'Bring Her Back' Review: A Brutal, Beautiful Descent into Ritual Horror
- Jack Ransom
- Jul 23
- 3 min read
By Jack Ransom - July 23, 2025
The second feature from the Philippou brothers, Bring Her Back sees a brother (Billy Barrett) and sister (Sora Wong) uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother (Sally Hawkins).
From YouTube to the Bleeding Edge of Horror
After 2022’s Talk to Me lit up horror fans across the globe and raked in just over $90 million on a $4.5 million budget, the Philippou’s YouTube to big league director transition was more than set. Whilst I thought Talk To Me was a perfectly solid, modernized hand wave (I tried) of supernatural horror, it did lack in some of the originality and outright scares departments. Bring Her Back, however, is a twisted step-up and doubles down on the less mainstream appealing horror angle, opting for a genuinely discomforting deep wound of a film.
When it comes to original horror pictures, I am trying my best to avoid marketing or trailers as much as possible. Outside of the first teaser trailer, I hadn’t seen anything more of Bring Her Back as that cryptic 60 second initial teaser was enough to sell me. I will try to tiptoe around specifics for this reason, as even though there are certainly a myriad of shall we say ‘A24-isms’, the film was surprisingly more emotionally charged in its exploration of grief, life and death and family tension… as well as its depraved, spine-tingling ritualistic angle and sinister reveals.
A Ritual Worth Watching, If You Can Stomach It
There is an aura of discomfort and unease in the proceedings that overwhelms. Talk to Me tapped into the psychological anxiety ridden distorted and trippy camerawork. This is also on display here, with winding zooms, haunting frames (*that* final shot) and the utilisation of horrifying found-footage style tapes all work together to craft a unique visual flair. The gory, gnarly practical effects and makeup work are staggeringly impressive as well. There are two scenes in particular that had me (and the rest of the audience, including one security guard) utterly wincing and never taking our teeth for granted again.
Billy Barrett and Sora Wong have a very genuine feeling sibling chemistry and there is palpable care between the two, which makes their moments of rage, bitterness and doubt each other as they are wrapped up in grief, paranoia, suspicion and fear tough to watch. The usually calm and loveable Sally Hawkins is a fiercely unpredictable, unnerving, disturbed and tragic figure. Easily one of her best performances put her in more horror flicks! Lastly, Jonah Wren Philips puts on a brave and uncompromising performance as Oliver.
Is 'Bring Her Back' Worth Watching?
Bring Her Back is a harsh, raw and uncompromising experience that will prove skin-crawling for most viewers and genuinely tough to watch at points. The gross, schlocky and impressively nasty practical effects, intimate and mysterious atmosphere, great performances and confident stylistic choices overshadow familiar genre beats. Great stuff.
'Bring Her Back' releases in cinemas July 26
Love elevated horror with a vicious edge? Read more horror reviews on Flim Focus Online.
