Bring Her Back: The Philippou Brothers' Intense & Gripping Sophomore Feature (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Just two years ago, Danny & Michael Philippou burst onto the scene with their debut horror outing "Talk to Me" (written by the former & Bill Hinzman), a film that had a semi-interesting premise, but had strained a little too much in regards to its believability when it came to the intelligence of its characters (or lack thereof). However, that hardly stopped it from being a massive hit, one that raked in $92 million on a mere $4.5 million production budget. With that under their belt, fans waited with great anticipation to see what their next project would be, which brings us to "Bring Her Back," another horror flick by the same writers that looks to take viewers into some pretty dark areas once again. Will they be able to do a better job executing their premise this time around, or will they merely stumble into the same pitfalls they did before?

The film centers on teenage step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and his partially-sighted sister Piper (Sora Wong), who are forced to move in with foster parent Laura (Sally Hawkins) after they discover their father dead in the shower. With Andy turning 18 in just three months, he hopes to file for guardianship of his sister so they can get their own place, so he merely has to put up with the situation until then. We learn that Laura is fostering another child named Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips), who is mute and behaves rather oddly, and that she had a blind daughter named Cathy who tragically passed away. As their stay goes on, some very strange things begin to happen, causing Andy to believe that Laura isn't being entirely honest with them about Ollie and her intentions, eventually entangling him in a terrifying situation that has his sister's life in great danger.

As mentioned, Danny & Michael Philippou's debut feature "Talk to Me" had been a little disappointing in terms of its characters' inexplicable actions, which is the kind of thing you may expect to see once or twice in a horror film for the sake of the plot, but when you have them doing it over and over again, you're merely going to lose your audience as they roll their eyes over and over. When it comes to "Bring Her Back," it would appear that the writers took their previous feature's faults to heart and worked a lot harder on character development so as to avoid the same mistake, and in doing so, the creepy tale they have to tell works a lot better this time around.

The story & characters feel more fully-formed in their second feature, giving us not only a bizarre situation to grab out attention, but also a brother who desperately wants to protect his sister from it, which provides an engaging, emotional core to its narrative. Without going into much detail (the twists & turns are better discovered on one's own), the story is hardly perfect, with events that you'll definitely question, but which you basically just have to accept, once again for the sake of the plot (though in a much more forgiving way than before). However, even with its parts that don't fully come together, it's a suitably gripping tale, one that may start off a little slow, but which eventually gets to the point where you're hanging on to see what crazy thing will happen next.

Overall, "Bring Her Back" shows a definite improvement for these filmmakers. Again, it's not without its flaws, but it gets the job done as a compelling horror feature. It does get a little intense at times, so those with a weak stomach might want to stay away, but for avid horror fans & gorehounds, it's a nice little surprise in a genre where even decent entries seem like more and more of an unfortunate rarity.

Video/Audio:

"Bring Her Back" comes to Blu-ray in a 2:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality. The picture remains perfectly sharp & clear throughout the entire 104-minute duration, even during the darkest of scenes. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, A24 has done a marvelous job in both areas for the film's Blu-ray debut.

Special Features:

Director Commentary with Danny & Michael Philippou

Coming Full Circle (19 Minutes): A featurette that goes behind the scenes of the making of the film, featuring interviews with the cast & crew.

Deleted Scene: "Ding Dong Dash" (1 Minute)

Conclusion:

Danny & Michael Philippou's "Bring Her Back" is a vast improvement over their previous feature, presenting a more fully-formed idea with much better story & character development. It's hardly perfect, with events that you basically just have to roll with, but even so, it's a suitably gripping tale that eventually has you hanging on to see what bizarre thing will happen next, ultimately making for a decent horror outing that genre fans & gorehounds will get a kick out of.

Score: 3.5/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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