Film Review: Sally Hawkins Can’t Save the Mean-Spirited ‘Bring Her Back’

Two years ago, young filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou made a fairly noteworthy feature debut with the A24 horror flick Talk to Me (reviewed here). Now, they’re back (no pun intended) with another one in Bring Her Back, which is a definite letdown. Whereas the prior film was heady and moody, building off of its premise, this one is mean-spirited, repetitive, and never explores any of its potential. The movie progressively devolves, becoming deeply off-putting in the process. It ends up being a work that I did not enjoy in the slightest.

Bring Her Back has one redeeming feature in its committed performance from Sally Hawkins. In the tradition of Toni Collette in Hereditary (a lesser version, to be sure), Hawkins gets to really showcase herself, all while creeping the audience out. She’s good and should have had even more to do, though the film lets her down in that regard, despite the promise of the premise.

Siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) stick together. The former is a caretaker of sorts for the only partially sighted latter, especially given their father’s problems. Returning home from school one day, they find him dead in the shower. Initially, Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton) a counselor at child services wants to split them up, mainly focusing on placing someone they see as having needs with a special foster parent. For Piper, it’s Laura (Hawkins), a former counselor herself. Not wanting to be apart, especially a few months before Andy will be old enough to care for her legally, they beg for have him go too. Wendy relents, provided that Andy, who has had trouble in the past, can stay out of it. When they’re brought to Laura, she seems great, except something appears off, at least to Andy. He has no idea how right he is.

Not only is she odd, Laura also has a mysterious video that she watches at every opportunity. Soon, it seems as though she’s gaslighting Andy into being a problem, while ingratiating herself to Piper. The more that goes on, the more suspicious Andy becomes, especially when he begins to wonder if the silent other child Laura watches in Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) has something very wrong about them. Cue the gore.

Sally Hawkins is the highlight here, giving what’s actually a slightly restrained performance, given what could have been. She does more for the film than the writing or direction does to make you care about Laura, despite the worsening things you see. Hawkins relishes being a villain, to be sure, and even if this one is a forgettable one to me, her work is pretty good. Youngsters Billy Barratt and Sora Wong are fine, though the former is mostly just put through the wringer, while the latter is a very passive figure in most of the narrative. Jonah Wren Phillips is very unsettling, which is the intent, even if the character is a big misfire. Aside from Sally-Anne Upton, the small supporting cast includes Mischa Heywood, Stephen Phillips, and more.

Filmmakers (and twin brothers, for those who don’t know) Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou direct, while Danny co-writes with Bill Hinzman. They still do gore and violence very well, can ratchet up the tension, and have visual style, that’s clear to me. There’s just never a sense of the why here. Their direction, as well as the script, appears just invested in cruelty, some shock value, and a bleak sensibility. Plus, there’s multiple scenes of a cat being treated very poorly, and it’s just unnecessary. Bring Her Back wants to be about grief, without question, but it does nothing to give its audience that, while never exploring any of its questions. The character of Oliver, as well as the tapes, are two examples of elements that needed to be more thoroughly explored in order for anyone to care about what’s going on.

Bring Her Back really did not work for me. I’m still curious to see what the Philippou Brothers do next, but perhaps taking their sensibilities to an adaptation might be the way to go, given how their original work has been so dour. Talk to Me hopefully isn’t a one-off, and I’m seemingly in the minority here, so keep that in mind. However, my view is my view, and from where I’m standing, this is a massive misfire.

SCORE: ★★