Bring Her Back
The lives of two orphaned siblings take a terrifying turn for the worse when their new foster mother places them in the middle of an occult ritual.
Yes, much like Danny and Michael Philippou’s last film, Talk To Me, Bring Her Back is a supernatural horror film that explores mature themes involving loss and grief. But if you were engaged by Talk To Me’s surprisingly fun and entertaining tone, you should know that Bring Her Back takes itself a bit more seriously. So, the story plays out like a more traditional and straightforward horror drama.
Thankfully, Bring Her Back is also a technically well-made film; the writing is engaging, the direction is solid, the horror is genuinely scary, the themes are quite strong, and the performances are absolutely fantastic. Which means that, by all accounts, this movie is actually a really good one. Yet, despite how technically well-made the film is, I can’t deny that I didn't really care for it.
All of the good elements get overshadowed by the surprisingly bleak tone, the depressingly dark subject matter, and the incredibly gross horror. I’m not a squeamish person by any means, and even I had a tough time watching the more grotesque sequences here. So, I found most of the horror to be unnecessary, distracting, and even downright gratuitous.
That being said, I have to admit that the film is anchored by an impressively talented cast. Billy Barratt is great as a guilt-ridden character named Andy. Sora Wong is fantastic as Andy's visually impaired sister, Piper. Sally Hawkins is wonderfully deranged as their foster mother, Laura. And Jonah Wren Phillips is scary good as Laura’s other foster child, Oliver. These performers definitely helped me tolerate how heavy the rest of the film could be.
So, while I'm glad that the filmmakers made a tonally different film than their last one, I think Bring Her Back is much harder to watch compared to something like Talk To Me. I can’t see myself ever wanting to rewatch this movie. Which is a shame. But, for as good as the cast and the other technical details actually are, the film just didn’t work for me personally.