Review ‘Brother’ sinks to the bottom of grief and trauma

Horror confronts life’s harsh conditions. The genre has long explored and analyzed the darkest depths of humanity, frequently excavating themes of grief, trauma, and recovery. Screenwriter Rebecca Roberts and director Sam Fichtner dive headfirst into their own spin on the material with Brother, billed as a psychological thriller with loads of horrifying mind trickery. While it’s far from a new conceit, the film expertly crafts a tortured story about three siblings who experience ghastly occurrences that threaten to rip them apart. Brother carries an essence of The Night House, yanking the audience through a creaky, blood-chilling house of horrors. It’s often not the jump scares that really get you. It’s the insidious evil that oozes from the corners of the frame.

After their brother Matthew’s (Lukas Kowalko) disappearance and assumed death, Sam (Roberts) and Nolan (Chad Rook) reunite at their childhood home in the woods. Their half-sister, Melody (Tanya Jade), shows up on their doorstep, throwing an emotional wrench into the mix. Their father’s second family led to deep wounds that have never quite healed, and Sam and Nolan unleash their understandable anger onto Melody, forever a reminder of their father’s infidelity and secret life. Their genetic material might not be enough to call them family, but what they’re about to experience will bond them for life. Brother relies on the playful use of light and shadow, and the things that go bump in the night. What you don’t see is far scarier than anything exposed onscreen.

As the investigation into Matthew’s disappearance heats up, the group must contend with a devilishly mischievous presence that lurks around every corner and in the darkest recesses of the home. Nolan, an addict himself, begins to feel as though there’s something familiar about the spirit that’s haunting them. Sam, who’s built a wall around her heart, refuses to believe anything is happening and rejects the notion that she finally needs to process what’s happened to her. But the past won’t let anyone rest. It comes back in monstrous ways that they could never have expected.

Brother arrives as a masterful demonstration in rich independent filmmaking. You don’t need a big budget to deliver the goods. In fact, many of the best horror films of the last decade are those being made on the indie circuit. The characters feel lived-in and ragged, drenched in their pain and misery, with no other way out than through the storm. Roberts and Rook are particularly engaging in how they peel back the layers of raw humanity in a way that feels visceral, personal, and wholly universal. The film looks crisp, but it’s not without its great commitment to mood, atmosphere, and eerie camera work.

Sam Fichtner and his creative team wind up Brother with a propulsive emotional energy that transmits through the screen. It’s not about reinventing the wheel but offering up an extremely slice-of-life story in a heightened arena. It might be too early to make this declaration, but by year’s end, Brother will remain a standout.

Brother hits VOD on Wednesday (January 28).