Anyone who saw the masterpiece “Hereditary-The Legacy” by “Midsommar” mastermind Ari Aster, of course, still remembers the beheading at the lamp fattening. After all, there has probably been no second scene in recent years, the effect of which is so close to an unchecked blow into the stomach pit. Such moments when the horror goes beyond the mechanics of filmmaking, you can feel the pain and shock itself as a focal genre fan is a rare asset. Or rather, they were.
Because after they have perfected the art of the jump scares in their equally successful and successful debut “Talk to Me”, the Australian brothers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou in their hot successor-for whom they even canceled the new “Street Fighter” cinema film-are pure terror: “Bring her back“Combines manic performance of Sally Hawkins, granular recordings of a mysterious cannibal ritual on tattered VHS tapes as well as repeated crops, which are guaranteed not to be just laughed off, to a triumphant virate of total disturbance.
Sally Hawkins, which was already two Oscar nominated, delivers one of the best performances of her career in “Bring Her Back”!
After the sudden death of her father, the blind piper (Sora Wong) and her older stepbrother Andy (Billy Barratt) have to go to the care of a foster mother – at least until Andy 18 years old and can then apply for guardianship for his sister himself. For example, the siblings end up in Laura (Sally Hawkins), a former youth therapist who has been taking care of a silent care boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) since her own daughter's death. Laura is much more interested in Piper than her almost full -year -old brother, but this is understandable in the face of the circumstances.
But at least Andy realizes that something does not go with right things here – the indications of this are not very subtle when Oliver chews on a kitchen knife for about half of the teeth in his blood -filled mouth. But even though Andy is physically superior to his foster mother, Laura does not let her project be dissuaded, which obviously has something to do with the old VHS ribbons that she keeps looking at in her bedroom like a manual …
So the horror hurts twice and triple
Before their own directorial debut, Danny and Michael Philippou worked on – in addition to “Wolf Creek” – probably the most famous Australian horror film of the recent cinema history: With “The Babadook” by Jennifer Kent, the brothers not only acquired the technical skills, but also also understood that horror, especially when he not only hits the market, but also emotionally is well -founded. Her debut “Talk to Me” has also developed into an international horror hit, because not only the jumpscares are perfect, but is a teenager group in the center for a change, for whose fates you are honestly interested.
In “Bring Her Back”, the brothers only need a few scenes to bring us closer to the inseparable band between the step -siblings. Their dealings seem so authentic not only because newcomer Sora Wong is visually visually impaired, there are always small ideas that make their cooperation as credible as it is touching: Andy describes things to his younger sister – such as the father, who has choked himself up before his death – deliberately a little more positive than they really are. But there is a code word, “grapefruit”, and if that is pronounced, then only the unvarnished truth counts. Of course, this will also become important for the plot later, but above all it gives the relationship a specific specificity, especially in horrority.
The fact that something is wrong with Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) is actually obvious right from the start …
Even at Laura you are inclined to meet her and all her pent -up pain with understanding. But above all, Sally Hawkins (Oscarnominated for “Blue Jasmine” and “Shape of Water”) delivers mercilessly uninhibited performance, which is only more disturbing because it is just as small and dainty and at least Andy physically inferior. Just like Toni Collette in “Hereditary”, you could again ask for an Oscar nomination-but even if the Academy opens up slowly for the horror, then this only applies to films such as “Get Out” or “Blood & Sinners”, but still not for real shockers.
And speaking of shockers: We can't call so many of them now without revealing too much of the plot. But even the opening VHS recordings, in which naked, sometimes heavily overweight people in white circles keep any rituals, while they speak and sing in a language specially invented for the film, create an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere. And if you hope that the constant rain will give way to the sunshine at some point, you still have not understood the merciless uncompromise that the Philippou brothers operate their shower crafts!
Conclusion: A shocker of the particularly nasty variety, which is deeply disturbing from the first to the last second-and at the same moment-with which Danny and Michael Philippou prove that their celebrated horror debut “Talk to Me” was obviously not one hit wonder.