Amongst all of the movie franchise sequels, installments, and reboots lately, there has been a steadily growing number of folks crying for original stories and content.
Well, those people should be heading to theaters now to catch “Bring Her Back” for a deeply unsettling and gory supernatural horror movie.
It’s one of the few films in recent years that actually made me cringe when something happened on screen that legitimately looked painful.
Also, there is actually a grief-ridden storyline hidden among the supernatural grotesqueries that I wasn’t expecting to come across either.
Honestly, I think that’s what made the whole movie feel more depressing after the initial horror shock values wore off.
Back is an Australian supernatural horror film directed by Danny and Michael Philippou and written by Danny and Bill Hinzman.
It’s produced by Causeway Films and RackaRacka in association with Salmira Productions and South Australian Film Corporation.
The film stars Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Sally Hawkins, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Mischa Heywood, and Stephen Phillips.
Clocking in at 104 minutes, the movie is rated R for strong disturbing bloody content, some grisly images, graphic nudity, underage drinking, and language.
Andy (Barratt) and his younger, visually impaired stepsister Piper (Wong) discover their father Phil (Phillips) dead from a slip in the shower.
At first, foster care worker Wendy (Upton) plans to assign Andy to a state home until he turns 18, while Piper is accepted to be placed with Laura (Hawkins).
Andy has a history of violence from his childhood that makes Laura leery at first, but Wendy advocates for him, and the siblings are soon placed together at Laura’s house.
Laura appears as a seemingly kind but eccentric foster mother with her mute foster child Oliver (Phillips).
Laura tells them her late daughter, Cathy (Heywood), was also visually impaired and drowned in the backyard pool.
Andy becomes uneasy with Laura’s favoritism toward Piper and Oliver’s unsettling behavior.
At their father’s funeral, Laura tells Andy that some believe the spirit lingers in the body after death.
That night, Andy reveals their father was abusive toward him but affectionate toward Piper, which left him resentful.
Laura says she would give anything to hear Cathy call her “mum” again.
While home alone, Andy sees Oliver mutilate himself with a kitchen knife.
When Andy tries to carry him over a white circle surrounding the house, Oliver convulses violently and starts screaming.
Laura returns in a panic and calms Oliver by rubbing his head in a circular motion, a technique from a VHS tape depicting disturbing rituals from a cult.
Oliver briefly begs for help but is forced back into a trancelike state.
Later, Andy hallucinates his father’s ghost while showering and slips before knocking himself unconscious.
In the hospital, he pleads with Laura not to let Piper leave the house, fearing she’ll die.
He further explains that his father’s hallucination warned him that Piper would die in the rain.
Laura ignores him and takes Piper to an outbuilding freezer containing Cathy’s preserved corpse.
It’s revealed that Cathy’s body and Oliver are part of a resurrection ritual, as demonstrated from the cult’s tapes.
Overall, the film is bleak and seemingly spirals out of control while the body count grows – it isn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.
I will say that it does end on a positive note, though, so it’s up to you if you want to sit through it all just to see how it ends.
