{"id":279631,"date":"2025-07-21T09:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/279631\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T09:42:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:42:16","slug":"bring-her-back-boasts-one-of-the-most-horrifically-disturbing-scenes-ive-ever-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/279631\/","title":{"rendered":"Bring Her Back boasts one of the most horrifically disturbing scenes I’ve ever seen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Jonah
\n\t\tHot new A24 horror flick Bring Her Back is finally being released in UK cinemas (Picture: Ingvar Kenne\/A24 via AP)<\/p>\n

Disturbing new film Bring Her Back<\/a> contains one of the most intensely grotesque and terrifying scenes I\u2019ve ever seen \u2013 one that made me physically recoil \u2013 but the movie is more than just harrowing thrills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This A24 supernatural horror has had UK fans patiently waiting nearly two months longer than our US and Australian counterparts to witness its grisliness, which reportedly left some fainting in cinemas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not only are there several truly hideous scenes in the film, built up to by its looming sense of foreboding, but it leaps straight in with grainy footage from a cult showing people being tortured and hanged.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve now warned you what kind of film it\u2019s going to be from the very beginning, but this second feature from Australian sibling filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou (Talk to Me<\/a>) goes beyond simply wince-inducing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a poignant tale about the devastation of grief and boasts two-time Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins<\/a> as its stunningly effective secret weapon. Not that anyone would expect anything less than excellence from Hawkins at this stage, but she triumphs here as an exquisitely off-balance and creepy presence, elevating the distressing \u2013 if sometimes slightly thin \u2013 material.<\/p>\n

Bring Her Back opens with the trauma of step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) finding their father dead in the shower, which leads them to be placed in the care of eccentric former counsellor Laura (Hawkins).<\/p>\n

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\t\t\"This
\n\t\tStarring Sally Hawkins in a creepily cheerful performance, it contains one of the most disturbing scenes I\u2019ve ever watched (Picture: Ingvar Kenne\/A24 via AP)<\/p>\n

Laura is cheerful to an almost manic degree, welcoming the pair into her cluttered home up in the hills, where she\u2019s also fostering a young mute boy, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).<\/p>\n

Immediately smitten with Piper, who reminds her of her late daughter Cathy (Mischa Heywood) \u2013 who was blind and tragically drowned in the home\u2019s swimming pool \u2013 Laura is surprisingly brusque with the troubled Oliver as well as Andy, who she immediately begins to undermine with unnerving behaviour.<\/p>\n

This is all managed with icky cheeriness from Hawkins as Laura, who expertly masks her character\u2019s subtly nefarious motives with Laura\u2019s kooky disposition and professional experience handling displaced kids.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s not the scariest presence in the film: that honour belongs to Phillips\u2019 deeply troubled Oliver, who eats flies, bangs on windows \u2013 and much worse. It\u2019s him at the centre of Bring Her Back\u2019s most stomach-churning scenes, including the worst, which may well have you gagging or at least groaning in disgust and fright as the audience in my screening did.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Billy
\n\t\tBring Her Back sees step-siblings Piper (Sora Wong) and Andy (Billy Barratt) sent to live with Hawkins\u2019 carer Laura after their father\u2019s sudden death (Picture: A24)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"This
\n\t\tBut creepy things are happening at Laura\u2019s, mostly relating to her mute charge Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) (Picture: Ingvar Kenne\/A24 via AP)<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t spoil the exact nature of what it entails, but suffice it to say it\u2019s good old-fashioned body horror and a classic fear realised that many have nightmares about \u2013 and that\u2019s without the genuinely distressing cracking and splintering sound effects that accompany the blood onscreen. I\u2019ll never forget it.<\/p>\n

The movie\u2019s sound design by Emma Bortignon is particularly impressive, thunderous in parts and quietly foreboding in others, constantly ratcheting up the unease. It also pairs well with Cornel Wilczek\u2019s score \u2013 sometimes jangling and disorienting \u2013 to emphasise the audio overwhelm someone with compromised vision like Piper can experience.<\/p>\n

Bring Her Back\u2019s performances all around are knock-out, from Hawkins and Phillips providing the fear factor to Barratt and newcomer Wong giving the film its heart. But although it pushes further into depraved places than I expected and enjoys a fair amount of impact from that alone, the beats of the story can be a little slow and overly simplified; this goes as far as the film\u2019s title itself.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tThe movie boasts fantastic performances and some really grotesque horror, but ultimately falls a little short (Picture: A24\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

As can be the case with horror movies<\/a>, the revelations end up paling a little in comparison with the thrills of the journey to get there. You can guess what\u2019s behind the locked door of the shed, and the basis of the film\u2019s set-up is a little rushed and unsubstantiated, which left me feeling slightly deflated.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Bring Her Back\u2019s rawness \u2013 in more ways than one \u2013 is something seared into my memory, thanks to its twisted and extreme horror and powerful performances.<\/p>\n

Bring Her Back is in UK cinemas from Saturday, July 26.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n

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