Bring Her Back (Blu-ray)

While many would tell you that the last few years have been good to the horror genre, there are still some I choose to skip. I love a good horror/thriller as much as the next guy, but with time restraints and sometimes just simply not wanting to, I can’t get to every film in theaters that I might like. I bring this up only because Bring Her Back is one that I don’t know, I just didn’t make the greatest effort to see it. That is other films came before it as of interest to me and maybe I knew the short turnaround that I could just catch it at home. I recall some good praises about this one, but these days it’s often too easy to call a single film that greatest achievement or other countless praises.

Known for their 2022 hit, Talk to Me, Directors/Brothers Danny and Michael Philippou return for Bring Her Back. They’re clearly fans of this genre, and hey, if it worked for them before, why change things now? We’re quickly introduced to 17-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) who looks after his vision-impaired stepsister Piper (Sora Wong). In an early scene, we can tell that the fellow classmates don’t think too highly of Piper as Andy witnesses them mocking her, but he keeps a close eye on her. When they arrive home, they discover their father’s door is locked. They can get into the room only to find that he is dead in the shower. Since Andy isn’t considered an adult yet, they must enter foster care. It takes a little convincing, but they can stay together when they wind up with Laura (Sally Hawkins) who is also a counselor. Things seem alright, but they discover that Laura has another adoptive boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) who is mute and clearly has other issues.

Most viewers will likely guess that Laura has far more to her than she initially lets on. In some ways, some viewers may find the film predictable in that regard. I won’t disagree, however that didn’t become my issue with the film. While the story and characters garnered some interest from me, I found that other elements were lacking. That is in way of actual frights. Bring Her Back indeed has some shocking imagery, much of which is quite gross, but I didn’t find the film particularly scary at all. Instead, I became rather annoyed at the constantly loud soundtrack. It’s something even better horror film that ultimately fall victim to. I’m not scared if you crank the volume up. I wish filmmakers would show more restraint when it comes to loud noises as they’re more irritating than frightening. Still, this might not matter for more modern audiences more willing to go with it than myself. Have at it.

We get a 2.00:1 transfer that didn’t bring up any clear issues for me. I noticed the clarity right away and details were solid throughout. The film, although not as dark as some other recent ones, isn’t the brightest I’ve seen, so know that going in. I don’t count against this as I believe the way these directors are filming now lends itself to darker visuals, but I find it worth noting. Overall, viewers should feel pleased with the results here.

While I wasn’t big on the choices made to crank the volume up during the fright scenes, the track still handles them well. Vocals were fine, but the louder sequences are what become the most involving. The Dolby Atmos track satisfies just like the visuals.

Bring Her Back did enough to hold my interest for the most part. I think somewhere along the way I just got tired of the loud jump scares and overreliance on them. I didn’t find the film as effective as many, but I’ve also seen worse. For fans of this genre and/or directors then you should probably at least rent this.