Bring Her Back

Time Out

09-07-2025

If the warm, funny and fuzzy Colin From Accounts represents one extreme of Australian popular culture, then Bring Her Back is its polar opposite. The second feature from directors Danny and Michael Philippou, the brothers behind Talk To Me, takes the gore and frights of their debut and ally it to an examination of maternal instincts gone batshit crazy. Anchored by a terrific Sally Hawkins, it firmly cements the Australian duo as fresh, interesting voices in the over-saturated, often cookie cutter horror market.
The set-up is economically sketched: following the death of their single father, teenage siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are sent away to live with quirky foster parent Laura (Hawkins) in a spacious, secluded cabin in the woods replete with an empty swimming pool. Because it's never a luxurious townhouse with a fancy hot tub, is it?
Laura is already a parent to another adopted, seemingly mute orphan Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), while grieving the mysterious death of her own daughter Cathy, who was blind. Andy, who is just shy of being old enough to become Piper's guardian, has vowed to look after his sister, who is also visually impaired, but begins to suspect their new custodian might have her own agenda. It doesn't reassure anyone – Andy or the audience – that Laura keeps her dead stuffed dog in the living room and Oliver in a locked bedroom, or that she throws a dance party plying her underage wards with whisky.
Bring Her Back doesn't rely on jump scares or cheap thrills for its effect. There are startling moments – bursts of grainy VHS visuals of hanging and violence feel like a Marquis De Sade/Hieronymus Bosch TikTok collab, a kitchen knife/teeth interaction is unforgettable – but it really finds its impact in slow creeping dread fostered by a patiently built narrative. What is Laura's plan? Why did she snip a lock of hair from the teens' deceased dad at the funeral? Why is Andy wetting his bed?
Sally Hawkins is part Paddington's mum, part Annie Wilkes and part Pazuzu
The slow-burn screenplay (by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman) is further amped up by the filmmaking tekkers; from Emma Bortignon's unnerving sound design and composer Cornel Wilczek's feel for the foreboding to the tangible practical prosthetics (take a bow Make-up Effects Group), Bring Her Back gets under your skin and stays there.
Like Talk To Her, it doesn't completely satisfy when it comes time to resolve its intrigue. But, as with their debut, the Philippou brothers show a real skill for creating believable teen characters, Barratt and Wong create a tender, affecting chemistry that make the chills all the more affecting.
But perhaps unsurprisingly, the ace in the hole is Hawkins. Twisting the relentless upbeat energy of Poppy from Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky into something more sinister, Hawkins subtly reveals the underlying pain and malevolence beneath Laura's brittle sunniness without ever mugging. She consistently keeps you on your toes – part Paddington's mum, part Annie Wilkes, part Pazuzu, she delivers a real tour de force.