Bring Her Back is a Chilling Ritual of Love, Loss, and Madness

Bring Her Back

★ ★ ★ ½

Bring Her Back is the second film by Australian directors, and brothers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou. Like their breakout debut, Talk To Me, Bring Her Back is also rooted in themes of grief and loss. Here, step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are forced into foster care when their dad Phil (Stephen Phillips) dies from a fatal shower slip-and-fall.

Andy is the older brother and will turn eighteen in three months. He wants to be Piper’s guardian and advocates that they not be separated. They move in with Laura (Sally Hawkins), who has just lost her pre-teen daughter Cathy (Mischa Heywood) when she drowned in the backyard pool. She has also adopted a young boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).

From the get-go, Laura is welcoming, friendly and takes an immediate kindness to Piper. But astute audiences will quickly be aware that things aren’t quite what they seem with Laura. Oliver is mute and an early scene shows him attacking the family cat. He’s always dressed the same – just a pair of red shorts, no shirt. His head is shaved, and there’s something deeply unsettling about him.

Billy Barratt as Andy and Sora Wong as Piper
© 2025 A24 / Causeway Films

Laura has adopted these kids in order to complete a ritual designed to bring Cathy back. This is why she adopted Oliver, Piper and Andy. To explain the ritual would spoil some of the film’s more profound moments. It’s depraved and bizarre. The grief Laura feels, and her desire to use Piper to resurrect Cathy, echo the excessive horrific events that must unfold for her to complete the procedure.

A film like this has something to say, and its disturbing nature is supposed to stick with you long after the end credits roll. It explores an extreme example of someone in such turmoil, she’d do just about anything to bring her daughter back to life. Hawkins plays this role beautifully, presenting us with a character who knows this is wrong but has stuffed her morals so deep she believes it’s worth it for Cathy.

We sympathize with Andy at once, in no small part due to Barratt’s performance. Andy loves his sister and will do just about anything for her. It’s why he wants to be her guardian – he feels like he’s been her protector her whole life. Wong’s portrayal of Piper balances perfectly with Barratt. We believe they’re brother and sister. That emotional investment is what makes a good horror film truly work. In contrast, Laura and Oliver inject an unnerving tension that builds on its own.

Sally Hawkins as Laura and Sora Wong as Piper
© 2025 A24 / Causeway Films

The choices Laura made before the film’s events — and the actions she takes as they unfold — ask a deep, dark question: is unchecked grief the doorway to becoming a monster?

Bring Her Back is unapologetically dark and disturbing. The Phillopou brothers have created their own cinematic universe with rules that must exist for it to work. They present it to us in a way that makes logical sense, as horrific as it is, the more the story unfolds. They explain what we need to know when the time is right and trust us to piece things together and draw our own conclusions when it would be most impactful.

Grief will hit all of us several times at different levels of intensity as we go through life. Bring Her Back represents grief at its deepest and darkest. Laura grieves her daughter so deeply she’s willing to hurt others to fix her daughter’s death. Andy and Piper deal with the loss of their dad in different ways, each based on their relationship with him.

Jonah Wren Phillips as Oliver
© 2025 A24 / Causeway Films

There are moments where the film seems too reliant upon blood and gore and loses its footing a bit, substituting its thematic exploration for shock value. Fortunately, it doesn’t make that misstep often and quickly finds its footing when it does.

Bring Her Back explores these themes in such a deep and meaningful manner that makes us feel Laura’s anguish. She’s the antagonist, but we also sympathize with her on a primal level. We know what she’s doing is detestable but we understand why she’s doing it.

That’s what makes this a good horror film. It’s complex, the characters are sympathetic and the plot, bizarre as it is, makes sense.

It also serves as a stark warning: if you get your hands on a video tape that shows you how to transfer the soul of a dead loved one to that of someone living, resist the temptation. Best to let yourself go through the five stages. And burn the tape.