Content Warning: The following spoiler-free review will include descriptions of death, which may be difficult for sensitive individuals.
There is going to be an ungodly amount of discourse so I want to preface this review with a few things. If you didn’t like Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou’s Talk to Me (2022) then you’re probably going to hate Bring Her Back. Co-writers Danny Philippou (Talk to Me) and Bill Hinzman (Talk to Me) had me hook, line, and sinker with Talk to Me, but Bring Her Back has converted me to follow them wherever they go and watch everything they are involved with until proven otherwise. As someone who enjoys consuming concessions during a movie, I found myself at a loss during Bring Her Back; my large iced tea sat there, untouched, exasperated by condensation after 100 minutes of anxiety-inducing dread. Bring Her Back is simply one of the bleakest things I’ve ever seen — period — and that is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way, so just be prepared to be emotionally and mentally scarred for a very long time. I really just want to know who hurt the Philippous, though, because this is lightning in a bottle.
L-R: Sora Wong as Piper and Billy Barratt as Andy in BRING HER BACK. Photo Credit: Ingvar Kenne. Photo courtesy of A24.
Bring Her Back focuses on Andy and Piper (Billy Barratt and Sora Wong, respectively) who are step-siblings dealing with the immense, terrifying, unexpected loss of their father. He fell in the shower, cracked his head open, and was found dead in their house — truly something no one wants to walk in on or experience ever. Their respective mothers (as Piper’s mom married Andy’s mom) are nowhere to be found and, since both kids are under 18, they’re about to enter the foster care system. Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton) at first wants to separate them as Laura (Sally Hawkins) is a suitable foster for Piper, who is partially blind, as she has experience, but they insist they stay together and Laura would agree if Andy promises to be on his best behaviour as he’s had a troubled past. When Andy and Piper arrive, they meet Laura’s other child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), who became a supposed selective mute after Laura’s daughter passed away, the horror leaving Oliver mostly speechless. While not everything is as it seems, Piper and Andy need to make it work for the next few months until Andy turns 18 and can apply for guardianship, but something mysterious, dark, and sinister is lurking and nothing can prepare them for the horrors they’re about to face.
L-R: Sally Hawkins as Laura and Sora Wong as Piper in BRING HER BACK. Photo Credit: Ingvar Kenne. Photo courtesy of A24.
A horror movie that is so bleak, twisted, and grounded in raw emotion, needs the performances to match or the entire movie is meaningless. Firstly, Jonah Wren Phillips (How to Make Gravy), who has to almost completely convey creepy and disturbed on so many levels with almost no dialogue, is a horrifying delight, delivering moments that are going to shake and disturb audiences to the point of a few walking out due to just how graphically disturbing his performance is. His performance is only simply outdone by the incredible Sally Hawkins (Paddington) who, maybe if the world was just, will win an Academy Award for her performance in a horror film as there is something so sadistically broken and depraved in about it that it’s impossible to shake. Simply a week after seeing the movie, her performance lingers and continues to haunt nearly every passing thought I have. She is simply sublime in the role of Laura to the point where once Laura’s true motivations are revealed, she is nearly sympathized with even as her actions take her out of the category of condonement even under the circumstances. It is so nuanced and excellently delivered that the final moments of the film simply will haunt and disturb like nothing else. It’s an imagery worm that just grips the fabric of one’s being and refuses to let go — one could say it brings her back. Billy Barratt (Mary Poppins Returns) and Sora Wong as Andy and Piper are also incredible in their respective roles of losing their father, wanting to stay together, coping with their new lives and everything that is going on around them. Its truly not an easy feat but one they pull off practically effortlessly. This is an ensemble which excels and shines bright to bring the twisted world that Philippou and Hinzman wrote together into reality, creating one of the year’s bleakest horror movies and one which will forever haunt its audience.
L-R: Billy Barratt as Andy and Sora Wong as Piper in BRING HER BACK. Photo Credit: Ingvar Kenne. Photo courtesy of A24.
Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman penned the script while Danny and his brother Michael (Talk to Me) directed it. Horror fans should know what they’re getting into after Talk To Me, but nothing can truly prepare them for this. It is a dark, sinister, bleak hellscape that is beautiful and haunting and rivals the original Speak No Evil (2022) and When Evil Lurks (2023) in terms of modern trauma and darkness. Bring Her Back should have a content warning. There really is no way to prepare for how much this movie will change you, and not necessarily for the better. Bring Her Back is not meant for the faint of the heart or the weak, leaving audiences so deeply unsettled and disturbed by the events that unfold. It makes you look deep into your soul to see how far you would go to fulfill the declaration of the title itself, but it never prepares you for how depraved and sadistic it can and does become.
In theaters May 30th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official A24 Bring Her Back webpage.
Final Score: 5 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, In Theaters, Recommendation, Reviews
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