Australia, Billy Barratt, Bring Her Back, Danny Philippou, horror, Jonah Wren Phillips, Michael Philippou, Mischa Heywood, movies, reviews, Sally Hawkins, Sally-Anne Upton, Sora Wong, Stephen Phillips
May 27, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou (also known as The Philippou Brothers)
Culture Representation: Taking place in South Australia, the horror film “Bring Her Back” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Two orphaned teenagers end up living with a foster mother who has sinister intentions.
Culture Audience: “Bring Her Back” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the Philippou Brothers and horror movies that explore the dark sides of parenting.
Unsettling and very gory, “Bring Her Back” is a foster care story from hell. Sally Hawkins gives a standout performance as a disturbed foster mother in this horror film that has some erratic and vague moments but remains compelling to watch. “Bring Her Back” is not as straightforward as the Philippou Brothers’ 2023 horror film “Talk to Me” (their excellent breakout feature-film debut as directors/screenwriters) and the ending of the movie gets a little messy and jumbled. However, there are some truly original and memorable images in the movie, which has above-average performances and plenty of suspense.
Directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou (also known as The Philippou Brothers), Bring Her Back” was written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman. The movie takes place in an unnamed city in South Australia, where “Bring Her Back” was filmed on location in Adelaide. The movie blends supernatural horror with real-life horror that tackles issues of bullying and discrimination against people with disabilities.
“Bring Her Back” tells the story of step-siblings Andy (played by Billy Barratt) and Piper (played by Sora Wong), who become orphaned in the beginning of the story. Andy’s widower father was married to Piper’s mother. Piper is legally blind and can only see shapes and some light. Andy is 17, while Piper is about 15.
Piper is bullied and taunted by students at her school. Andy is very protective of her. One day, Andy’s father is found dead from a fall in the shower. Piper and Andy are placed in foster care in the house of a widow named Laura (played by Hawkins), who is a longtime social worker counselor and who is seemingly kind and nurturing. Andy’s plan is to apply for guardianship of Piper when he turns 18 in three months.
Laura isn’t as sunny and cheerful as she first appears. She’s grieving over the death of her blind daughter Cathy, who drowned in the house’s swimming pool. Laura is also the foster mother for a 10-year-old boy named Oliver (played by Jonah Wren Phillips), who is “selectively mute” and emotionally withdrawn. Laura is often impatient with Oliver and frequently keeps him locked in a room.
Laura immediately shows that she can be inappropriate and doesn’t respect privacy boundaries. Within a few hours of Laura meeting Andy, she expects him to tell her intimate details about his personal life and his inner thoughts. In another scene, while Andy is minding his own business and not doing anything wrong, Laura grabs his phone from him and looks at it without his permission. Later, she gives alcoholic drinks to Piper and Oliver for a party that they have for themselves in the house, and they all get drunk together.
A lot happens in “Bring Her Back” that cannot be described in a review or else it will spoil and reveal too much of the story. It’s enough to say that people need to have a strong tolerance for sickening scenes involving maiming and bloody injuries in order to watch all of “Bring Her Back.” Some questions remain unanswered by the end of the movie, but the intentions of the villain are abundantly clear and will leave a lasting impact on viewers.
A24 will release “Bring Her Back” in U.S. cinemas on May 30, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on May 19, 2025.