go without a fight. Although Laura comes to the situation with 20+ years’ experience in the Foster Care system, Andy grows more and more suspicious of her as the days roll by. At face value, she’s the ideal person for the job but why is she so fixated on Piper? And why is her other foster child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) unable to speak…or trying to eat every animal that wonders into the backyard??
The Philippous’ breakout hit Talk To Me was always going to be a tough act to follow, and to their credit, they have tried to spread their weird wings a little bit further with this new picture. By no means as fun as their “Ghosts Are The New Party Drug” concept, Bring Her Back is still loaded with gory freak outs and a disturbing premise. You might not leave the theatre immediately ready to see the movie again, but it shows that the boys have taken on the task of trying to make something a little more sentimental that appeals to the real-life human horrors of death and dying.
Sally Hawkins shines as the unpredictably evil foster mother, hellbent on taking her sinister secret to its inevitable conclusion. Her addition here really helps to elevate some of the more dramatic turns in the story, but Jonah Wren Phillips also deserves credit for his role as the barely human demon child Oliver. The two of them together are an unstoppable one-two punch of cryptic ritualistic horror and eye-poppin’ gore gags that the leads are forced to navigate like a live-in Halloween haunt.
The cinematography, the practical effects, the arcane dark magic fueling the whole nightmare (not to mention the insistence on putting children in the most brutal scenarios possible!)- All the ingredients of the unhinged Australian Horror you’re hoping for are present, but it’s that oft overused garnish of grief that really overtakes the whole dish.
“An unstoppable one-two punch of cryptic ritualistic horror and eye-poppin’ gore gags”
Michael & Danny Philippou’s Bring Her Back, from A24, descends on theatres May 30! Let us know what you thought of his gory, grief-stricken tale of terror over in the official Nightmare on Film Street Discord! Join ussssss…
Where to Watch Bring Her Back
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