Bring Her Back (2025) Review

After their father passes away, seventeen year old Andy (Billy Barratt) and his younger, partially sighted, half-sister Sara (Sora Wong) are placed under the care of Laura (Sally Hawkins), a former counsellor with the social care service and still coming to terms with the recent death of her own daughter. Laura is also providing a home for Oliver (Jonan Wren Phillips), a mute and somewhat strange young boy who has to be carefully monitored, especially around Laura’s cat.

Andy’s aim is to secure guardianship of Sara once he reaches the age of eighteen and three months of exemplary conduct in the foster home will go a long way to submitting a successful application. However, he and Laura clash almost immediately and the battle of wills between them uncovers disturbing secrets on both sides. Andy feels that Laura’s obsessive protectiveness of Sara is a danger to both him and his sibling but, given his own psychological struggles, how much of the situation is in his head? And if they are genuinely under threat, can he work out a way to get them somewhere safe?

Bring Her Back is the second movie from Danny and Michael Philippou, whose 2022 debut Talk To Me gave the viewer ninety-four minutes of pervading uneasiness punctuated by some welcome, if rather warped, humour. This sophomore effort doubles down on the uneasiness and removes most of the opportunities to crack a smile. Make no mistake, this is dark, and that’s coming from a horror fan.

As with Talk To Me, the collaboration of Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman (not the guy from Night Of The Living Dead) provides a screenplay which wastes no time in dropping our young protagonists into the outwardly odd, inwardly even odder world of Laura, whose initial “anything goes” surface covers a damaged internal landscape which drives her to terrifying extremes in search of the one permanent fix to her wrecked psyche.

Laura isn’t your usual movie villain and the script is careful to give her the requisite depth in order for the audience to understand where she’s coming from, without the need to side with her in any way whatsoever. It’s a character that needs a smart, layered performance and Sally Hawkins is nothing short of extraordinary. Initially far too eager to please, this soon gives way to growing hints at her chilling endgame and her shaky grip on reality is superbly realised.

Featuring a protagonist who can only see the merest hint of what could be going on is mined for all it’s worth but there’s an avoidance of the expected lurch into Laura going full, shrieking psycho and amping up the threat to Sara too soon. Instead, Bring Her Back chooses a deeper seated, grief driven and weirdly tender undercurrent to the increasingly unhinged behaviour on display. That’s not to say viewers won’t feel a chill as Hawkins goes about her business, whether it’s slamming shots with Andy for clearly nefarious purposes or her subtle power play at a funeral couched in her counselling expertise.

Whereas Talk To Me was full of brash energy, Bring Her Back dials down the jack in a box jump scares in favour of a swirling air of menace that builds to a final act which seems to be about to settle for a familiar showdown before pulling the rug and eschewing that last minute, uplifting twist we might have been expecting. The last few seconds of quiet will leave the audience queasy at the resolution of the story and that heartbreaking final shot gives little comfort.

If you’re thinking that the horror her only deals in mood and suggestion, think again. There are startling sequences which made this hardened genre hound wince and the 18 certificate is thoroughly justified. The BBFC summary of this film mentions “injury detail” and that translated to me having to look away at one point. I can’t remember the last time a film made me do that. Consider that a recommendation and a warning. By the way, the BBFC does go into further detail about that injury detail and if you think their description sounds gruesome in text form, brace yourself for it happening on screen.

It’s to the credit of Sara Wong, Billy Barratt and the terrific Jonah Wren Phillips that they each manage to make their mark in a film with such next level work from Sally Hawkins. Wong and Barratt convince as siblings with a precarious bond, ready to be exploited by their foster mum. As for Jonah Wren Phillips, his striking look and thousand yard stare will make you consider running for the exit and when he accidentally gets hold of a knife… well, you don’t want to know.

Distressing and ultimately devastating, Bring Her Back may touch upon many well worn tropes but, like Laura, it’s what’s lurking under the surface you need to watch out for. There are scenes I’m still finding hard to shake from having seen it a couple of weeks ago and it might well be far too bleak for some. However, if you have the stomach for it, the Philippou brothers have delivered an emotional, often jarring, unrelentingly creepy piece of work with some of the nastiest moments you’ll see this year.

Movie Rating:

Bring Her Back trailer