Bring Her Back – REVIEW

Sally Hawkins in Bring Her Back


A movie that came out a few years back that ended up being a nice surprise was a supernatural horror movie called Talk To Me, which is the directorial debut of brothers Danny & Michael Philippou. They also have a YouTube channel called RackaRacka, which is how they blew up. Do you remember those old YouTube videos about the creepy Ronald McDonald trying Burger King or something? That’s them, and learning after watching Talk To Me that it was directed by the guys behind RackaRacka was incredible to see. On top of that, Talk To Me is a lot of fun and what a modern horror movie should be: great premise, a good blend of funny and scary moments, and once again, just a fun time to watch. That made me even more excited to see what they’d do next, and Bring Her Back (which opens tonight) is the complete opposite of fun, but intentionally so. It dips its toes in the same water as Talk To Me with its premise, which follows a brother and sister being adopted by a single mother who has a terrifying secret that gets unearthed. Yeah, I know. If you’ve seen Talk To Me, that’s not what that movie is about, but I think both deal with the idea of the afterlife in very interesting ways, especially when viewed as different sides of the same coin. Talk To Me shows demonic possession as a viral moment to catch on video that you can do as easy as a handshake, but Bring Her Back shows this as a painful process, whittling away at the human body with every passing moment. The big inclusion here is Sally Hawkins, mainly known for The Shape of Water, the Paddington movies, and Wonka, as the mother that adopts the orphans. It’s like the Philippous weaponize her other roles that are motherly and warm to throw you off; it’s a genius move that makes all of the other things that happen with her so off-putting. If there’s anything I can say about Bring Her Back that I may be in the minority on, it’s that I’ll never watch this movie again. Personally, I thought this ended up being way too visceral and just overall graphic for my taste. The possession elements also mirror child abuse, which is intentional, and I can barely watch movies or shows that deal with this. I know that what I said is basically a trigger warning, but it ended up being really effective and added another layer to the movie. It’s certainly a lot heavier and intense than Talk To Me, but there’s just so much here that I admire from a filmmaking perspective that I can’t write it entirely off. I just don’t want to see it ever again.


Ryan’s Grade: B-