Bring Her Back Review - A grief stricken journey into hell

Chase Gifford
6 minutes ago
5 min read

“The house was an empty tank of grief. Their empty ghosts floated everywhere they were not.” - Austin Wright

Much of what makes Talk to Me not just great horror but a great drama are the elements that aren’t necessarily horror but in context make some of the most memorable sequences in the movie. This comes down to the themes it explores beginning primarily with grief and what it means to live with such a vapid, bottomless nothingness when those we love depart this life. It can mean distraction through participation. In the case of Talk to Me the characters gather and play a dangerous game involving a potential connection to the other side. It explores what it means to be young and burdened with anxieties and trying to find meaning in such randomness. This is clearly a buffet of human emotions that brothers Michael and Danny Philippou understand well as most of these concepts carry over into their sophomore effort, Bring Her Back.

The opening of Talk to Me features a tragic event that puts in motion the rest of the film as well as sets a tone that will carry on until the final horrifying moments. Bring Her Back does something similar but unlike Talk to Me, where it features an act of heinous violence, it would seem the opening tragedy this time is of natural origins and therefore blameless. It is merely unfortunate which I think plays into the theme of grief and having nowhere to put it. Should someone commit a violent act against someone you love, there is a focus to place your intense emotions and desires. When it’s of natural causes, where does the blame go? Where does the anger go?

An interesting aspect to Bring Her Back is the idea of missing someone who wasn’t exactly kind but still provided something worth missing if only just their presence. In the case of Andy, losing his father was tragic but immensely confusing considering their spiteful relationship. He knows he should miss him, and to an extent, he does, but he questions why which in turn seems to only further confuse him. He must also contend with the knowledge that when it came to his little sister, Piper, his father couldn’t have been more loving and tender. It made him question what was so wrong with him that would cause his own father to lash out at him. All of this collision of emotions and hindsight forces Andy to internalize his pain and push forward, as he sees it, for his sister who still has a picturesque memory of their father.

As with all aspects of life, everyone handles such life events differently and this includes Andy and Piper’s new foster mother, Laura, who has experienced her own tragedies. Reeling from their loss and now sudden move to a new and unfamiliar home, Andy and Piper fail to fully notice the depths of Laura’s pain as it shows up in odd form either through inappropriate language or partaking in literal illegal activity with her newly acquainted foster children. They initially stock it up to quirky behavior and someone suffering similarly to them. But the behavior not only continues but grows in highly discomforting ways. Andy is more susceptible to these things knowing from the beginning she only ever wanted Piper but after refusing to separate, Laura reluctantly took in Andy as well. From the get go his presence in Laura’s home was problematic.

Laura is played with tenderness, nuance and outright chaos by Sally Hawkins. She is the new playful but harmless oddity in their lives quickly becoming the peculiarity with something sinister behind her eyes. Hawkins is brilliantly schizophrenic and acts as the driving force behind some seriously twisted sequences that are guaranteed to stick in anyone’s mind long after the credits roll.

Her psychotic sidekick Oliver, performed with such grown tendencies for someone so young, Jonah Wren Phillips, is unhinged as a torn apart little boy tortured by forces both seen and unseen all aiming to destroy him for reasons not immediately clear. Watching his deterioration into pure madness, with a physical manifestation that is nothing shy of ghastly is both fascinating and wholly upsetting. I think his performance is something he himself as an actor will not truly appreciate until he is older and the concepts of what his character does will begin to take shape. But as Oliver, as of right now, Phillips gives a catastrophically harrowing performance who by mere appearance will haunt many who witness his transformation. He is revelatory.

An interesting element to the story of these newly orphaned children is Piper’s blindness. This leads to several disquieting (to put it mildly) moments that if witnessed with clear vision would send anyone running with unrelenting terror in their souls likely forever. It allows for Laura’s questionable behavior to unfurl faster even as Andy begins to catch on much quicker. Piper’s lack of sight also highlights Laura’s opportunistic tendencies, never seeing Piper as anything but the final piece in a twisted puzzle. It also allows for Laura to manipulate Piper easier, creating a chasm between brother and sister.

Bring Her Back is a grief stricken journey into hell where unscrupulous forces both of flesh and paranormal origin seek to alter and contort two innocent souls whose only crime is losing a parent who through time may prove to be unworthy of the name, dad. There are sinister and innocent presences alike all beholden to the unrelenting nature of grief and the inevitability of the pain and anguish it drags along with it.

The Philippou Brothers have created another masterful horror steeped in dramatic themes of grief and loss and both the extremes people strive for to fill such a void and the lowly insignificance that feels anything but inconsequential. Sally Hawkins is profoundly evil and to a degree blameless in her desires and these contrasting traits play chaotically and beautifully deranged. The young talents on screen, particularly Jonah Wren Phillips, are magnificent. The visual horror of flesh tearing and shredding, the blood flowing with unsettling aggression and literal teeth gnashing is nothing short of gut wrenching and damn near vomit inducing.

While it may tread on familiar ground, its approach is unwavering, inescapable and most certainly undeniable. This is a Frankenstein's monster built from The Babadook, Hereditary and Talk to Me but that isn’t to say it feels disingenuous or unrefreshing. It has things to say and it was decided to acknowledge other similarly themed classics to deliver the film’s overall message. Bring Her Back is a tremendous sophomore effort and only confirms that any excitement over the Philippou Brothers is more than justified. In fact, after seeing their debut and its follow up, their respect is nonnegotiable.