Bloody, gruesome, and above all, tragic, Bring Her Back is a heavy-hitting return to horror for Danny and Michael Philippou. The follow-up to their 2023 movie Talk to Me, Bring Her Back, isn’t for the faint of heart. Starring Sally Hawkins as Laura, a foster mother who takes in Billy Barratt’s Andy and Sora Wong’s Piper, the movie tells a тιԍнт, contained story, but spends a little too much time sharpening its emotional knives to craft a truly compelling supernatural story. Bring Her Back gets lost in the weeds of its desire to rip your heart out.
Like many modern horror movies, Bring Her Back begins with sudden tragedy, throwing us off balance and keeping us there until the game’s revealed. The game in question is easy to guess as soon as Laura confides in the children about her grief. Fortunately, there are some breaks in the unrelenting cloud of sadness that hangs over Bring Her Back. The Philippous’ sense of humor is present, and Hawkins is a worthy muse, capturing Laura’s nuances in the smallest gestures. However, the depressing nature of the project is never lost on us, and it’s tough to carry that weight.
It’s Challenging To Sit Through So Much Grief, As We’ve Seen These Themes Play Out Before
Bring Her Back Isn’t As Original As It Needs To Be To Carry The Weight Of The Story’s Tragedy
The film loves its body horror, chomping on knives and using the sound design to give us some good, wet, and crunchy thuds. Scary movie buffs will enjoy these gripping and disgusting moments, and it’s clear that the Philippous had plenty of fun crafting them. Primarily unfolding within the same house and backyard, Bring Her Back is claustrophobic, feeling as physically inescapable as it is emotionally suffocating. It’s tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and there are moments throughout Bring Her Back that seem to say there isn’t one.
It’s tough to imagine Bring Her Back without Hawkins, as she lends an instant gravitas and credibility that the movie would be lost without. The film is relatively light on plot, preferring to string together a slow, atmospheric build of tension until the final, extended sequence of terror that brings us home. However, Hawkins isn’t alone in navigating the emotionally wrought narrative. Barratt doesn’t have an easy role. However, Andy’s character is vivid and well-written, a trait most characters share, as it’s in the relationships and development that the writing shines.
Horror can be a great way to explore taboo subjects, but Bring Her Back has nothing new to say.
The film had some interesting ideas about the concept of resurrection and made unique choices by playing with the visuals and physicality of blindness through the characters’ experiences. However, this isn’t enough to differentiate Bring Her Back from the litany of other contemporary horror films that are essentially grief porn. Though a story doesn’t have to be unpredictable to be effective, I knew exactly how the narrative would play out because I’ve seen so many versions of it already. Horror can be a great way to explore taboo subjects, but Bring Her Back has nothing new to say.
Featuring two child actors, Wong as Piper and Jonah Wren Phillips as Oliver, it’s an intense project for kids to be a part of, likely as grueling to film as it is to watch. Of course, there are lines that even Bring Her Back won’t cross, but not many. One of the scariest aspects of the film is the total loss of control that Andy, in particular, experiences, drawing comparisons to very real young adults in his situation. No character has a good time in Bring Her Back, but Barratt stood out because I felt so deeply for Andy.
Bring Her Back Understands Its Characters, Allowing Us To Empathize With Them
They’re Complicated & Well-Developed, Making Up For Narrative Flaws
It’s intense and emotionally exhausting, and we come out the other side having learned what we already knew about grief. It’s shocking and pointless, and we can never bring back the people who have gone. Even in death, the marks they made on us will live on without them. Laura and Piper represent the two ways we can grapple with these facts. Laura lets her grief consume her, turning inward and away from the future, while Piper takes the unrelenting tragedy she experiences and lets it propel her towards a new life, or so we hope.
Bring Her Back doesn’t end on a totally hopeless note, but it doesn’t provide a happy ending either. Despite its supernatural elements, it’s a very real portrait of how much tragedy changes us, using its otherworldly side to give its characters and audience an avenue to process these enormous and nuanced feelings. By the end of Bring Her Back, you find yourself starting to empathize with Laura, even as she takes yet another step down an unforgivable path. This might be the film’s greatest achievement, as the Philippous know how to give even the worst villains the humanity they’re due.
Bring Her Back will be available to watch in theaters on May 30.
