Review: ‘Bring Her Back’ is yet another twisted A24 horror experience

2025 / Dir. Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou

☆ 3.5/5

Orphaned step-siblings Andy and Piper (Billy Barratt and Sora Wong) are taken in by Boho-lunatic, foster-mother Laura (Sally Hawkins) and her “selectively mute” feral foster child Oli (Jonah Wren Phillips) in the Philippou twins’ follow-up to their 2023 breakthrough Talk to Me, which set a record for A24’s highest grossing horror film to date.

Bring Her Back feels like a companion to their debut, continuing to plumb the blackened depths of grief without an ounce of light, albeit in a more traditional package. With the orphans trying to settle in and deal with the loss of their father, Laura simultaneously begins to manipulate and drive them apart with her nefarious purposes, driven by the mysterious VHS tapes of occult rituals she watches at night with Oli, who we’re introduced to as he attempts to eat Laura’s cat.

While the familiarity of the basic plot structure makes the movie drag in its middle section before its brutally unhinged final act, the dedicated performances, the brothers’ directorial confidence, and their commitment to using practical gore effects to mutilate the body in a reverent, Cronenbergian sort of way elevate Bring Her Back to another twisted A24 horror experience.

Anyone particularly squeamish or triggered by children in danger should stay far away. On the other hand, a packed theater of horror fans looking for a pitch-black experience with grisly scenes (the melon sequence in particular) sure to be talked about for years to come will have a “blast.” Let’s hope, though, that A24 and the Philippou brothers put the “grief house” horror to bed with this one. Bring Her Back shows there was still a bit to squeeze from this subgenre, but the stone now feels pretty dry.

Watch if you like: Hereditary, Talk to Me, and gnashing metal and wood with your teeth as demonic spirits ravage your corporeal meat sack.