Twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, also known as RackaRacka in their days as YouTubers, set the horror world on fire with their 2023 debut Talk to Me. While there have been plenty of supernatural horror/demonic possession flicks that tackle weighty themes released in recent years (the film primarily deals with depicting how easily substance use can transform from casual fun to full blown addiction with potentially fatal consequences), none of them have the same bold style and unflinching, pervasive bleakness that Talk to Me has. The downside to hitting a home run that made major waves with your first feature film is that there is suddenly a tremendous amount of pressure placed on you to deliver the goods again or risk being banished from the good graces of the same film-loving communities that were effusively singing your praises just a couple of years prior. The Australian brothers answered the bell and then some as their sophomore feature not only matches but manages to improve on Talk to Me in every way imaginable.
The fresh portal to hell that the Philippou's have opened up with Bring Her Back confronts the most popular subject in the world of indie horror over the past 10-15 years: grief. While you'd be hard pressed to be find too many horror fans out there that were clamoring for another movie about the tremendous toll death has on the living, the Philippou's have remarkably found a way to make the subject matter feel novel again. We've seen plenty of movies about grief where the power of love, friendship, etc. allows people to handle the crippling burden of the loss of a loved one or loved ones. Bring Her Back is the story of somebody who never recovered from the loss.
The scarred individual in question is named Laura, played with sadistic menace and surprising compassion by the great Sally Hawkins. Laura's blind daughter Cathy (Mischa Heywood) drowned in her backyard pool years prior, and she's become a completely different person following this tragic fatal accident. She appears to be channeling her suddenly unused paternal energy into something positive by taking on foster children, but as her newest foster kids Andy (Billy Barratt) and his vision-impaired stepsister Piper (Sora Wong)-who are going through their own ordeal with loss after recently finding their father (Stephen Phillips) dead in the shower following a fall-quickly discover, Laura's grief has transformed her into a monster. She keeps her other foster child Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips in an all timer of a creepy kid performance) locked away in his room most of the time, uses Piper's inability to see anything besides shapes and colors to manipulate her into thinking that Andy doesn't care about her and appears to be using all 3 kids in her care for an unspeakably sinister purpose.
Laura's elaborate reign of terror and the far-reaching implications it has on these kids that are already dealing with the immense trauma of their own loss is the engine for many standout sequences that reinforce the Philippou's gift for establishing a viscerally uncomfortable sense of dread through nightmarish imagery/sounds (the kitchen scene in particular is FUCKED) and a willingness to take their stories to dark, thorny places that many modern filmmakers wouldn't dare go. But what really elevates Bring Her Back over the already great Talk to Me is the strength of the relationship between Andy and Piper. From their first scene together, it's immediately evident how much they care about each other and how they have each other's backs even in situations where no one else could or would. As the story unfolds and more revelations about their family history come to light, the way the viewer see Andy changes significantly, but one thing never wavers despite the unearthing of his past sins and how they possibly came to be: the purity of his love for Piper and willingness to do whatever it takes to protect her. Their relationship is beautifully written and performed by Barratt and Wong and the care taken in portraying it with sensitivity and raw honesty leads to the last thing I expected from a movie made by the guys behind something as overwhelmingly grim Talk to Me: an ending that packs a strong enough emotional wallop that it had me on the verge of tears. There's way too much evil/distressing shit going on Bring Her Back to call it hopeful or beautiful or anything else that else that has any form of positive connotation attached to it, but what this brother/sister arc does do is confirm that the Philippou's have far more than just unrelenting darkness in their storytelling arsenal and they're already better off for it.
Bring Her Back is one of the best horror flicks I've seen this decade and in a year without Sinners, it would've had an excellent chance of going down as the absolute best. The Philippou Brothers already have their craft down pat 2 films in and the possibilities of where they can go from here feel limitless. May A24 and the Australian government's arts initiatives continue to fund whatever brutal, twisted shit they want to make for as long as they remain interested in making movies.
Grade: A-
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