Yikes! Another Australian horror movie. This was brutal, horrifying, and tragic. It was brilliant. 

The latest film from Australian brothers Danny and Michael Phillipou. In 2022, these two burst into the horror scene with their skillful and horrifying Talk to Me. They top that film in both craft and intensity here. 

The film, follows Andy and Piper, played by Billy Barrett and Sora Wong, half siblings who lose their father during the opening sequence of the film. They are enter the foster system and are placed with Laura, played by an incredible Sally Hawkins. Laura is a bit odd. She gives Piper the best room in the house with all the furnishings. Andy is placed in a storage room on a cot. 

The kids are surprised to meet Oliver, played by Jonah Wren Phillips, a mute boy that Laura is also fostering. Andy is quickly put off by Laura’s odd behavior, and deeply disturbed by Oliver. 

It becomes apparent that Laura is very happy to have Piper, and displeased to have Andy around. Andy is 17 and wants to adopt his sister as soon as he turns 18. Piper is blind and Laura begins telling her things that aren’t true. Piper relies on Andy to tell her the truth. However, when he starts withholding details their relationship becomes dangerously strained. 

This film is a brilliant showcase in how to withhold information and slowly reveal it to the audience in the most effective way possible. The movie isn’t just. Story or orphans and their weird foster mom. It builds tension slowly over the course of the movie and drip feeds us information when it will be the most devastating. It also never spoon feeds us the details. There are no long exposition dumps in which the characters speak their motivations and intentions in unnatural dialogue. 

The performances are frighteningly effective. Sally Hawkins is always brilliant. She brings pathos to her most heinous acts so we never lose sight of the human beneath. But she also brings an undercurrent of menace to her actions. When she is backed into a corner she acts with terrifying desperation. 

Billy Barratt is excellent in his role as the caring yet traumatized older brother. The scene in which he breaks down and reveals some brutal truths to his sister is heartbreaking and feels completely real. Sora Wong is great as the sister. She has sass and spark, and brings life and joy to her scenes. 

Jonah Wren Phillips as the other child Oliver is terrifying. I keep using that word because I was consistently terrified during this movie. I kept thinking there’s no way they’re going to do that and then they did. Jonah Wren Phillips delivers one of the most horrifying performances I’ve seen in years. He is very scary. 

This is one of the few movies that made me close my eyes. It is brutal and terrifying and will stick with you long after it is over. 

Okay, spoiler territory!

I feel this movie is difficult to discuss without getting into spoilers. I saw it knowing nothing, and I think that is the best way to enter the film. If you have already seen the film and want to read more please keep going. Or if you have no intention of seeing the film and want to get all the dirty details then keep reading. 

Okay, so Laura takes Andy and Piper to their father’s funeral. She tries to force Andy to kiss his fathers corpse. When he refuses and runs off she cuts a patch of hair from the body. 

That night Laura encourages both kids to drink. They get drunk together and have a real bonding moment as Andy and Laura share a moment. Andy reveals that his father used to abuse him brutally. Laura reveals that she had a daughter named Cathy who was blind just like Piper. Cathy drowned in the pool out back and Laura would give anything to hear Cathy call her “Mom” one more time. 

This humanizes these characters to such a wonderful degree. It will inform everything moving forward and will add depth to these characters. The attention to detail in the character work is what elevates this movie for me. 

The next day things are looking up. Laura takes Piper to the store. Andy goes looking for Oliver. He finds Oliver locked up in Laura’s room. He lets him out and tries to get him to communicate. Oliver is blank faced. Andy gives him a notepad to write on. Andy cuts some melon and stabs a piece with the knife and offers it to Oliver. Oliver grabs the belong and the knife. Andy tries to take the knife away but Oliver refuses. Andy releases the knife and tells him to be careful. He turns his back for a second and turns around to see Oliver chomping on the knife and melon. He destroys his teeth with the razor sharp edge of the blade. Andy take the knife away and drags Oliver to the car. Suddenly, they cross a white line on the ground made of powder. Oliver begins screaming and panicking. Just then Laura returns home and drags Oliver back inside. 

This scene is completely horrifying. The silent child. The knife with the melon. The turning your back for literally one second and the child harming himself. The gore effects only add to the suspense and horror of the moment. 

After this event the horror picks up. We learn that Laura has kidnapped Oliver. She has used an old Russian VHS tape she acquired to learn how to cause a demon to possess Oliver. We learn that this demon will become insatiably hungry. According to the film your soul stays in your body up to 60 days after death. The possessed will become so hungry that they will eat the body of the recently deceased. They will eat enough to consume their soul and then the demon will digest and distill the soul into a liquid bile that it will then vomit into a new body. When the the new body reawakens they will have the soul of the recently deceased. 

Laura has kidnapped Oliver, placed this demon inside him. She is keeping the body of her recently deceased daughter Cathy in a freezer in the back and wants to use Piper as the new host body for Cathy’s soul. 

AHH

A couple of things about this plot. It makes sense. Laura is grieving mother who tragically lost her daughter when she turned her back for a few minutes. She Is willing to do anything to rectify her mistake. She is blind to the pain of others if it means getting Cathy back. And she causes a lot of pain. 

In spite of the horror elements this is really a humanistic story about a grief and overcoming past trauma and pain. It’s a tragedy about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love. The best horror movies are about something more than ghosts or slashers or zombies. It uses those trappings as a means of discussing something deeper and this movie has a lot on its mind. It explores a wide range of themes and ideas, and makes it a thoughtful as well as terrifying exercise. 

As Oliver grows more hungry with the possession he begins gnawing on anything he can get his hands on. He eats the contents of the fridge. There’s a spot of food on the corner of the wooden table. He begins chewing on the table. As his teeth shatter and tear loose while he takes bites of the table I had to close my eyes. When he finally turns to his own hand and takes a bite out of his palm and tears a long stripe of flesh running up his arm, I had to close my eyes again. 

AHHHHHH 

In the end, Laura has Piper in the pool. Trying to drown her the same way her own daughter died. She is confronted with the humanity of this girl. She realizes the pain and trauma she has caused. She is overwhelmed by the evil she has enacted, and she stops herself. She releases Piper and Oliver is set free from the demon. Laura cradles the frozen corpse of her daughter and allows herself to pass away. It is heartbreaking. Somehow this movie made me feel deep sadness when a woman who caused all this pain and evil passes away. It created this reaction because the movie never loses sight of the humanity of its characters. Even the inhuman ones. 

Spoilers over. 

This movie was brilliant. It worked really well for me on all levels. It was scary. It was horrifying and terrifying. It had a great cast and a strong visual aesthetic. It had expert storytelling. It is not for the squeamish or those with weak stomachs. It is a hard mov ie to watch, but it is a very rewarding film. I highly recommend it. 

It is my cup of tea. A