'Bring Her Back' review: Sally Hawkins goes wild in disturbing horror flick

Courtesy of A24

---

Filmmaking brothers Danny and Michael Philippou made a splash with their breakout feature “Talk To Me,” a slick, sharply-crafted horror film that doubled as a sobering commentary on Australia’s child protective services. Their latest outing, another nerve-jangling A24 chiller, “Bring Her Back,” is a more unhinged beast: deeply disturbing, occasionally contrived, and fully committed to rattling its audience. Even when it starts to sputter near the finish line, it rarely loosens its grip.

This is exactly the kind of blank-check project you’d expect after a surprise hit like “Talk To Me.” The Philippous don’t waste the opportunity. “Bring Her Back” is a gnarly, no-holds-barred descent into grief, madness, and manipulation, anchored by an absolutely feral performance from Sally Hawkins that deserves real awards buzz.

She plays Laura, a seemingly sweet foster mother who welcomes recently orphaned teenage siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong, in a stunning debut) into her home with a sinister smile that screams get out while you can. One of her first acts of hospitality is to introduce them to her dead dog: stuffed and proudly displayed on the mantle.

It only gets stranger from there. There’s another child in the house: Olly (Jonah Wren Phillips), who’s silent, seriously fucking weird, and obsessed with the backyard pool. A sequence involving Olly, a knife, and a deeply unfortunate lapse in adult supervision may go down as one of the most upsetting horror moments of the year. If you’re squeamish, you’ll be watching it through your fingers. Credit to the props and makeup departments — the image burned itself into my brain.

Laura’s true motives aren’t immediately clear, but clues pile up: her obsessive focus on a grainy old VHS tape, her fixation on Piper, and her complete indifference toward Andy. The film’s emotional core rests on the siblings’ relationship. Andy, just shy of 18, is desperate to secure guardianship of Piper, but first they have to survive their stay in Laura’s house — a place where gaslighting, cruelty, and emotional warfare are the norm.

Hawkins is magnetic. Known for warm, whimsical roles in “Paddington” and “Wonka,” she detonates that persona here, diving headfirst into one of the most vicious characters of her career. Laura says things no mother should say. She violates boundaries. She’s terrifying and yet, thanks to Hawkins’s uncanny ability to ground even the most deranged behavior, there’s a sliver of humanity buried in there. You won’t side with her, but you might understand the pain that twisted her into this monster.

If “Bring Her Back” has a weakness, it’s in the resolution. The Philippous tease an explosive climax but settle for something murkier and less satisfying. Still, horror fans (especially those devoted to A24’s off-kilter brand) won’t leave disappointed. The imagery is brutal, the atmosphere relentless, and the themes unsettling. It may not haunt you forever, but it’ll leave you good and shaken.

Grade: B

BRING HER BACK is now playing in theaters.