Bring Her Back is a 2025 Australian horror film directed by Danny and Michael Philippou and written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman. The film stars Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips, and Sally Hawkins. The plot follows two step-siblings who find themselves orphaned and placed in the middle of an occult ritual by their new foster mother.
Bring Her Back was theatrically released by Sony Pictures Releasing International in Australia on 29 May 2025. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $39.1 million.
Plot
After finding their father dead in the shower, 17-year-old Andy and his blind step-sister Piper are sent to live with Laura, an eccentric former counselor who also fosters a mute boy named Oliver. Andy quickly becomes unsettled by both Laura and Oliver's strange behavior. At the funeral, Laura persuades Andy to kiss the forehead of his father's corpse, after stealing a lock of hair from the body. That night, Andy confides that he resents his father for being abusive toward him but affectionate toward Piper. Laura reflects on the death of her daughter Cathy, who was also blind and accidentally drowned in the backyard pool, saying she would give anything to hear Cathy call her "mum" again.
The next day, Andy encourages Oliver to start writing on a notepad to communicate. Oliver starts to write before gnawing on a knife Andy had used to cut rockmelon. When Andy carries him across Laura's encircled property line to get help, Oliver begins to convulse and scream before uttering "help me." Laura arrives and commands Andy to get inside, where he finds that Oliver has written the word "bird". Laura takes Oliver to her room and returns him to his mute state by rubbing his head in a circular motion before feeding him Andy's father's hair. That night, while showering, Andy hallucinates an apparition of his father, which warns him, "She'll die in the rain." Shocked, Andy slips and is concussed.
While Andy recovers in the hospital, Laura takes Piper to a padlocked shed, where Cathy's corpse is stored in a freezer, and dresses Piper in Cathy's clothes. It is revealed that Oliver is possessed by Tari, a demon Laura summoned through a resurrection ritual from a Russian VHS tape - the corpse of the deceased is fed to a possessed host, who then regurgitates the corpse and its lingering soul into the body of a person recently killed in the same manner as the one to be resurrected. Laura intends to drown Piper in the pool during a rainstorm to replicate Cathy's death and use Oliver as a vessel to complete the ritual. Upon Andy's return, Laura uses his body spray and punches Piper while she sleeps, later framing Andy for the assault and accusing him of being dangerous like their father. After Andy leaves, Laura takes Piper to goalball practice so she will be out of the house while Laura prepares for the ritual.
As Tari grows increasingly hungry and restless, Oliver trashes the house, bites Laura, and consumes inanimate objects and parts of his own body. Meanwhile, Andy goes to the foster agency, where he sees a poster for a missing child named Connor Bird; recognizing Connor as "Oliver," he implores Wendy, their social worker, to investigate Laura. Andy leaves Piper a voicemail apologizing for keeping their father's abuse of him a secret from her, as well as warning her about Laura. Laura intercepts the message and frantically cleans the house to deceive Wendy during the visit. After Wendy inquires about Laura's injured arm and hears Andy calling for Wendy outside, Laura breaks down and confesses her plan to resurrect Cathy. Wendy escapes the house and follows Andy into the shed, where they discover Connor eating Cathy's corpse. As they attempt to leave, Laura runs them over with her car, instantly killing Wendy and severely injuring Andy, whom Laura then drowns in a rain puddle.
Laura brings Piper home. Having eaten some of Andy's flesh, Connor speaks with Andy's voice to lure Piper, though she suspects something is amiss. She locks herself in the bathroom and finds Andy's body. Laura enters and explains the ritual. Piper fends her off and attempts to flee, but runs into a wall, knocking herself unconscious. Laura carries Piper to the pool and begins drowning her while Connor watches. Piper awakens and starts struggling. Laura releases Piper after she screams out "mum." Laura tearfully apologizes, but Piper escapes and stumbles out onto the road, where she is rescued by a passing car. Connor steps past the circle boundary and collapses as Tari leaves his body, while police arrive to identify him. A guilt-stricken Laura carries Cathy's corpse into the pool and cradles it as police surround her.
