Talk to Me marked “them” as a pair to be watched. I speak of twins Danny and Michael Philippou for whom that supernatural horror marked their feature directorial debut. Now Bring Her Back, shot in South Australia, brings more terror. Originally from Adelaide, the brothers moved to the US at the start of 2019, but continue to make films in Australia.
Piper (Sora Wong) is all but blind. She can only see shapes and light. She should walk with the aid of a cane, but she doesn’t want people to treat her differently, so she chooses not to. She is close to her older stepbrother Andy (Billy Barratt). The pair shares the same father. They are horrified when they find their dad (Stephen Phillips) dead, having collapsed in the shower.
Subsequently, social services wants to separate them, but their want is to stay together. An empathetic Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton) tells Andy that he can apply for guardianship when he turns 18 (that is in three months). In the meantime, she allows both to be placed with a seemingly kind foster mother. Laura (Sally Hawkins) worked as a counsellor in the department for 20 years. She is still mourning the death of her daughter, Cathy (Mischa Heywood), who was about Piper’s age when she drowned.
Laura already has with her a strange mute boy, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips). At first she seems nice, if a little too effusive, but soon enough we see a much darker side of her. Laura watches Ollie closely and even locks him up in his room every time she goes out. Before long, she is looking to turn Piper against Andy, who keeps seeing visions of their father and appears to be wetting the bed. He can’t understand what is happening to him.
What is clear is that Bring Her Back has an evil underbelly that manifests itself in the bloody and the gruesome. Like Talk to Me, this one has been written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman and is directed by Danny and Michael Philippou. I appreciated the originality in the script. It doesn’t try to cash in on previous horror films, but has its own conceit, which is fraught and frightening. It is hardly straight forward, taking a while to unravel.
Sally Hawkins is a fine actor and this is a decidedly different role for her. Notably, her craftsmanship again comes to the fore in a twisted persona. The two young leads are good too. Barratt is readily able to channel Andy’s confusion and frustration. Wong showcases vulnerability and a desire to be embraced and nurtured. Wren Phillips is tortured and terrifying as Ollie and Upton pragmatic as Wendy.
What is particularly impressive about Bring Her Back is the sound design. It is something the audience has a heightened awareness of from the get-go. That is because over a blank screen it is the aural that introduces the movie. Something bad is going down. Then it becomes a question of figuring out how that something informs the plot.
From that creepy opening, every background sound appears to have been deliberately turned up. Our ears are on high alert. The unease is palpable. And so it is that Bring Her Back continues Danny and Michael Philippou’s upward trajectory. But, be warned, with some stomach-churning gore, it is not a movie for the faint hearted.
Score: 7.5 out of 10.
Alex First
Here are Greg King’s thoughts about the film:
Adelaide filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou began their careers making short horror films for their You Tube channel. They broke through to feature films with their award-winning debut Talk To Me in 2022, which established them as amongst Australia’s top echelon of horror filmmakers. Again, the filmmaking siblings seem to be interested in themes of death, loss, grief, family, abuse and what happens after death. The disturbing and gory film is darker in themes and content than their first film. Bring Her Back is mostly a character study, suffused with the tropes of the horror genre.
The Philippou brothers create an unsettling and claustrophobic atmosphere and ratchet up the suspense. The unease is palpable and visceral. They also deliver some confronting and decidedly gory moments, especially one scene involving a knife and a bit of fruit. I had to look away from the screen at a couple of moments. There is some great makeup and prosthetic design from Larry Van Duynhoven. Kudos also to the production team that has created the cluttered, messy and claustrophobic interior of Laura’s remote home. Emma Bortignon’s sound design is also very creepy and adds to the overall aesthetic of the film. And water becomes a potent metaphor used effectively throughout to conjure up a further sense of unease.
The performances of the lead cast are all very good. Barratt is convincing as Andy and conveys his growing sense of frustration and suspicion. In an impressive debut, Wong, who is partially sighted herself, conveys Piper’s vulnerability, but also imbues her character with resilience and resolve. Barratt and Wong develop a great and easy-going brother-sister dynamic and rapport that makes their relationship credible. With his shaven head, a purple mark beneath his right eye and his fixed stare, Phillips is unsettling as the macabre and seemingly possessed Oliver. He creates one of the creepiest children we’ve seen on screen in a long time. Sally-Anne Upton also registers strongly in her small but important role as Wendy, a social worker.
Cast against type, Hawkins (a veteran of many of Mike Leigh’s dramas) is excellent and brings an intensity to her performance as the monstrous, manipulative, abusive Laura, who grows more unhinged as the film develops. She reminded me a little of Kathy Bates’ Annie Wilkes in Misery. She is the very embodiment of the evil stepmother. Early on, we see Laura watching some grainy old DVD footage of what looks like a satanic ritual and some cult-like activity and sacrifices, which further hint at her deranged state of mind. These scenes seem like a deliberate throwback to the video nasties so popular in the 1970s.
Bring Her Back is strong stuff and another fine addition to the canon of standout Australian horror films, such as The Babadook.
Score: 7 out of 10.
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Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.
