Bring Her Back (2025) Dir. Danny and Michael Philippou

If their stunning debut, Talk to Me (2022), used possessions and hauntings as representations for substance abuse and grief, in Bring Her Back Danny and Michael Philippou double down on the generational trauma that can be caused through grief. The result is a thoroughly disturbing horror film that never resorts to jump scares and instead releases tension through a series of horrifying body-horror moments.

Andy (Billy Barratt) and his partially sighted stepsister Piper (Sora Wong) are sent to live with Laura (Sally Hawkins) after the death of their father. Very quickly, their grief goes head-to-head with Laura’s, whose blind daughter Cathy drowned in the pool. Andy also clashes with Laura over Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), another foster child in the house, who Laura says is selectively mute.

This initial tension does a good job of hiding some of the hints of what’s to come. We’re aware, due to conversations with Andy and Piper’s social worker (Sally-Anne Upton), that Laura only wanted Piper in the house. It’s also revealed that Andy has previously lashed out and is considered a troubled teen. The clashes, therefore, do not seem out of the ordinary but it isn’t long before things take a much darker turn.

Without spoiling too much, Laura is not interested in raising foster children; instead, she needs hosts for the spirit of her daughter. Oliver is currently possessed by a demon which will enable this, and Piper is set to be sacrificed as the final part. Her run-ins with Andy are designed to undermine his own abilities as a guardian to Piper, and to remove him from the house so that her plans can go off without a hitch.

Hawkins in incredible as Laura. Her grief is palpable, always bubbling just under the surface, and provides enough motivation to keep the audience from fully turning against her. It’s hard to fully grasp how difficult losing a child must be – especially in circumstances where it would be easy to blame yourself – and so even as Laura actions become more extreme, the film never villainises her.

This is helped by the fact that Andy isn’t a run of the mill teen protagonist. He has done bad things in his past; things stemming from his own complex relationship with his abusive father. Barratt is excellent as well, holding his own on screen with Hawkins, as the character tries to do what is best for his stepsister and break the generational trauma he has suffered.

Then there’s Phillips, who makes his film debut at just 12 years old. Similarly to Joe Bird in Talk to Me, the youngest cast member is really put through the ringer in this film. Whereas Bird had the horrifying, physical possession scenes, Phillips is given some of the grossest, squirm-inducing body horror sequences in recent memory. Combined with a horribly visceral sound design, it will have people watching through their fingers.

Bring Her Back is one of the best horror films of this decade; far from a difficult second feature, it cements the talent of the Philippous. Stripping away the side plots from Talk to Me to focus on the core themes, they have created something that doesn’t scare so much as disturb, and asks how far you would go to bring someone back.

★★★★½

4.5 / 5

★★★★½☆

Matthew Tilt

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