BRING HER BACK, Australia, 2025. Starring Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton. Directed by Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou. 104 minutes. Rated MA (Strong horror themes and violence).
A second feature film from the Philippou twins, Danny and Michael. Prominent on social media, they were successful with their first film, Talk to Me, a small-budget teen horror, filmed in Adelaide. It was well reviewed and earned several times its costs with its US release. Which means a great deal of anticipation for Bring Her Back. While it can be described as a horror film, it is perhaps better to refer to it as a drama about family with some horror touches (a couple of which will make the audience uncomfortable). It is not about supernatural influences but rather the consequences of grief and mental disturbance.
The brothers are from Adelaide and, once again, have filmed there, mainly in two homes and in the social welfare office. But, the main home as a bush setting, attractive, and making the action seem more sinister.
The casting is good. British actress Hawkins has been impressive for more than 20 years in a wide range of roles, serious and comic. Barratt is a young British actor, before the age of 20, has built a reputation and won an Emmy. On the other hand, Wong, who is legally blind, appears convincingly in her first film. The surprise of the cast is 10-year-old Jonah Wren Phillips in an extraordinary demanding role as a tortured boy. In fact, the cast performs admirably.
The film opens with a sad and credible situation. A father suddenly dies at home, leaving Andy (Barratt) looking after his blind sister, Piper (Wong). They want to stay together, and he almost 18 is happy to be Piper’s guardian. But, in the meantime, they are assigned to stay with Laura (Hawkins), grieving after the death of her daughter. And they find that she has a young boy, Oliver (Wren Pillips), also in the house.
For a review, that is probably enough to set the scene. Andy and Piper are welcomed by an exuberant fussing Laura’s and though audiences might feel she is certainly overdoing it, the welcome is happy enough. But, the directors have disturbed the audience by showing some mysterious sequences, videos of some kind of violent rituals, seen again during the film, but never really explained. It means that the audience is being kept on edge – though that is really not necessary as the film progresses. There is the funeral of the father, a strange aftermath of drinking and playing games, and the problem of Oliver who remains mute, mysterious.
As an exploration of deaths and consequent grief, of family bonds and loving commitment, Bring Her Back is effective. (And the title refers to Laura’s dead daughter.) But the screenplay is full of unexpected turns and twists, the testing of Andy’s character, strong and committed, Piper and her eager response, encouraged by Laura, some frightening explanations about Oliver, and, the heightened melodrama of the final confrontations.
Bring Her Back works well as a family and relationships drama – with a warning of the MA certificate for some alarming violent moments.
Sony
Released 29 May