A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother. (spoilers ahead!!!)
Bring Her Back is one of those movies that just sticks with you, whether you want it to or not. Like… what do you even do with yourself after watching a kid bite a table in a rage or cut his mouth open on a kitchen knife?
So, the setup: Piper (Sora Wong), who’s blind but can still see light and shapes, and her older brother Andy (Billy Barratt) lose their dad in the opening scene when he is found collapsed in the shower.
Andy is just a few months away from turning 18, so his plan is to apply for Piper’s guardianship. Until then, they’re placed with a foster mum, Laura (Sally Hawkins), in this huge, off-grid house.
At first, Laura plays the warm, quirky counsellor card, but something’s off. She has this constant fake smile that’s meant to be comforting, but gives you chills.
She is dressed in a 70s-ish bright purple outfit while attending the kids’ father’s funeral, secretly cuts off some hair from the dead father’s head, forces Andy to kiss his father goodbye on the lips, throws a dance party and gets drunk with the kids’ all on the same night and pees in a cup and pours it on Andy’s pants while he’s asleep, making him feel embarrassed.
You just know it’s going to go off the rails. And it does. Things turn into a nightmare involving manipulation, rituals, and satanic obsession.
And then there’s Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), or so she says. This mute, blank-eyed boy with a bruised face and angel-demon energy, who she claims is another foster kid.
Turns out, his name’s not Oliver. It’s Cameron Bird. A missing child. Laura kidnapped him. And god knows what that boy has been through; it’s trauma mixed with something feral.
Andy finds this out when he goes to the authorities, trying to get help to save both Piper and “Ollie.” But that hope doesn’t last. Laura, in full predator mode, kills him, just like that. No hesitation. Because that’s what this woman is: unhinged. Dangerous. Possessive.
Her entire twisted motive centres on her obsession with bringing back her dead daughter, Cathy, who drowned in the empty pool behind the house. She fixates on Piper as Cathy’s “replacement,” believing she can somehow resurrect her through Piper, as Cathy’s body is still in the garage, frozen, preserved.
What really got to me is how the film mixes raw grief with straight-up horror. Like, yes, it’s about demonic possession and satanic cults, but underneath that, it’s about losing a child and how that completely destroys a person.
Laura is stuck in grief, and she also has some VHS-filmed human sacrifice ritual. (I wish I were joking.) How she got those tapes is never fully explained, which makes it scarier.
She’s terrifying, manipulative, and so utterly broken, but I still didn’t feel that bad for her because she does something horrendous again and again, like nope, she deserves jail time!
Piper’s blindness is used so cleverly in the story. You feel every ounce of her confusion and fear as Laura starts driving a wedge between her and Andy. In the end, Piper survives. And not because someone saves her; she saves herself. After all the gaslighting and manipulation, Piper sees through the lies. She fights back and she makes it out.
And Andy, poor Andy. I felt so bad for him the whole time. He deserved better. The grief he carries is so layered: he’s mourning their dad, but also dealing with years of abuse and trying to protect his sister while being gaslit and broken down himself.
His ending? Honestly devastating. That voicemail. I’m still not over it. And the fact that Piper did hear it in the end? Literal tears.
And maybe, just maybe, Ollie/Cameron gets a second chance, too. Because if anyone deserves saving, it’s that kid.
Sally Hawkins’ portrayal of Laura is absolutely unhinged. You hate her with everything in you, but you can’t look away. She’s the kind of villain that gives you chills because she doesn’t feel supernatural; she feels real. You weirdly understand her pain, which makes it worse.
The kids are incredible, too. Billy Barratt and Sora Wong are brilliant, raw, believable, and heartbreaking. Their sibling bond carries the whole film. Jonah Wren Phillips is a silent force of sadness. That child acts with his eyes, and it’s terrifying.
Bring Her Back is about grief, control, trauma, and trust. Also, demons and rituals. It’s disgusting. It’s sad. It’s gory. Don’t watch it alone.
Written and directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, A24’s Bring Her Back will be released on the 29th of May 2025.
Our rating – 4/5
