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Last night I caught a showing of A24’s new horror film Bring Her Back, directed by Danny and Michael Philippou, and I gotta say I’m amazed. Coming off of their 2023 debut hit Talk To Us, the Australian filmmakers have struck gold again. In this piece I wanted to discuss some key points of the film and some of the talking points surrounding what made me really enjoy it.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Bring Her Back tells the story of two young stepsiblings, Andy and Piper, whose father passes away, and as a result, the pair are forced to move in with a foster mother, Laura — played by Sally Hawkins. Upon moving in, it is clear that Laura is only interested in Piper. Why? Because, as we later learn, she is a lot like her late daughter, Cathy, as both are a similar age, have severe vision issues, and are sweet and empathetic characters. There is also another child currently living with Laura, Oliver, who is a selectively mute young boy. The character of Oliver is frequently shown in the trailers for this film and can be seen doing the classic creepy-kid-standing-in-the-corner-not-saying-a-word-with-a-blank-stare. Oliver’s actor, Jonah Wren Phillips, has a lot of work to do as he is the main horror aspect of this film. Whether it’s staring into a void, going on a possessed binge-eating episode, or cutting open his mouth with a knife, he does a fantastic job.

Without giving too much away, the main theme of Bring Her Back is grief. No matter which angle you look at the story, it is truly a heartbreaking tale of loss and how we handle this pain. The film also explores themes of manipulation and trust. For example, the word Grapefruit is used constantly throughout the film between siblings Andy and Piper. Now the film never outwardly says what this means, but it seems to be a sort of code for tell me the truth/are you actually ok sort of thing. The character of Piper is a huge part of these themes due to her vision issues and at times naivety. For example, we see how she is at times shielded from the world by Andy (rightly so), manipulated by Laura, and how she has to interact with the horror and lies around her through her other senses. The film, although dark and gory on the surface, is at its core, a really bleak story of loss and grief.

The opening scene is terrific. It sets the tone for the entire film. It’s a scene of shaky handheld found footage that contains some sort of ritualistic torture and slayings. Now what this scene does is set the bleak tone for what the audience is in store for. It also shows that there will be some ritualistic/demonic aspect to the film. So when this stuff is revealed, it’s not some weird zag. Sometimes you can watch a horror film that’s going really well and then zag, there’s a supernatural twist in the final act and you’re kind of left wondering if the writers wrote themselves into a corner and just pulled some Pagan lore out of their ass to help wrap up the story. Bring Her Back does not have this problem. There are hints of possession/demons/rituals all throughout the film that help tie the story together. For me, the opening scene of the found footage is like a 70-yard kick return to start the game. They come out firing right out of the gate, the audience is loving it, and the team/film is set up nicely from there on out.

Now I don’t want this to be too long so I’ll just do some shoutouts. Firstly, the entire cast is phenomenal, it’s really four key figures and three of them are young and inexperienced actors. As far as I can tell, the actress who plays Piper, Sora Wong, made her feature film debut in this film. All credit to her as she plays this sweet, hidden from the real world, yet can handle her own character so well. The heavy hitter for me though is Sally Hawkins. She is killer in this role. Killer, Jerry! Hawkins does such a great job of balancing psycho-ritualistic killer with sweet and caring caretaker. Even before the skeletons in her closet are revealed, we the audience can tell there’s definitely something going on beneath the surface of this character. The entire cast truly nailed it.

Another thing I was a huge fan of is how many unanswered questions there are. It is just the right amount of questions and the perfect type. Every question we have at the end are the same questions that the characters of Piper and Andy have. Much like the pair, we the audience, are kept in the dark in terms of the origins of how Laura came upon these horrible rituals and VHS tapes and what the full story of Oliver is.

Before I wrap this piece up, I also want to shoutout Aaron McLisky, the cinematographer. The film, like every A24 production, is tremendously shot and framed with incredible lighting. What I truly love about Bring Her Back is the balance of great horror, story, and filmmaking. Also that last shot. Was that a Breaking Bad reference? Was half-expecting Baby Blue by Badfinger to kick in.

4/5 Stars — Would recommend to any fan of modern or old school horror. One of the best horror films I’ve seen of the past 10 years.