I’ll let you know right off the bat, gentle readers, it’s another one of those movies.

I’m talking about movies like Heretic, Presence, Cuckoo… you know, the kind of prestige horror film that’s a slow burn by design. A film that isn’t powered by kills or scares, but by a general sense of unease. The kind of atmosphere in which weird little oddities keep cropping up and we’re left waiting until the big reveal to see what the hell is going on.

But this one put the big reveal right there in the title. Bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.

Bring Her Back comes to us from the Philippou Brothers, who burst onto the scene in a big way with Talk to Me in 2022. This isn’t a sequel, and we don’t get a neat drug allegory this time, but there is a lot of connective tissue here. For instance, this is another paranormal horror flick about family trauma and coping with grief, in between set pieces involving demonic possession and grisly body horror.

This is the story of Piper, a young girl with a strong visual impairment. I might add that she’s played by newcomer Sora Wong, who really was born with coloboma and microphthalmia. Which means that the Philippous crafted a Final Girl who really is quite literally too blind to see all the red flags right in front of her. The ingenious rat bastards.

Anyway, Piper is supported by her loving older stepbrother (Andy, played by Billy Barratt), though he’s got a bit of a checkered delinquent past we won’t get into here. Long story short, we meet Piper and Andy shortly before they find the dead body of Andy’s father. With no other family to take them in, Piper is happily accepted by a foster mother (Laura, played by Sally Hawkins) who is noticeably less thrilled to have Andy tag along. There’s also the matter of Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a peculiar mute boy who’s also staying with Laura.

The situation is less than ideal, but it only has to last for three months until Andy is old enough to apply to be Piper’s guardian. But then Laura keeps harping on about her late daughter. And Oliver starts acting in violent ways toward himself, others, and Laura’s pets. And we remember the title of the film. Yeah, they’re not making it to three months.

It’s hard to know what else there is to say about this movie without spoiling anything, especially since the movie basically spoils its own big reveal before we’re halfway through. (Again, it’s right there in the goddamn title!) Yes, it’s frustrating to wait around while the plot finally catches up with what we’ve already figured out, but the journey is the crucial part here.

We’ve got some gnarly makeup and gore effects. We’ve got drownings and airplanes used as powerful recurring motifs. But of course it’s the cast that really makes this worth watching.

Sally Hawkins makes effective use of her established screen presence — she’s typically such a warm and nurturing presence on screen, she works alarmingly well as a maternal figure who’s just a little too clingy and intrusive for anyone’s good. Jonah Wren Phillips is suitably creepy, but it’s the makeup doing most of the work for him. Still, it’s the Wong/Barratt interplay that’s the heart and core of this picture. We’ve got some deeply impressive and multi-layered performances out of these young actors.

Bring Her Back is very much a sophomore slump for the Philippou Brothers, but that says more about the quality of Talk to Me and the filmmakers themselves. This film is nowhere near as innovative or engaging in its plotting, but the atmosphere and effects are no less terrifying. If you’ve got the patience for a slow burn and the stomach for some horrific body horror, this is well worth a look. Just don’t expect anything groundbreaking or surprising like Talk to Me was.