Bring Her Back
Writers: Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman
Directors: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Cast: Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Sally Hawkins
Both through their collective work on YouTube as "RackaRacka" and their feature film debut, the tremendous Talk To Me, brothers Danny and Michael Philippou established themselves as a shot of youthful kineticism on the modern horror scene. Drawing from analog and digital horror, a flair for conjuring tension, and a precision that's easy to overlook given their mastery of big scares, the brothers conjured nightmares on screens big and small, and it's easy to see why horror fans were so taken with them right out of the gate.
But Bring Her Back is something else.
Directed by both brothers and written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman, the duo's second feature horror effort is both a continuation of themes they explored in Talk To Me and a clear maturation of their cinematic style. More slow-burning and dread-laced than their previous film, it's a striking meditation on how grief transforms us, as well as one of the most singularly upsetting horror films you're likely to see this year.
Teenager Andy (Billy Barratt) and his younger sister Piper (Sora Wong) have recently been orphaned after the death of their father. While Andy insists that the pair stay together, the foster system isn't so sure that's a good idea. Andy's had certain issues before, and Piper is legally blind, so they're understandably shaky about giving Andy that much control. Fortunately for the siblings, foster mother Laura (Sally Hawkins) has agreed to take them both in, despite only wanting Piper in the first place.
It's an arrangement Andy's hopeful they can all make work, but almost from the beginning Laura seems out to get him. There are tense conversations, strained moments, and a sense that Laura is deliberately trying to exacerbate his past emotional issues so she can kick him out of the house. But that's not all. There are also the disturbing videos Laura watches late at night in her room, and the presence of a child named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a mute boy who's both oddly intense and deeply unsettling to be around. It's clear that Laura's up to something. Though Andy's not sure what, he does come to believe that it all means Piper is in very real danger.
In a Q&A after my screening of the film earlier this month, the Philippou brothers said that Bring Her Back was born out of familial grief they felt when a very young member of their extended family was lost, and it's clear from the beginning that they're preoccupied with all the thorny, difficult to articulate wrinkles of that grief. Talk To Me was about grief too, but in a very specific way tailored to one specific character, and wrapped up much more in creature effects and urban legends.
Bring Her Back certainly has those elements as well, but its view of grief is more expansive, more confident, and more nightmarish all at once. "Everyone grieves differently" is a cliched phrase because it's a true one, but what we often don't acknowledge amid all the odd feelings we experience after losing someone we love is that grief, if we let it, can make us into a monster. With Bring Her Back, the Philippous confront that specter head-on, to dazzling effect. Their approach is slower, more meditative and vibey than Talk To Me, and it pays big dividends.
Casting Sally Hawkins, an incredible actor who's sometimes overshadowed by her peers because she selects projects in her own particular way, also pays big dividends for the filmmakers. As Laura, she's able to marshal all the kind, free-spirited energy she poured into films like Paddington, then twist it just so, just enough that you buy that kindness while also buying into the darkness lurking just beyond it. Her performance is one of intense focus and control, elevating the young actors around her to bring their best possible game to the screen. While what exactly she's done and how she plans to finish it isn't unveiled until the final act, right away she cements herself as an unforgettable villain who can deliver devastation with a smile, as well as a relatable woman struggling with the monster her grief has become.
Then there are all the other little touches, the seeds of horror planted throughout the story which emerge in ways only the Philippou brothers can deliver. The tapes that Laura watches, previewed in the opening moments of the film, are analog horror of a kind that gets lost in the creases of your brain until the moment you're falling asleep, when they come out to play behind your eyes again. One scene between two characters standing on opposite sides of a kitchen island contains a truly jaw-dropping piece of movie gore. Then there's the finale, which is simultaneously pulse-pounding, heartrending, and beautifully bleak. Summer has only just begun, and we've got a lot more horror movies to go this year, but Bring Her Back is going to be a hard one to top for many of these other, very worthy contenders. It's The Feel Bad Movie of 2025, and as a horror fan I mean that in the best possible way.
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