Cast
Billy Barratt as Andy, a guilt-ridden and traumatized 17-year-old boy
Sora Wong as Piper, Andy's visually impaired younger step-sister
Stephen Phillips as Phil, Andy and Piper's deceased father
Mischa Heywood as Cathy, Laura's deceased 12-year-old daughter
Production
In April 2024, it was announced that Danny and Michael Philippou (known as RackaRacka) were developing an original horror film follow-up to Talk to Me, with producers Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton at Causeway Films. The film had Sally Hawkins attached to star and A24 was handling sales for distribution worldwide.[7] The Philippou brothers originally planned to direct a film adaptation of Street Fighter in 2023, but exited the film to focus on Bring Her Back, inspired by psycho-biddy horror.[8][9] The script was written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman,[10] and it was produced by RackaRacka with financing from the South Australian Film Corporation and Salmira Productions.[11]
In late May, Billy Barratt, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Stephen Phillips and Sora Wong joined the cast of the film.[12] In an interview with People, Wong stated that she had "zero experience with acting", auditioning after her mother discovered the casting call on Facebook.[13]
Bring Her Back had a special screening for Adelaide Film Festival club members on 26 May 2025,[18] before being released in cinemas in Australia on 29 May 2025 by Stage 6 Films. It was released on the following day in the United States by A24.[19] It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 August 2025.[20]
Reception
Box office
As of September6,2025[update], Bring Her Back has grossed $19.3 million in the United States and Canada and $19.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $39.1 million.[6][5]
In the United States and Canada, Bring Her Back was released alongside Karate Kid: Legends and was projected to gross $5–7million from 2,449 theatres in its opening weekend.[21] The film made $3.1 million on its first day, including $850,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $7.1 million, finishing in third.[22]
Critical response
Sally Hawkins' performance as Laura received unanimous acclaim.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 261 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "A domestic nightmare that draws its most profound scares from Sally Hawkins' deranged performance, Bring Her Back is an exemplary chiller that reaffirms directors Danny and Michael Philippou as modern masters of horror."[24]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[25] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score, with 57% saying they would definitely recommend the film.[22]
Monica Castillo from RogerEbert.com gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, writing that it is "perhaps more chilling—if slightly less focused—than their breakout feature debut". Castillo noted the film's fast pace and shocking moments, but criticized the VHS segments as being an "unnecessary scare tactic". She praised the performances of Hawkins, Barratt and Wong for their emotionally-deep performances and the film's sustained tension, but ultimately wrote that it did "not meet the high watermark of the brothers' first outing."[26] Jeanette Catsoulis of the New York Times acclaimed the "sublime lead performances" with particular praise for Barratt's performance as Andy. Catsoulis also praised the film's visual shock value and emotional weight, but called it "more logically muddled than its predecessor".[27] David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote that the film is a strong follow up to Talk To Me, boasting a "superior grasp of pacing and catch-release tension". Fear also praised Oliver's character as rising above "the whole creepy-youngster trope", having derided it as being "overused and lazy in most cases".[28]
A review by Sammie Purcell from Rough Draft Atlanta praised the practical effects and upsetting nature of the film, but "it doesn’t earn the depth of emotion it wants to achieve." Purcell praised Phillips' performance as Oliver for being "one of the film’s best and, oddly enough, manages to offer a little bit of humor in an otherwise bleak narrative." She further writes that "it’s hard to balance really effective emotionality with the type of viscous storytelling the Philippous appear to be interested in", having found the mix of grotesque visuals and emotional themes to be ineffective.[29] Barry Wurst from HollywoodinToto was far more critical, giving the film one and a half stars. Wurst wrote that he found the film's violent scenes far too intense, criticizing it as being "desperate for attention." However, he gave high praise to Hawkins' performance as being the "reason to see [the film]."[30]
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