Bring Her Back Review: Sally Hawkins Shines in the Philippou Brothers’ Creepy New Horror

Sally Hawkins delivers a terrifying turn in Bring Her Back.

Australian directors Danny and Michael Pilippou made a big splash on the horror scene with their directorial debut Talk to Me. It was a supernatural horror thriller that left me shaken to the core back in July of 2023. I’m extremely pleased to say that their follow-up film, ‘Bring Her Back,’ lives up to the scary standard the Philippou brothers created for themselves just two years ago. ‘Bring Her Back’ is an anxiety-filled ride, laced with bloody practical effects. It is one of the best new horror villain performances I’ve witnessed in quite some time.

In ‘Bring Her Back,’ a pair of traumatized step-siblings, Andy and Piper (Billy Barratt and Sora Wong), are placed with a new foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins). Andy and Piper have recently lost their father, and Andy is extremely protective of vision-impaired Piper. Laura is over-the-top with her kindness towards Piper while giving Andy a bit of the cold shoulder. Laura has been through trauma herself, having lost her daughter some time ago in a drowning incident. She also fosters a mute son named Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips), who clearly is not quite right.

From the moment Andy and Piper enter Laura’s home, it’s clear that not everything is as it seems with Laura.

Hawkins is extremely well-utilized here since audiences have become so accustomed to her as one of the warmest and kindest on-screen mothers through the early entries of the ‘Paddington’ franchise. The way Hawkins manipulates the nice exterior to cover up the horrid things her character is doing really adds to the film’s tension. When she is fully unleashed, Hawkins becomes one of the best new horror villains I have seen on screen in quite some time.

Everything about the Ollie character is off-putting, and it escalates throughout the film in grotesque ways. The Philippou brothers don’t hold the audience’s hand through the reveals in a way I found to be cleverly distant. There’s no big info dump or plan reveal. However, they let viewers piece it together subtly (and at times not so subtly) as they go.

Most of the plot occurs during the daytime, but it’s typically overcast and wet, making everything feel unapproachable. The home, where most of the film takes place, adds to the overall mood and tone by being old, cluttered, and full of tight spaces. A claustrophobic aura allows the setting to contribute to the horror vibes.

Verdict

‘Bring Her Back’ takes all of the things that worked well about ‘Talk to Me‘ and capitalizes on them. It anchors the whole package with an incredible performance from Sally Hawkins. Horror and gore fans will not want to miss this new entry in the A24 horror canon.

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