Writers/directors Danny and Michael Philippou make mean, ugly movies. That’s not an insult so much as an inarguable assessment made after watching Talk to Me and Bring Her Back. Both movies feature imperative sentences as titles and an imperative observation about interacting with dead people: Don’t do it. That’s probably the name of their next film.
Unlike Talk to Me, which was a beautifully brutal bit of malevolence, Bring Her Back falters at the finish. Unsatisfying endings are common, but this one directly evokes Batman and Superman’s meme-able exchange. It’s not as laughable but is equally as frustrating, in that it is a textbook example of what not to do when you’ve written yourself into a corner. It feels like the Philippou boyz wanted to go with a fully jet-black, hideously nasty ending and were overridden, opting instead for a spectacularly silly cop-out.
To be fair, most of the movie does, in fact, “fully go for it.” In this case, “it” means “having a child possessed with a demon/angel eat stuff he absolutely shouldn’t.” Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are step-siblings whose father dies in a horribly mundane accident. Because Andy is a whisker shy of 18, he and Piper get placed into foster care with Laura (Sally Hawkins), who is whatever the diametric opposite of “foster mother of the year” is.
Laura’s own daughter died recently. And you’ve read the title of this movie, so the plot is all right there for you. Fulfilling the titular instruction involves young Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) using his body as an unholy waiting room for the undead. While Laura drives a wedge between Andy and Piper, Oliver toddles around with a bald head and bloated belly, looking way too hungrily at live chickens and cats and eventually noshing on knives and table edges. If that sounds wildly upsetting, it is somehow more than you can even imagine.
With nary a twist, turn, or tricky plot device to be found, Bring Her Back slowly saunters towards an inevitable showdown that, as mentioned above, ends for crap. Had the film stuck the landing, it would have still been a thoroughly odd experience. Talk to Me had a roller-coaster vibe to it, propulsively surging along. This is just about feeling bad for a little under two hours. And with a subpar ending, it is “feeling bad for a little under two hours” for no good reason.
Hawkins is spectacular, going full Toni Collette. Her dementedly obsessive character is profoundly evil and unfairly squandered by the conclusion. Actually, every single performer here is remarkable. Barratt makes a forlorn, creatine-swigging bro completely compelling. Wong is charismatic and endearing. Phillips is spectacularly spooky. For whatever shortcomings the script has, the Philippous get kudos-on-kudos for their ability to harness fantastic acting.
If only Bring Her Back added up to something more than yet-another example of why kids are the worst. Obviously, that’s a joke. Only a monster would say children are actually awful. When it comes to movies though, it is worth noting that there’s like one horror movie about a dog and eleventy billion scary flicks in which kiddos do the devil’s bidding. Just saying.
Grade = C–
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Shakyl Lambert at CGMagazine says “Also, for a film that is as unrelentingly mean as this, it’s odd that it pulled its punches at the very last second. Perhaps it was to give the audience a little bit of a reprieve from the constant darkness that preceded it. I also liked the final shot and what it represented to the film’s previous discussions on grief, but I feel like there was a way to get to the same point without lessening the impact of what happened right before.”
Rain Jokinen at MullingMovies says “Bring Her Back is a good horror movie; perhaps even a great one. But I can safely say I had a miserable time watching it, and absolutely never want to see it again.”
Monica Castillo at RogerEbert.com says “while Talk to Me was a svelte thriller with supernatural elements, Bring Her Back has a bit of a ‘spaghetti on the wall’ feel, throwing lots of ominous visuals and ideas at the audience in the hopes one of them will push the right scare buttons.