A couple of years ago, co-directors/brothers Danny and Michael Philippou made one of the creepiest movies in recent memory with Talk to Me. That put them squarely on the horror world’s radar, and everyone couldn’t wait to see what they’d do next. Well, their sophomore feature, Bring Her Back, is here.
Bring Her Back is about a visually impaired girl named Piper (Sora Wong) whose father suddenly passes away. Along with her stepbrother, Andy (Billy Barratt from Blinded by the Light), Piper is placed in a foster home with a woman named Laura (The Shape of Water’s Sally Hawkins), who has recently lost a child. From the start, Andy and Piper feel that their new home with Laura is a bit off, but the longer they stay, the more they feel that they need to get out of there. Something is not right with Laura and her home.
Bring Her Back is an intense experience. Danny Philippou wrote the script along with Bill Hinzman (who also helped write Talk to Me), and he and his brother Michael take the inventive story and crank the atmospheric tension up to eleven. It’s visceral, immersive, and disturbing. It’s what horror is all about. And, more importantly, it’s unlike anything else. To say exactly what kind of movie it is would spoil some of the surprises, so let’s just say it flirts a bit with kindertrauma, hagsploitation, and the occult. Just know that it’s a horrifying movie.
And it’s more than just cats jumping out at the audience. Bring Her Back gets its hands dirty in many places, forcing the audience to watch through gritted teeth and covered eyes. But it’s also an engaging mystery, with elements along the way—a strange locked room, a half-empty pool, a bunch of old video cassettes—that keep the viewer wondering what’s going to come next. And that’s not even mentioning the weird foster brother Ollie (Human Error’s Jonah Wren Phillips), who’s always creeping around in the background. Perhaps best of all, the movie doesn’t provide the viewer with all of the answers, allowing everyone to assemble the puzzle in their own unique way.
While there’s no shortage of scenes to make the audience cringe with discomfort, Bring Her Back also explores some more serious themes, mainly about the processing of grief, both on the part of the child who loses a parent and on the part of the parent who loses a child. Grief manifests itself in different ways with different people, and Bring Her Back shows both extremes. The unusual thing here is that the children have the more rational coping mechanism.
Speaking of extremes, Sally Hawkins gives a stellar performance as Laura, the unhinged foster mom. In what seems like a role that would be below a “serious actor” (Hawkins is, after all, a two-time Academy Award nominee), Hawkins gives it her all. Her crazy lady vibes are up there with those of Isabelle Huppert in Greta and Octavia Spencer in Ma (two other Oscar-caliber actresses who nailed their parts while slumming it in horror movies). Bring Her Back isn’t the kind of movie that will garner a lot of awards buzz, but if it does, Hawkins needs to be in the conversation.
Basically, with Bring Her Back, Danny and Michael Philippou have done it again. It’s an even more effective horror movie than Talk to Me, which was already pretty darn effective. These guys are getting pretty close to the status of modern horror masters like Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, and Jordan Peele. One more amazing movie will do it. And I, for one, can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next.
GRADE: A
Rating: R for some grisly images, language, graphic nudity, strong violent content, and underage drinking
Running Time: 1 hour 39 minutes
Release Date: May 30, 2025
Studio: A24
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