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"Bring Her Back", the Philippou brothers' followup to "Talk to Me", focuses on teenage siblings Andy and his younger sister Piper who, after a tragic accident, find themselves in the care of a foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins) a hippy-dippy therapist who has her own dark past and possibly nefarious intentions.

The Philippou brothers impressed many horror fans with their highly unique debut film in 2023 (myself included), and this is a formidable second feature that has some cross-pollination with their previous film, albeit with an entirely different villain at the helm.

"Grief horror" has become a prominent sub-genre/thematic glue over the last decade, and while "Bring Her Back" is just as much a part of this thematic trend, it has the spin of placing its two teenaged leads in the hands of a villainous parental figure who is selfishly driven to go to the ends of the earth for her own purposes, pitting the youth against a corrupt adult figure wielding control. This is not necessarily a unique plot device, but the collision of the two elements makes for some real emotional fireworks. Hawkins's portrayal of Laura is a stunning one, and her character--despite her motives being driven by her own personal tragedy--is one so reprehensible and evil that she is difficult to shake off once the credits roll.

Interpolated with Laura's sinister plot is that of the two siblings who have landed in her web, as well as Ollie, a mute young boy also residing with Laura who is not (or perhaps, is) entirely what he seems. The film goes for gut punches that hit the right emotional notes, interspersing a vague occult element at work which is hinted at in disturbing ritual footage that serves as a model for Laura's own corrupt form of quasi-necromancy.

There are a few potent moments of gore that will leave you wincing, but it's the suspense in the final act that really ramps up and drives the film toward a conclusion that offers a couple of grim surprises, despite the supernatural mythology of the entire piece not feeling like it fully comes together.

In the end, though, the performances and characters here make this a worthwhile viewing experience. For all its thematic gravity anchored in grief and pain, I found myself utterly disgusted by Hawkins's character--she is unforgivable, vile, selfish, and downright wicked, and her portrayal, disturbing. There is not enough grief in the world to justify her, and that, to me, was probably the most interesting aspect of this narrative riddled with tragedy. 7/10.

"Hollywood 90028" follows Mark, a dejected cinematographer in Los Angeles struggling to make it in the business, relegated to shooting porno loops to get by. Plagued by loneliness and alienated from his peers, Mark finds friendship in a prostitute named Michele, but his demons ultimately begin to surface in violent ways.

This obscurity written and directed by Christina Hornisher has often been branded as a rediscovered lost film, as it was hardly released for nearly four decades and unknown to even the most diehard exploitation enthusiasts. It is a unique film with a strong psychological dimension that is unfortunately never fully realized.

The character of Mark is wracked with guilt over the death of his infant brother when he was a child, and is a lonely and withdrawn man for reasons that are apparent. However, the screenplay lacks the connective tissue that could potentially make sense of his pathology. His character in some ways reminded me of Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver", released a few years later, though Mark's ultimate drive for murder lacks a tangible underpinning.

The film is unusual in that, despite largely dealing with masculine rage, it was written and directed by a woman, though it does also offer some exploration of female objectification and the realities of sex work through the character of Michele, another troubled soul who finds some kinship with Mark. It is a langorously-paced affair all around, with some dizzyingly surreal captures of Los Angeles's grimmer underbelly, which is certainly a plus.

As the story ramps up to its inevitable conclusion, there is a fair share of tension and a tragic last punch at the audience, but when the credits rolled, as a viewer, I felt ultimately empty. Perhaps this was an intentional choice, or maybe (and more likely) an incidental element of the film stemming from its spacey quality. All in all, I found it to be a character study that doesn't quite work, but its attempts at exploring a number of psychological themes are valiant. 6/10.

"Iced" focuses on a group of friends who reunite at a posh ski resort after their friend died in a skiing accident four years earlier. Naturally, more members of the group are destined to die.

This shot-on-video slasher flick directed by Jeff Kwitny ("Beyond the Door III") is a prime slice of late-'80s cheese picked off the video rental store shelf. If you know, you know. "Iced" is certainly not a good film, but it is a real low-budget charmer with its fair share of spilt blood.

The setup is banal and predictable (as is the case with most films of this ilk), but what "Iced" has going for it is a snowy atmosphere paired with dark cabin interiors, big hair (it was filmed in 1988, after all), and a fair amount of interpersonal drama between the group of friends that feels as though it could have been plucked from an episode of an '80s soap opera.

Obviously this will not appeal to all tastes, and the film does suffer from some choppy editing that really shows its budgetary restrictions. The performances are also shaky at best, but the ski-suited killer makes some menacing appearances throughout, and the despite the slow-burn nature of the first hour, things do ramp up into full-blown slasher territory in the last thirty minutes, when the bodies start to fall.

Ultimately, the reveal is predictable and the killer's logic stilted at best, but genre fans don't seek out these types of films for nuance. "Iced" is a delirious good time, and an amusing relic of its era. For a no-budget slasher, it stands as a decent shot-on-video facsimile of more polished films. 6/10.