A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.

The Philippou brothers had a breakout hit a couple of years ago with ‘Talk To Me’, an impressive horror debut that cemented them as serious filmmakers after previously being known for making YouTube videos. Their follow up is ‘Bring Her Back’, another horror movie, and it’s safe to say this is likely to generate as much buzz as their debut, if not even more, as this is one of the most disturbing and gruesome horror movies I’ve seen in a fair while.

It begins as it means to go on with two teenage children (Andy and Piper) finding their father dead in the shower, forcing them into foster care with an eccentric woman (Laura) who is still grieving the loss of her own daughter. She already fosters a mute boy named Oliver, and she really only wanted to foster the partially sighted Piper, with 17-year-old Andy essentially there as neither he nor Piper wanted to be separated from each other, and he is too young to become her guardian. It becomes clear there is a lot of unresolved pain in Laura’s household, which exacerbates when strange things start to happen, prompting Andy especially to start to question the events happening around him.

Sally Hawkins delivers one of the best performances of her career as Laura, while the young actors who play Andy, Piper and Oliver (Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips) are all impressive in their roles. The plot unfolds carefully, and the supernatural elements are well weaved in, enabling you to suspend your sense of disbelief as the more outlandish aspects of the story start to come to the fore. It is incredibly dark and gruesome with some scenes I had to watch through my fingers, so be prepared, but if that doesn’t put you off, you’ll find a gripping psychological thriller with good performances and a thematically interesting story at its heart. 2 out of 2 for the Philippou brothers as far as I’m concerned!

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Danny and Michael Philippou

Starring: Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips and Sally Hawkins

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt32246771/