Bring Her Back

by Mike McGranaghan

It’s not the shock scenes in Bring Her Back that will stick with me. It isn’t the moments of extreme gore, either. No, what will stick with me is the heartbreaking final shot, an image filled with palpable sadness. How many horror movies make you feel like you might cry at the end? The film, which is the second effort from Talk to Me makers Michael and Danny Philippou, is Hereditary-level messed up, and if you’ve ever lost someone close to you, it will hit you in a tender spot.

When their father dies unexpectedly, teenage Andy (Billy Barratt) and his blind stepsister Piper (Sora Wong) are sent to live with foster mother Laura (Sally Hawkins). The social worker assures them that Laura, whose young daughter drowned a while back, will give them a good home. Multiple red flags exist, though. She has a few strange rituals and there’s a disturbed mute boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) she essentially keeps locked up. Laura clearly has an ulterior motive. The film’s title gives you a clue.

For a good hour of its running time, Bring Her Back builds mystery by showing us glimpses of disturbing images and actions without fully clueing us in on what they mean. That generates a strong sense of dread as we wait to understand the total picture. Several scenes, most notably one involving Oliver and a kitchen knife, hint at the terror to come. The Philippou brothers are very good at layering the story so that each new glimpse into Laura’s plan grows the viewer’s discomfort.

The final 35 minutes are where the plot truly takes off. Make no mistake, Laura does seriously unconscionable stuff in this movie, yet she is not a typical villain. Grief drives her to a place where morality becomes grayer and logic is overcome by emotion. Sally Hawkins is extraordinary, guaranteeing we see the character as a wounded human being, even when her behavior is at its most appalling. The actress delivers a portrait of sorrow so profound that it literally causes this woman to turn monstrous. That’s the scariest idea of all.

Barratt and Wong are also good. They bring across the dynamic between Andy and Piper, which is that he feels the perpetual need to play protector, and she doesn’t always recognize the need to be protected. Together, the young stars convincingly create a sibling dynamic that makes us fear for their safety. I don’t want to say too much about Phillips’ role, except that he bravely appears in the picture’s most gruesome sequences, usually in rather hideous form. Through his efforts, it’s impossible not to feel for Oliver because this kid has clearly been put through hell.

Bring Her Back utilizes cinematography that avoids bright colors, opting instead for a muted palate suggesting a lack of brightness in Laura’s home. The visual choice is perfect for a film that deals with the devastating quality of grief. In the end, this is not so much Andy and Piper’s story as it is Laura’s. That haunting final shot serves as a reminder that, for all her indefensible conduct, she is a mother unable to cope with the death of a loved one.

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