In 2022, Australian filmmaker brothers Danny and Michael Philippou knocked it out of the park with Talk to Me. The film was a massive success, bringing in more than $91 million on a meager budget of just $4.5 million. Their spooky exploration of grief was immediately greenlit for a sequel, and the brothers were quickly put on the horror map.
While Talk to Me 2 (Talk 2 Me?) has been announced, but is still a ways off, the Philippou brothers and A24 have released Bring Her Back, another supernatural horror film that explores grief, starring Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, and Jonah Wren Phillips.
Bring Her Back follows step-siblings Piper (Wong) and Andy (Barratt), who, after the sudden death of Andy’s father, are moved into the foster care of Laura (Hawkins), a retired CPS counselor-turned-foster parent. Laura’s home is the perfect place for the visually impaired Piper, as Laura’s daughter, who recently drowned, was blind, and Laura’s caretaking skills match those needed by Piper. Andy is just kind of along for the ride for three months, until he’s legally allowed to take guardianship of Piper. Laura is also the caretaker for her “selectively mute” nephew, Ollie.
Piper and Andy begin to settle in, and Laura begins to show her vile side to Andy. The two immediately start things off on the wrong foot, and it becomes clear that Laura has plans to have Andy removed from her home, so he doesn’t disrupt Laura’s nefarious plans for Piper and Ollie.
Hawkins’ villainous turn as Laura is without a doubt the showcase of the film. The two-time Oscar-nominated actress pulls off a character we’ve never seen, one who uses her grief to excuse her atrocious behavior. Barratt and Wong are great too, especially for being younger and less experienced actors. Jonah Wren Phillips was incredibly unsettling as Ollie, and he was responsible for many of the most disturbing scenes in the film.
Like Talk to Me, the Philippous did a lot with a little regarding the film’s production value. The budget was a little bigger this time ($15 million), and we’re treated to some extremely gnarly gore effects, blood-curdling sound work (there’s a particular teeth-involved scene that still gives me the shivers,) beautiful camera work and lighting, and another fantastic musical score from Cornel Wilczek, who composed the score for Talk to Me.
Related: ‘Talk to Me’ Review: An Intense Warning of the Horrors of Manipulation Through Grief
Unfortunately, as a whole, I don’t think Bring Her Back lived up to the expectations that were laid forth with Talk to Me’s quality and success. Don’t get me wrong, there were brilliant parts of the film, but in yet another movie about the mental transformations from grief, there was never a moment that had me going, “Damn, this is a great movie.”
I wish I could pinpoint it. Maybe it was because it felt like a rehash of the same idea from the same directors. Admittedly, this time, it was an exploration of grief through desperation rather than grief through manipulation, like Talk to Me was, but still, it didn’t feel like it provided anything new.
The story also felt extremely isolated and fell a little flat. Rarely do I leave a film wishing for more exposition, but there were too many weird, creepy scenes, and moments where characters’ actions seemed to escalate too quickly. Sometimes it felt as though a major piece of the story was cut out of the film. Granted, there’s something alluring about the idea of grief making someone dabble in dark practices they know nothing about, but we, the audience, should at least be somewhat keyed in.
Among my issues with the story throughout, the ending felt rushed, tropey, and a little too perfectly folded for how the rest of the movie flowed. From the start of the film, I kept waiting for this massive emotional gut punch, and it just never came. It just never went far enough for me to get fully invested.
Related: The Cathartic Nature of Trauma-Based Horror Movies
I realize that not every film is going to be a home run, and honestly, as a sophomore flick, Bring Her Back is perfectly competent and a nice addition to the Philippous’ early filmography. I’m disappointed because I saw the potential for pure horror excellence in this movie, and that’s a testament to their skills as directors. All the pieces were right there, but they just didn’t fit correctly for me.
I still recommend a watch, even if just for the gross-out scenes and Sally Hawkins’ performance. Many people seem to love this film (it has an 89% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes), but for me, it just fell too short for me to call it a full-on success.
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