Bring Her Back: Movie Review

Cast: Billy Barrett, Sally Hawkins, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips
Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou

There's something deeply disturbing and yet elegantly elegaic in the Philippou brothers' latest film.

The story of siblings Andy and Piper who are fostered out after tragedy comes knocking on their door. Sent off to live with Sally Hawkins' counsellor Laura, the pair find life becomes a little more tricky as time goes on - and Laura's son Ollie, who's turned mute after something happened, does nothing to dispel that concern.

To say more about Bring Her Back is really to take the beats out of the film.

And while it's marketed as a horror, no doubt after the success of debut flick Talk To Me, this sophomore release from the Rackarackas contains some thematic similarities with said film.

Grief, family, trauma, ostracism - they all sit alongside an increasingly disquieting tone of unease that builds constantly throughout. From dismal settings to torrential rain and psychosomatic concerns over showers and water, there's a lot here to build a slow-burning atmosphere.

And build it does thanks in great part to Barrett's anguished performance as the recently bereaved teen who also takes the care of his younger sibling very seriously. In an unshowy performance, Barrett deals with much going on under the surface while bristling up against Hawkins' seemingly troubled Laura.

But the direction keeps the film anything but cliche and a restrained delivery of a slow simmering and bubbling upset proves to be distinctly immersive and entirely traumatising. While perhaps the use of cult material that sets things up is the only weak link of the film, Bring Her Back proves to be a deeply unsettling film that keeps itself grounded while haunting as well.

It may be a grim outing but Bring Her Back really does show the Philippou brothers know how to spin a tale that subverts some of the genre and produce something intimate that stays with you long after the cinema lights have gone up.