Let’s just say the Philippou brothers are about to commit highway robbery on A24’s budgeting department for the foreseeable future. The sophomore feature film of the former YouTube celebs, Bring Her Back, lands the guys a heavy two-for-two after their directorial debut. 

Bring Her Back: A Triumphant Follow-Up From Philippou Brothers

As cute and carefree as these guys are in conversation, we’d never believe the trauma Danny and Michael Philippou were about to drum up with their grief-soaked house party, Talk To Me. Representing the new generation of horror, much of the film’s praise circled around their ability to add an accurate adolescence to the low vibrational theme of loss.

Their playfulness as a duo hasn’t budged, but the twins’ newest project swaps out any source of teenage nostalgia for an extra helping of domestic dread.

It’s “feel bad “o’clock”, alright. Bring Her Back sits at the stoop of the disturbing side of extreme cinema, similar to Red Rooms or Speak No Evil (2022)– just add a gallon of the bloody stuff.

Sora Wong and Billy Barratt Shine as Siblings in Bring Her Back

The film follows Andy and Piper, siblings who are quickly placed into nightmare foster care after the sudden death of their only parent. It’s felt instantly that the innocence of these characters is about to be challenged in ways the viewer might not be ready for. The bond between Sora Wong as Piper, and Billy Barratt as her brother, Andy, is tangible. The audience will feel how the series of events stretches and disrupts their chemistry from its origin, through its conflict, to the lasting impact of its third act.

Piper is the younger sister. She’s visually impaired, and a victim of bullying at school. Billy is almost 18, and after years of abuse, prioritizes protecting his step-sister from the household horrors that come with adolescence. The desolation is boosted with Sally Hawkins in the role of Laura; the kids’ new foster parent. Personally, I’m thankful Hawkins retired from her career of serving comfort charisma in the Paddington series for something complex and dangerous.

Her newest role is a little relatable… and likable for a little? All around it’s demented. Laura’s fallen into immense emptiness after losing her daughter, but found a seemingly reasonable solution in providing care for kids in need, like her current foster child, Oliver. At least that’s what her alibi tells us.

Weaponizing Empathy in a Horror Movie

The amount of humanity all over this is disturbing. Care is a theme, but it’s really a gag that anyone with an ounce of empathy is subject to trip over. The facade of a safe space lets in the manipulation. The only “what if?” comes from the ability to accept a stranger’s care in a time of struggle. The Philippou’s are wicked to use our human empathy against us.

Sora Wong’s debut performance carries a lot of hope to Piper, which is basically the viewer’s lifeline. Her visual impairment makes little impact on the situation, especially because she has all of the characteristics of a role that horror fans typically hold on to, especially with the weight of this context. Hopefully the young actor finds a taste for horror in her career moving forward.

The physical horrors I witnessed are some of the worst things you can do to an audience. I honestly wish y’all luck getting this stuff out of your head (complimentary). The first foster child, Oliver, puts all the current creepy children in horror to bed. As strange as Laura gets, he is the conduit of the supernatural element. Jonah Wren Phillips nailing the classic “creepy kid” thing makes him the perfect subject for Philippou’s display of practical effects. The body horror sequences are traumatizing; they last forever, and you’ll hear twice as much as you see, but they’re worth every cent spent in production. These moments make for excellent theater experiences, but I also understand if you’d rather watch at home and sob a little too.

Simply put, Bring Her Back weighs a thousand tons. Somehow, it’s able to complement massive amounts of grief with the kind of practical and emotional depravity you rarely see in a wide release. We are so far from the gateway, folks, so take your trigger warnings seriously.

Out of all of his films, Wes Craven’s Shocker is unlike the others. It almost feels like a soft reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street. This was the second Craven film I was introduced to, and it quickly became my favorite. But it’s not without its flaws. By the time Shocker came out, New Line Cinema had released their fourth Nightmare film and was in the process of pumping out the fifth. It was clear that Nightmare had descended from a straight-up horror film with moments of comedy to full-on horror comedy. Was Shocker a middle finger to New Line? Was this Craven saying, “I can do that too, but better”?

Shocker vs. A Nightmare on Elm Street: A Subtle Reboot?

Shocker follows Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg), a college football player deeply in love with his girlfriend, Alison Clemens (Camille Cooper). Their small town is plagued by a faceless serial killer who has, so far, annihilated seven families. Jonathan has a nightmare of his foster mom and siblings being slaughtered and quickly rushes over to their house…only to find it was more than just a nightmare. Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) is eventually fingered as the killer and is put to death by the electric chair. But when Horace’s death goes awry, Jonathan quickly finds out that his life is still in grave danger.

Written and directed by Wes Craven, Shocker is a heavy metal horror-comedy that delights as much as it makes you question. Craven’s creation of Horace Pinker feels much like a pseudo-Krueger. His quips and one-liners are enough to leave a grin on your face as you grimace at the underlying brutality of his actions. In both life and death, Pinker is far more terrifying than Freddy. His love of a singular blade cuts deep in each victim, and his anger only grows once he comes after Jonathan and Alison. Bloodier and bloodier, Pinker continually finds ways to one-up his previous kills. As someone who mainly knows Mitch Pileggi from The X-Files, his performance as Horace Pinker is beyond astounding. He lays into the cheese and quips with brilliant ease.

Peter Berg, on the other hand. Woof. The pre-rage bait Berg flops on-screen harder than the Deepwater Horizon. Mitch Pileggi may chew the scenery every chance he gets, but Berg gums it. His performance could be best described as someone who constantly has peanut butter in his mouth while an electronic butt plug malfunctions inside of him.

Pacing Problems: A Tale of Three Films in One

Shocker has a real pacing issue and ultimately feels like three short films in one. That is probably weird to hear after someone says it’s one of their favorite Wes Craven movies. The first third of the film goes fast and hard. By the time Pinker is arrested and executed, the film halts in its tracks. The tenish-minute park scene could be labeled a worse They Live alley fight scene. It’s flat, slow, and feels like an afterthought. All it’s useful for is setting up and paying off a MacGuffin for how to kill Pinker for good. Shocker’s nearly two-hour runtime would have been unaffected by a shorter park scene. Post-park scene, the film picks back up and turns into a fascinating cat-and-mouse chase.

It’s impossible to talk about Shocker without mentioning the incredible soundtrack. Of course, there is Iggy Pop and Bonfire, but this film was my first introduction to “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, and it’s hard not to be moved when Megadeath’s cover cranks into the film at an 11. What really sells this film’s soundtrack is the bookending of “Shocker” and “Shocker (reprise)”. Hearing Paul Stanley hit the high line, “We will have the power,” with his astounding voice, will never not give me chills. The soundtrack for Shocker is by far one of Wes Craven’s greatest soundtracks for his entire body of work.