Review: Bring Her Back

I loved Talk To Me, but can the Philippou brothers follow it up with another unconventional three-word horror movie success? I might be outside the consensus opinion on this one.

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I spend a lot of time around here bemoaning the lack of originality and impact from a litany of horror flicks I review. If anything can be said about Bring Her Back, its that it is both original and impactful. I kind of think I hated it, though. What I am still trying to sort out is whether I hated it for all the reasons the filmmakers wanted me to, or for some that were unintentional. The same team that released Talk To Me, one of my favorites from the last few years, have followed it up with a truly disturbing vision of child endangerment. It is written, directed and acted well, so let's take those reasons off the table as possible offenders. For the most part, all of the film's provocations worked on me, which certainly falls under the "intentional" camp. There is truly disturbing behavior, violence and imagery depicted on screen, all hallmarks of the type of horror that Youtubers-cum-filmmakers, Danny and Michael Philippou, are aiming to craft. So is my distaste for the movie a "them" problem or a "me" problem, so to speak? Turns out, I think its a little bit of both.

The story involves a blind teen and her older brother entering the foster system after the passing of their father. They are quickly assigned to a single woman who seems to be fostering another young boy, and it is immediately obvious to the brother, and the audience, that something is off. I won't spoil the plot of the movie for anyone reading, but it doesn't take long after that for the villian and their motivation to be revealed. Therein lies the major flaw of the story, in my mind - Without a central mystery behind all of the unsettling goings-on, there is little to engage you beyond how unpleasant it all is. There is still some mystery in the specific mechanics behind the villain's plans, I suppose, but I don't overly invest in the "how" of these types of plots and didn't find it particularly legible after it was all revealed, anyway. Of course you also have the question of whether, and to what extent, the plan will succeed, and how that will impact the protagonists. That question faired better, in my eyes at least, and I did rely on my concern for these kids to carry me through the rest of the film even as I was not generally enjoying what I was watching. In fairness, the movie is also a strong meditation on grief, so that is probably meant to be enough to sustain its audience absent a core mystery. Over the last decade or so, I have watched quite the number of horror films that happen to be strong meditations on grief, however, and that alone is not enough to make a movie stand out or justify its own existence tp me.

Again, I'll reiterate that this is a well-conceived and well-made movie for the most part. There just happened to be a couple of additional, personal barriers to my enjoyment. First off, I don't do great with child endangerment in horror cinema. That isn't a hard line, but generally it can make it tougher for me to enjoy a movie, especially if it is treated in a largely humorless setting as it is here. Ironically, I have a much higher tolerance for children being victimized in these types of movies if it isn't presented so seriously. Secondly, the types of plot devices that Bring Her Back traffics in are simply the ones that I dislike the most, horror setting or not. A huge chunk of plot is spent gaslighting certain characters and features them spinning their wheels trying to convince those in position to help them that help is actually warranted. I could live the rest of my life and happily never see that particular plot contrivance play out again. If we compare a different, much-hyped 2025 release, Weapons, we see a movie that has many of the same thematic elements, including children in unspeakable danger, but presents them with a focus on mystery and humor that make it a sharp contrast to Bring Her Back. For my taste, Weapons is a triumph while Bring Her Back is a pretty big miss. However, I get the sense that critical opinion is generally much less divided on the two, and you could concievably watch them both and very much prefer the latter. Hopefully this gives you enough information to decide if you want to take a chance on this film. You may find that the originality and impact are unsullied by the elements that turned me off. Just don't say you were'nt warned.