The Philippou Brothers Bring Her Back (2025) In Yet Another Dark Supernatural Gem from Down Under
Title: Bring Her Back
First Non-Festival Release: May 29, 2025 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Danny Phillippou, Michael Philippou
Writer: Danny Phillippou, Bill Hinzman
Runtime: 104 Minutes
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Sora Wong
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Everyone processes death differently, and given the circumstances of the person in question, it can manifest in a variety of harmful ways. While adults have many options to address their mental health and safety, children are at the mercy of those charged with their care, which can lead to terrible outcomes.
After the sudden death of their father (Stephen Philips), the lives of 17-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) and his younger sister Piper (Sora Wong) are forever changed. Due to Piper’s blindness, Andy insists that the duo is placed together in foster care to make the transition to his hopeful guardianship appeal much smoother when he turns 18 in three months. Subsequently, they are placed in the care of foster parent Laura (Sally Hawkins), a strange but initially kind woman who lost her own daughter (Mischa Heywood) years ago and now cares for the selectively mute Oliver (Jonah Wren Philips). The match seems perfect at first until Laura’s behavior starts clueing Andy in that something isn’t right.
A brutal examination of grief and the realities of child abuse, Bring Her Back is equally terrifying as it is heartbreaking.
Keeping its cards close to its chest, the mystery behind Bring Her Back unfurls methodically, focusing more on the ‘why’ rather than ‘how.’ Arriving at Laura’s home with little in the way of outside support or outlets, Andy and Piper are perfect victims to Laura’s intentions. These intentions aren’t broadcast with much subtlety, but Bring Her Back avoids the trap of explaining too much. The elements of the ritual matter far less than its desired outcome, which evokes terror even without the flurry of violence that crescendos towards it.
While it would be easy to whittle the message of Bring Her Back down to a simple treatise on trauma, there is quite a bit of meat to chew on regarding its thoughts on how children are treated in society. In their moment of need, Andy and Piper are largely abandoned by the system given how little went into vetting Laura. The adults in the situation are increasingly more in the dark and make it worse by refusing to believe Andy’s concerns with Laura. Using the system to her advantage, after years of helping kids navigate it, Laura betrays the foundations of her profession and assumed earlier beliefs for her own gain. It’s not a shock that this happens but Bring Her Back demonstrates how easy it can be to steamroll kids, arguably one of the most vulnerable marginalized groups there are in the world, out of their agency.
It’s deeply unfair how everything settles in the end. Maybe that’s something audiences need to sit with to wrestle with our desire for neatness in death.
Between the child actors and Sally Hawkins, everyone brings their A-game to Bring Her Back allowing every scene to hit even harder. Billy Barratt shoulders the emotional heavy hitting as Andy is tortured by Laura’s manipulation tactics in weaponizing his own grief. There’s something so youthful in Andy’s depiction that makes his story hurt more. Unable to articulate his feelings but desperate to make the best life for himself and his sister, Andy’s ill-prepared stand against evil is treated with tenderness even if it’s no defense against the story’s progression. Barratt makes everything from his rebellion to his fear feel grounded throughout the ordeal. Sora Wong may not get as much screen time but she makes it easy to sympathize with Piper. She plays the part of the more vulnerable sibling without making Piper helpless or taking away her agency.
Hawkins’s portrayal of Laura serves as a brilliant foil to the kids. With the grief of her late daughter threatening to overflow at any given point, much like her rain-filled, abandoned swimming pool, Laura’s complexities shine thanks to Hawkins. Her sadness is palpable to the viewer, and even the kids, but it’s her more nefarious intentions that make the character such a terror to watch. Hawkins strikes the delicate balance between Laura’s more outlandish qualities with the more grounded elements of her grief. At times, it’s even hard to tell if she’s really an antagonist before the audience is treated to a rare moment of honesty when she’s alone. While her grief is central to her character and motivations, Laura feels real because of Hawkins’s intentionality. It would be easier to pin her down as pure evil rather than accept the reality of how losing a loved one can fundamentally change you. And that might be the scariest part of Bring Her Back.
It’s clear that the Philippou brothers have a penchant for gore, ensuring that the gnarliest scenes leave the viewer paralyzed in fear long after the credits roll. With many films exploring the intersection of horror and trauma, Bring Her Back could easily coast on surface level metaphors. Instead, audiences are greeted with butcher knives to the face in the sharpest manner. Grief isn’t a single tear silently streaking down a porcelain doll face. It’s raw. Messy. Incomprehensible. The brutality in the violence reflects this. As each character is beaten down by their collective decisions and Laura’s manipulation, their bodies reflect the toll that grief brings. After the rain stops pouring, we are left with an overflowing swimming pool of grief and the shattered pieces of those left in its wake.
With their second feature under their belt, the Philippou Brothers strike gold twice with Bring Her Back. Brutal and relentless, the A24 feature’s dissection of grief and trauma, while certainly in line with hot trends in horror, is tragic and terrifying in the same breath. Brilliant performances and thoroughly compelling characters elevate the already hypnotizing film. Bring Her Back may not possess the iconic hook of the pair’s freshman effort, Talk to Me, but it’s now safe to say they have undeniably made a name for themselves as horror filmmakers.
Overall Score? 8/10
