‘Bring Her Back’ (2025) Movie Review: A Bleeding Heart Wrapped in Barbed Wire

Aggregate Star Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.14 out of 5)

Category Ratings (Out of 5 Stars)

• Scariness: ★★★★☆
• Originality: ★★★★☆
• Writing: ★★★☆☆
• Directing: ★★★★☆
• Cinematography: ★★★★☆
• Special Effects: ★★★★★
• Acting: ★★★★★

Grief doesn’t just haunt the characters in Bring Her Back — it claws at them, consumes them, and demands sacrifice. This 2025 Australian horror film marks another bold and brutal offering from Danny and Michael Philippou, the twin brothers behind Talk to Me. With Bring Her Back, they lean even harder into the grotesque, fusing occult terror with domestic trauma and showcasing their unique ability to turn raw emotion into something viscerally disturbing.

Written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman and distributed in the U.S. by A24, the film stars Billy Barratt as Andy, Sora Wong as his visually impaired stepsister Piper, and Sally Hawkins in a tour-de-force performance as Laura, a grieving foster mother whose pain has curdled into obsession.

(If you’ve already seen this movie, check out my detailed analysis of Bring Her Back.)

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A Tense, Twisted Setup

Without giving anything away, the premise involves two step-siblings placed into a new foster home after their father dies. Their foster mother is warm, but…off. There’s a mute boy who doesn’t quite act like a child. A backstory involving a dead daughter. And something ritualistic simmering beneath the surface. The film plays with these elements early, layering dread slowly before plunging into full-blown nightmare territory.

What sets Bring Her Back apart is its control of tone. The first half is unsettling in a slow, almost surreal way. The second half becomes a hellstorm. It’s not just a ghost story or an occult thriller — it’s a collision between trauma and transgression. And it’s not afraid to get ugly.

A Rough, Visceral Experience

This movie hurts to watch — and that’s part of the point. The Philippou brothers have no interest in sanitizing horror. They use practical effects to grisly effect, and they push emotional boundaries as hard as physical ones. Watching this movie feels like being held underwater: you’re disoriented, anxious, and desperate for air.

That said, the emotional core is shakier than it wants to be. There’s ambition here — themes of sibling rivalry, guilt, and the destructive power of grief — but they sometimes get drowned out by the chaos. At times, the story strains to connect its visceral horror to its emotional beats. The result is a film that’s thematically rich but occasionally incoherent.

Still, the Philippous are directors with vision, and even when their reach exceeds their grasp, they know how to get under your skin. Their fingerprints are all over this — from the handheld camerawork to the grungy sound design to the VHS ritual footage that plays like found footage from hell.

The Performances Carry It

Sally Hawkins is the standout here. Her portrayal of Laura is terrifying not because she’s monstrous, but because she’s human. Her grief isn’t abstract — it’s tangible, messy, and ultimately tragic. Hawkins walks a tightrope between loving caregiver and spiritual fanatic, and she does it with terrifying grace.

Billy Barratt brings a fragile intensity to Andy, a teen twisted by guilt and past abuse. His performance grounds the film emotionally, even when the plot goes off the rails. Sora Wong, in her acting debut, delivers an honest, believable performance. She’s especially effective in quieter moments, using silence and stillness to say more than words could.

A New Chapter in Aussie Horror

Bring Her Back continues the wave of bold, uncompromising horror coming out of Australia. Fans of Talk to Me, The Babadook, or even Relic will recognize the themes: grief, family, the body as a battleground. But where The Babadook was restrained, Bring Her Back is feral. It trades metaphor for meat, and its climax is more grindhouse than arthouse.

Whether that works for you will depend on your tolerance for extreme horror. This is not a film for casual fans or the faint of heart. But if you want horror that hits hard and leaves bruises — emotionally and otherwise — this might be your kind of nightmare.

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