The new horrific shock of A24

LHere, confirmation. In addition, Two years after having energized the box office with The hand -Small horror film for teenagers who became a phenomenon ($ 92 million in revenue for 5 million budgets). Additionally, In addition, the ex-youtubers and brothers Danny and Michael Philippou come back to the screen with Substitution : Bring Her Back. Meanwhile, More classic in its setting, but more disturbing, more cruel … For example, and much more successful.

On paper, the story seems agreed. Furthermore, Andy (Billy Barratt). Nevertheless, a semi-teen-edge teenager, and his visually impaired half-sister Piper (Sora Wong) are placed at Laura (Sally Hawkins)-a former psychologist living in an isolated house on the edge of the forest-after the brutal death of their father in the family shower. In addition, On the spot awaits them another child: new horrific shock a24 Oliver (Jonah Wren Philips), mutic, shaved skull, his face barred with a hematoma.

This is the setting: vulnerable children a little agreed. Nevertheless, a maternal figure with a too polite smile, a perfect trap … However, In short, the classic landmarks of the genre. Consequently, But the Philippou brothers love the subversive. However, deviate from the opening of a too predictable path by exposing us a fact: Laura is crazy – completely crazy even -, haunted by the memory of Cathy, her dead daughter drowned. In addition, Each evening. the tutor settles in front of her television where the VHS turns, showing a suspended body, obscure rites, a few instructions … Laura takes note. is only waiting for the right time to apply her diabolical plan, motivated by her only obsession: to resuscitate Cathy.

Let’s not say more: it is better to leave the surprise, but hang well! By plunging new horrific shock a24 the spectator into the dark designs of Laura. the Philippou brothers achieved a first stroke of genius, avoiding the traps of jump scare Easy and offering a dramaturgical tension that plays less on the “if” than on the “when”: when will the tutor act? What steps will it set up? And how far will it go? It is a whole countdown that is rolled out. as well as a hellish mechanics, as soon as children entry into the house.

New horrific shock a24

Sally Hawkins: the master’s advantage of the film

At the heart of the film, Sally Hawkins impresses. Nothing would work as well without the presence of the British actress. whom we knew more tender in The shape of the water (2017) or in Blue Jasmine (2013). Marker with the appearance of an angel. Laura plays the mothers hen in front of Piper, invites the children to party after their father’s new horrific shock a24 burial, cajole the little one while waiting to put everything in place – manipulating Andy behind her back, while Oliver, supposed to be locked in his room, prowls in the decor, devouring everything in its path.

The actress delivers a disproportionate performance here. embodying a woman on the verge of collapse, monstrous and pathetic at the same time, capable of going from whispering to pure hysteria in a few seconds. And. when the spectator believes he understood the meaning of his morbid ritual, the directors break the diagram one last time: Laura loses foot, Oliver escapes her grip and the infernal machine derails. Chaos is total.

Les Ombre d’Ari Aster et de Nicolas Roeg

And Substitution : Bring Her Back does not revolutionize the genre. he masters the codes with brilliance. Difficult to sulk his pleasure in front of this slow descent into psychological hell. which gradually slides towards cruel madness, somewhere between new horrific shock a24 Heredity d’Ari Aster (2018) and Don’t turn around The Nicolas Roeg (1973).

To discover The kangaroo of the day

Answer The film scatters the mechanisms of mental grip. the drifts of toxic parenting and the shadow areas of the adoption system. A world where children are the first victims – and the most sacrificed. But Substitution : Bring Her Back is above all a visual nightmare: sticky. cruel, gore to excess, sometimes grotesque and carried by a terribly effective casting.

And where many recent works are betting on anxiety -provoking realism. the Philippou choose the opposite path: that of a fully assumed fantastic, injected with jubilation in a frame however anchored in very concrete fears – mourning, emptiness, institutional rejection. More dense. more successful than their first film, this second feature film confirms the singular place of directors in the horrific new horrific shock a24 landscape. At 32, the twin brothers definitely have the future ahead of them.