Aussie horror sibs Danny and Michael Philippou one-up themselves with their depraved second feature, a visceral nerve-shredder that thrusts them into the same scream big leagues as Ari Aster, John Carpenter and Jordan Peele.
Otherwise known as YouTube sensation RackaRacka, the twins have fast become cinema’s equivalent of the Brothers Grimm, conjurers up diabolical trick or treats wherein young protagonists mercilessly suffer. Their “Bring Her Back” is nastier than anything the German folk-tale meisters ever cooked up, however.
The Philippou brothers know how to apply a vise-like grip to our throats from the first frame and then proceed to squeeze tighter and tighter until we’re left gasping at the bloody finale. This is the kind of movie that compels you to chew your fingernails to the very nubbies, as well as those on the person next to you. It is that intense.
“Bring Her Back” is the Philippou brothers’ follow-up to their excellent, if less thematically adventurous, 2022 debut “Talk to Me” (stream it now on Netflix), offering a more daring and complex story that further expounds on the brothers’ cynical, dim view of ineffectual, often bonkers adults. Almost anyone 18 and older that appears onscreen is a monster here, and anyone younger is either prey or a means to an end.
In “Bring Her Back,” the two teens fending off adults are survivors of a recent trauma that has kicked them into the spin cycle of a foster care system and then right into the bloody clutches of a maniac.
The “prey” are Piper (Sora Wong), who is blind, and her older 17-year-old brother Andy (Billy Barratt) — her “protector” who’s working at curbing his temper. The two are bonded forever, use catchphrases to communicate and care intensely about each other. Once Andy turns 18, he hopes to become Piper’s legal guardian.
For now they must reckon with an eccentric, frazzled-haired foster mom Laura (Oscar winner Sally Hawkins, in a performance that justifiably is drawing comparisons to Kathy Bates’ turn in “Misery”). She’s a counselor and former social worker who resides in a way-out-there house where she’s fostering a bizarre bad-seed boy Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips, giving one of the freakiest child performances I’ve seen). She’s also dealing with grief that’s driven her mad. The house includes an ominous drained pool out back and has fallen into disrepair, just like the shaky rafters of Laura’s unstable mind. Piper and Andy, like Hansel and Gretel, discover there are evil intentions at work. The Philippou brothers don’t hold back on the gore and “Bring Her Back” tests the mettle of even the most hardcore horror fan.
They brothers also wedge in dark humor, but don’t get too used to it. Their intent is to rattle and terrify, and “Bring Her Back” does that with a singular purpose that is as unsparing and brutal as it is brilliant. The performances are terrific. Horror moviemaking doesn’t get much better than this.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].
‘BRING HER BACK’
4 stars out of 4
Rating: R (violence and gore, nudity, language, underage drinking)
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Bill Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips
Directors: Danny and Michael Philippou
Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
When and where: Opens May 30 in theaters nationwide
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