BRING HER BACK ( in theatres)

Never have I fully understood the horror genre and its universal appeal: exhilarating, titillating, blood-pumping depravity erasing the mundanity of one’s everyday life?  Maybe the exploration of “man’s inhumanity to man”, when does cruelty, bullying expand into egregious, litigious behavior; when does moral turpitude usurp morality, leaving souls reveling in the demonization of mankind; chastity, decency, civility, undermined by pure unadulterated bile? “The answer, my friends is “blowin’ in the wind.”

Having seen countless “Horror” films, two countries excel in the imaginative horrific arena: Japan and Australia. “Bring Her Back” is the second movie by Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou (“Talk to Me”, 2022) and tips the scales in realistic trauma and deadly possibilities; true horror lies in the actuality that it might happen, relying on the believability of the diabolical protagonist, and actor Sally Hawkins is conceivably the most lusciously licentious, sensationally sinister, mistress of mayhem we’ve seen since “Annie Wilkes” (Kathy Bates) in “Misery”; Hawkins depicts “Laura” a single, sugary foster mother who takes brother and sister “Andy” (Billy Barratt) ) and “Piper” (first time actor Sora Wong) into her sickening, iniquitous lair, where “Ollie” (outstanding Jonah Wren Phillips) is a silent, eerily terrifying presence. Laura has lost a daughter to drowning and her grief and description of it toast the writers Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman and the gut-wrenching candor of her dialogue, pulverizes viewers.

“Bring Her Back” is slick, intelligent filmmaking: sound and cinematography blend pivotally with the scenario and water, throughout the film hints at the destructive elements of past and future occurrences. Not a film for all; for those who appreciate the genre it is a winner.

FOUR STARS!!!!

Peneflix