‘Bring’ it on: Domestic horror tale creeps us out with cruelty and a curiously sympathetic villain

“Bring Her Back” — 3.5 stars

The slow-burn domestic horror tale “Bring Her Back” eschews supernatural elements as its source for material sure to creep us out.

It understands that ordinary damaged human beings can supply plenty of nerve-jangling experiences that shock our sensibilities and mercilessly dig into our consciences.

“Bring Her Back” comes from Australian twins Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, former YouTube stars whose violent and comical videos (including “Harry Potter vs. Star Wars” and “Ronald McDonald Chicken Store Massacre”) could hardly have foreshadowed their auspicious first feature “Talk to Me,” a demonic possession thriller that became my top horror film of 2022 and A24’s second highest-grossing release.

“Talk to Me” is the more satisfying walk on the wild side with its tight, cleverly constructed plot and jaw-dropping twist, the sort that M. Night Shyamalan has failed to create for years.

Less fun and more brutal, “Bring Her Back” values mood and emotion over logic and plausibility in a story that does for foster parents what “Cinderella” did for stepmothers.

A visually impaired teenager named Piper (Sora Wong) and her older brother, Andy (Billy Barratt), become orphans after their father dies from an attack of some kind while in the shower.

Andy feels very protective of his legally blind kid sister, who can make out shapes and colors, but not much else. When he turns 18 in three months, he wants to become Piper’s legal guardian.

Until then, a foster parent must supervise them.

Laura (the always incandescent London-born actress Sally Hawkins) takes them in. As we later discover, this veteran counselor has wrapped up an impeccable 20-year career with the local police department.

She lives in a large house in a remote area. There, Piper and Andy enjoy a lovely time in their new home for three blissful months.

Just kidding.

It doesn’t take long before the Philippou twins start waving red flags in our faces.

Why does Laura continually watch an old VHS tape of a strange ritual being performed with people hanging from nooses?

What happened to Laura’s young daughter, also blind, who died a few years earlier?

We first suspect Laura’s squeaky personality hinges might need some morality oil when she throws a wild party for her kids, with free-flowing whiskey and loud rock music.

Laura quickly becomes a corruptive, manipulative force, driving a wedge between the siblings, trying to dominate Piper and gaslighting both her wards. Poor Andy becomes despondent and self-conscious from waking up in the morning with his pants wet from his urine.

Or is it?

Then we have Laura’s other foster son, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a mute preteen who looks like a kid out of a “Children of the Corn” sequel. A crew-cut head houses two deadened eyes, one with a red mark under it. His spontaneous acts of self-mutilation provide the movie’s most upsetting and visceral shocks, actions demonstrating how fragile young defense mechanisms can be, and how easily predators can weaken them.

Ultimately, the unsubtle “Bring Her Back” screams a timely warning against the utter absence of empathy, a prerequisite for oppressive dictators, serial killers, narcissists and bullies. (It follows that Oliver would be the most negatively impacted victim for Laura. Don’t bullies always pick the most defenseless to subjugate?)

“Bring Her Back” employs mesmerizing images involving wetness, water and rain, along with robust visual cues possibly inspired by “Psycho” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” (Both horror films center around family ties, but not the supernatural.)

Of the cast, Wong — who has never professionally acted before — renders the most vulnerable and appealing character without pretense or affectation.

But this movie belongs to Hawkins, who creates a multilayered villain simultaneously abhorrent, yet curiously sympathetic, a source of great malevolence born not from evil, but from tragedy and grief so overpowering that you might just experience a strange sense of sorrow.

Even empathy.

• • •

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

Directed by: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou

Other: An A24 theatrical release. Rated R for grisly images, language, graphic nudity, violence. 99 minutes