A devastating, emotionally moving nightmare with god-tier performances and some of the most disturbing horror imagery in years, Bring Her Back is A24’s second collaboration with the Philippou brothers. Fresh off their unforgiving Talk to Me, Danny and Michael Philippou have somehow managed to plunge even deeper into children in peril chaos. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of first experiencing this through AMC’s “Scream Unseen” program, and it certainly helped to establish what to expect when the Philippou brothers came onscreen teasing what was to come. Now, Bring Her Back comes to Blu-Ray, complete with A24’s usual immaculate packaging, postcards, and satisfying supplementals. Emotionally heavy, fucked up, and just generally insane, Bring Her Back practically forms a layer of waterlogged grime over the viewer just by watching it.
The film opens with chilling camcorder footage of a sinister ritual, one which can notably be found in full as part of the Blu-Ray special features. This entire sequence, originally envisioned as a one-shot, was also a major part of the teaser trailer. As such, it truly stands out, unnerving in nature, and immediately telling us that something sinister is afoot. We next shift gears to siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong), who discover their father’s corpse in a locked bathroom. Partially sighted Piper, able to make out only shapes and light, carries over many traits from Wong, the actress portraying her. The vulnerable performance she gives, along with Barratt, perfectly balances against a masterclass from Sally Hawkins as their newfound foster mother. Both child actors could not be more perfectly cast—their layered interactions comprise the beating heart.
When the children find themselves placed in the care of Laura (Hawkins), a foster mother with a tragic past of her own, they have no idea just what she has in store. Laura manipulates Piper’s blindness, lies about the appearance of another boy in her care named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), and isolates Andy with gaslighting tactics, even stealing their father’s hair to use in her own twisted ritual. Strange VHS tapes, giant empty pools, and bizarre behavior hint that this home hides concerning secrets. Hawkins completely immerses herself into this role. Laura does things that no good person would ever contemplate—unless maybe they were pushed to wild extremes in the name of potentially seeing their loved ones again. In a movie overflowing with exceptional performances, Hawkins proves exactly why she’s an Oscar nominee. She gives everything to the role as Laura torments three separate children in the name of her own twisted mission.
Another horror emerges from Oliver himself. His seizures and outbursts reveal a supernatural darkness tied to Laura’s rituals. In a behind the scenes featurette, the creative team explores the multiple different iterations of Oliver they show onscreen as he becomes increasingly more demonic. Jonah Wren Phillips goes far beyond a portrayal of a nasty child—he gives nuance, and a distant, haunted performance. His Oliver is chilling, and when he practically eats a kitchen knife or tears off strips of his own flesh, is practically otherworldly. The effectiveness of these scenes owes major kudos to the practical effects team, utilizing prosthetics to create full immersion.
As far as the special features are concerned, the commentary track points out an initial two-hour-plus cut of Bring Her Back, but you’d never know that was the case judging by the sole deleted scene that made it onto the disc. The track is at least incredibly in-depth in regards to the creative process, and what it was like working with the children. The featurette encompasses a behind-the-scenes look at how the filmmakers processed grief through the film, including cast reflections, discussions of character realism, and impressive prosthetic demonstrations. Despite there being a lack of other material, between the commentary and the featurette, there has been much added to the overall discussion.
Character-based horror with heart, Bring Her Back is one of the year’s best genre movies. That said, it’s a deeply upsetting affair, and certainly not one of a crowd-pleasing variety. I cannot honestly remember the last time before this that a horror movie drove me to tears. The script weaves such believable characterizations that each slice or impact hits that much harder. The Philippous reiterate that the title is a tragedy, free from a happy ending, and really much in the way of catharsis at all. Perhaps the powerful nature can be attributed to the filmmakers’ commitment to this specifically haunting tone that lingers for days during its incessant rainy day mood. Whatever the case, the sibling dynamic and disgusting gore effects make Bring Her Back a genre gem worth its weight in stripped flesh.
Witness a disturbing ritual as Laura tries to Bring Her Back, now on Blu-Ray from A24 Films.
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