‘Bring Her Back’ Brings Back The Scary

In a year filled mostly with horror films aiming to hedge their bets with levity (see: Companion, Clown in a Cornfield, The Monkey), directors Danny and Michael Philippou follow up the massive success of ‘Talk to Me’ with their twisted take on possession films, ‘Bring Her Back.’ They remind us just how good it feels to feel bad.

Andy (Billy Barratt) and his little sister, Piper, (Sora Wong) find themselves living with a foster mother named Laura (Sally Hawkins) after the untimely death of their father. The living situation isn’t ideal. Andy is immediately creeped out by Laura’s non-verbal son, Ollie, and butts heads with Laura, who begins driving a wedge between the siblings, aided by the fact Piper is visually impaired. Without giving too much away, they bill this as a possession film and Laura’s biological daughter, who also happened to have visually impairment, died tragically by drowning in her backyard swimming pool. I’m sure you can connect the dots. 

BRING HER BACK ★★★ (3/5 stars)
Directed by: Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou
Written by: Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman
Starring: Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Sally Hawkins
Running time: 104 mins

‘Bring Her Back’ is a fine follow up to ‘Talk to Me,’ demonstrating the Philippou brothers continue to grow as filmmakers. Is it as solid as their debut feature, which combined stylish camerawork with a pitch-perfect understanding of what makes a great urban legend? Not quite. Does it up the ante when it comes to startling violence and self-harm? Definitely. (The Philippou brothers seem to have a fixation on tables.) There are moments in ‘Bring Her Back’ that will make even the most hardened horror fans want to look away.  

There’s more to this film than shock value and viscera. Hawkins (The Shape of Water) turns in a performance here that is an all-timer in the realm of diabolical two-faces. The characters of Piper and Andy continue Danny Philippou’s track record of writing teens well. The film also sparingly incorporates found footage-style sequences when a character watches VHS tapes, giving us the best of both worlds — creepy footage without being overly reliant on that subgenre’s camera tricks and graininess to hide practical makeup flaws.  

Where the film falls short is tying it all together into a clever or memorable ending and delivering strong payoffs for the supernatural framework laid out, which is disappointing considering ‘Talk to Me’ did both of those things so well. 

While ‘Bring Her Back’ might not hold a candle to other genre standouts this year like ‘Sinners’ and ‘The Ugly Stepsister’ overall, it is made for horror fans seeking that horrid high. We are so back.