Anyone who says that the horror genre is growing stale probably hasn’t seen an A24 film. They continue to unleash movies that hit the jugular (in more ways than one) and grab onto you (with sharp nails and all). Although I haven’t seen their first film, Talk to Me, its directors Danny and Michael Philippou might just become the new icons of horror with their next film, Bring Her Back, which tackles trauma and grief with a refreshingly unsettling tone.
Buy Bring Her Back Blu-rayThe story centers on Andy (Billy Barratt) and his blind half-sister Piper (Sora Wong) who become orphans after their father dies. They are sent to live with their new, eccentric, foster counselor mother Laura (an outstanding Sally Hawkins) and her mute foster son Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips), who instantly exhibits incredibly strange behavior. After a series of misunderstandings and bizarre events, they both discover that Laura isn’t exactly what she seems, and that they are in serious trouble.
Yes, the film is another portrait of familial grief and trauma from A24, but the film’s execution isn’t as typical as it sounds. There is a level of grim and uncomfortable content throughout the film that definitely holds your attention as it breaks you apart and refuses to put you back together again. It also helps that the entire cast (especially Hawkins) is truly amazing and portray their characters with grim relatability, where you question if they are good or bad. Phillips, an extraordinary child actor, is really damn good and terrifying, and runs away with some truly disturbing scenes (which contributes to the film’s nasty abundance of body horror, especially in the final act).
It’s a slow burn, full of ambiguity, but most of all, it’s a really sad film. It actually makes you cry while it disturbs you. You think you know where’s it going but things happen in it that are really surprising, and that’s the sign of truly great, cerebral horror, one that has something to say than to just offer the usual formulas that the genre is pretty well known for. It may not be a film to revisit often, but it’s definitely one that you won’t soon forget.
Special features include director commentary with the Philippou’s; Coming Full Circle: Making Bring Her Back; a deleted scene, and an Easter egg (parts of the confusing but creepy Russian video show throughout the film). The release also comes with six collectible postcards with behind-the-scenes photography.
