Gird your loins, folks! Aussie twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who terrified us with 2023’s “Talk To Me,” crank up the horror with their follow-up “Bring Her Back” (A24). Add to the fact that the Oscar-nominated Sally Hawkins we’ve come to know and love from “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “The Shape of Water,” and “Blue Jasmine,” has been replaced by someone entirely different in this new movie.
Laura (Hawkins), a woman who used to be a counselor at a South Australian foster family placement agency, is grieving the death of her visually impaired daughter, Cathy (Mischa Heywood), who drowned in the backyard pool. Step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are also in mourning following the death of Andy’s father. Because Andy is just shy of his 18th birthday, he and Piper are placed in foster care by Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton), which is how they end up in Laura’s home.
As it turns out, they aren’t the only ones in Laura’s care. There is also a boy she tells them is named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), who conveniently has selective mutism and a red birthmark below his right eye. Laura, a self-described “weirdo,” welcomes Andy and Piper with open arms. Andy, who is protective of Piper (they even share a kind of safe-word, “grapefruit,” for intense moments), takes in his new surroundings, including the empty swimming pool (in which he often sees Oliver standing) and a mysterious woodshed behind the house (in which Andy sees Laura and Oliver frequenting).
It doesn’t take long for things to turn strange and scary. There are white lines and circles throughout that act as a kind of border. Andy and Piper are instructed not to allow Oliver to cross the one in front of the house. Laura’s behavior at the dad’s funeral (including cutting a lock of his hair) is shocking. Afterward, Laura allows Andy and Piper to get drunk. All the while, Laura is subtly turning Piper against Andy.
Oliver’s behavior also becomes increasingly troubling and erratic. He kills a fly on a window and eats it. In perhaps the earliest, most graphic scene, as Andy tries to communicate with Oliver, there is a horrific sequence involving a knife, a mouth, and teeth, in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Laura is constantly watching old VHS tapes of what appears to be a ritualistic event involving a person being a conduit to reanimate a corpse. While these scenes hint at a vague occult influence, there is far more focus on the desperation and devastating impact of anguish and loss.
Nevertheless, once the horrors that are taking place begin to reveal themselves, and the newly dead bodies begin to pile up, the Philippous don’t shy away from the graphic depictions. In other words, this is not the kind of movie for those with less ironclad constitutions. And yet, amidst everything that occurs, the conclusion is surprisingly uplifting.
Rating: B+
