Bring Her Back (18)

Seventeen-year-old Andy and his visually impaired younger step-sister Piper discover their father dead in the shower and are placed with foster mother Laura until the traumatised boy comes of age and can apply for legal guardianship as a responsible adult. Laura's late daughter Cathy was blind so her home is already set up for Piper and there is clear favouritism from the moment the orphaned step-siblings arrive.

LondonNet Film Review

Bring Her Back (18) Film Review from LondonNet

Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou prove their creepy directorial debut, Talk To Me, was no fluke with an assured walkabout in psychological horror tethered to a ferociously committed performance from Sally Hawkins as a foster mother who goes to extraordinary lengths to reclaim everything that has been cruelly taken from her. Punctuated by grainy VHS footage of a stomach-churning occult ritual, Bring Her Back steadily cranks up tension, building to a graphically violent and unremittingly bleak final act that confirms the filmmaker siblings are unafraid to sneer in the face of cosy conventions…

The benign domesticity of the film’s dramatic set-up makes the gore-slathered fury of an intentionally off-kilter second half even more shocking. Practical make-up effects and horribly realistic prosthetics wreak havoc on the nerves. There is no escape from the escalating madness. Close your eyes to momentarily blot out the image of human flesh being hungrily torn from the bone and Emma Bortignon’s immersive sound design will conjure nightmarish images in the mind instead. Danny Philippou’s script, co-written with Bill Hinzman, revisits the complexities of grief (a key theme of Talk To Me) and considers the corrosive power of shame through the eyes of a teenage protagonist, whose deep emotional scars from childhood make them easy prey for manipulation.

Seventeen-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) and his visually impaired younger stepsister Piper (Sora Wong) discover their father (Stephen Phillips) dead in the shower. Since he is still a minor in the eyes of the law, Andy is at the mercy of social worker Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton) and she makes clear that his troubled past will be a red flag to most foster parents. Thankfully, single mother Laura (Sally Hawkins) agrees to take in both Andy and Piper until the traumatised boy comes of age and can apply for legal guardianship.

Laura’s late daughter Cathy (Mischa Heywood) was blind so the family home is already set up to cater to Piper’s needs. There is clear favouritism from the moment the orphaned children arrive and are introduced to another foster ward, Olly (Jonah Wren Phillips), who is selectively mute and largely stays in his room. Events inside Laura’s home gradually spiral out of control and Andy fears he is losing his mind when he is accused of actions that he can’t recall.

Bring Her Back is a compelling companion piece to Talk To Me, punctuated by wince-inducing scares that crescendo with an excruciating interlude involving a kitchen knife. Hawkins’ all-guns-blazing portrayal of corrupted maternal love dominates every frame and she spars convincingly with Barratt’s traumatised teenager. The Philippou brothers sustain a chokehold on our attention but almost squeeze too hard in the film’s closing minutes.

– Kim Hu