Bring Her Back

Film: Bring Her Back

Year: 2025

Directors: Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou

Writers: Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman

Starring: Billy Barratt, Sally Hawkins and Sora Wong

Review:

This was a film that when I learned about it, it went high on my list for must-sees for 2025. I was unable to get to the theater to see it so I waited until it hit VOD. Now that it is, I made it a Featured Review for Journey with a Cinephile. The buzz I heard was good. I was able to avoid most spoilers ahead of finally seeing it.

Synopsis: Following the death of their father, siblings uncover terrifying secrets within the secluded home of their new foster mother.

We start this with seeing rituals being performed. There’s a heavy set guy making a circle. What makes this eerie is that someone is filming everything. This helps set up the atmosphere that we’ll come back to later.

It then shifts over to Piper (Sora Wong). She is at a bus stop and decides to talk to a group of girls. They’re rude toward her and it is here we learn that she’s blind. Her stepbrother, Andy (Billy Barratt), shows up to take her home. They are quite close. Something of note is that whenever one of them believes the other isn’t telling the truth, they’ll say ‘Grapefruit’. You have to drop the lies if you’re hiding something.

This duo then comes home to a grisly discovery. Their father has passed away in the shower. They try to do what they can to revive him, but it doesn’t change the outcome. Andy is just shy of being old enough to become Piper’s guardian. They’re going to have to go into foster care until then. Wendy (Sally-Anne Upton) is assigned their case. She tells them that she found a placement for Piper. It appears this woman has had ‘problem’ children in the past so she won’t take Andy. When he was a boy, there was trouble. He begs to at least meet her to plead his case to stay with Piper.

It is here that we meet the mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins). She previously had a daughter, Cathy (Mischa Heywood), who drowned in their swimming pool. She was blind like Piper. From the moment we meet her, we see that she’s a bit off. The children are intrigued by her though. Andy is in a tough spot. If he rocks the boat, Laura is reporting to Wendy how he is doing and it could jeopardize his guardianship. Laura also has a son, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), who is an odd boy. The more we see of his interactions with Laura, there is abuse going on here.

Laura does good things for these siblings. She makes sure that they get to their father’s funeral. Andy and her bond over their trauma. As the synopsis says though, she has darker reasons for things that she does. She also is setting things to ensure that Andy doesn’t get in the way of her grand plan. He is left at home with Oliver and even lets him out of the room that he’s locked inside. This leads to disastrous things that could put the plans in jeopardy.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is that something that was said ahead of seeing this was that it had a great atmosphere and heavy subject matter. I knew that this dealt with the trauma of losing a child, which hits me harder now that I have two children. There is a great scene where Laura wants Andy to open up to her and they play a game where they will talk openly. He asks her how she dealt with the loss of Cathy and she says she didn’t. That was great and it always puts him at ease, since it shows that you don’t necessarily have to get ‘over it’. It helps explain why she’s so quirky. There is more to it as well.

Where I want to start is this dynamic between Andy and Piper. The story starts with seeing their dynamic before their lives are devastated by the death of their father. There are then subtle things that are introduced, like us learning that Andy has things in his file about getting into trouble. He’s not 18 yet, so they’re not sealed. This also takes place in Australia, so I’m not sure if there are different rules. The pressure is on him to not get into trouble until then. Laura knows this and manipulates him. There is gaslighting that happens and it made me anxious so credit to the filmmaking. Piper is blind so there are things that she doesn’t see. There are also elements from when she was too young to know as well. These were aspects that I liked, as well as Wong and Barratt’s performances.

Now something interesting is that this is the follow up film for the Philippou brothers, Danny and Michael. I thought that I heard somewhere that this was the film they wanted to make first, but since it was heavier, they did Talk to Me instead. These would go well together. Both involve rituals with communicating with the dead. From the title of the film and then meeting Laura, it shouldn’t come as a surprise as to what her end game is. The ritual here is much more intense and what it does to the people involved, especially since most of the participants aren’t willing, if given the choice. I do love how it explains this opening ritual we see and how that factors back in.

I think then I’ll shift over to the acting performances, since at the heart of this being a character study. I’ve already brought up that our leads are dealing with trauma, grief and loss in different ways. Hawkins plays such a monster. She’s coming from a good place, but what she’s doing to people is horrific, especially to children. I can’t fully fault her though because I can’t imagine what I’d do in her position. I’d hope it isn’t this. I also feel bad for Barratt’s character. His performance is great though as he’s a fighter. What he goes through to protect Piper. There’s also making up for past sins. Wong is good in her role. Credit to Phillips to what his character goes through. His role is more with body and facial expressions. That worked. Heywood works in her minimal role. She’s more of a specter haunting Laura. Other than that, Upton and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

That then brings me to filmmaking. This film has great brutal effects. We go into body horror with things that Oliver does. This ritual in general is based in the subgenre as well. How this was filmed with the cinematography and framing was great. That helped to hide the seams. I’m sure there is CGI here. It worked well to not stand out but to enhance. The last thing is that the effects made me cringe so much. I’d say that the soundtrack and design worked to build the atmosphere. If I have a negative and I wasn’t sure where to put it. The ending does drop the ball. From everything that they built to, I do like the redemption angle. It sounds like there were a couple endings in mind from what I read and personal reasons was why this route was taken.

In conclusion, this delivers on its atmospheric promise and delves into heavy subject matter with a nuanced approach to grief and trauma. While the film shines in its character dynamics, particularly between Andy and Piper, it boasts strong performances from the entire cast, especially Hawkins and Barratt. It's not without its minor flaws, such as a somewhat underwhelming ending. The Philippou brothers showcase their talent for creating unsettling rituals and effective body horror. Ultimately, I would recommend for those who appreciate intense psychological horror with a strong character focus but be aware that the challenging subject matter and brutal effects may not be for everyone.

My Rating: 8 out of 10