Bring Her Back

Bring Her Back trades jump scares for emotional decay, and it pays off. The Philippou brothers ditch the adrenaline, teen-minded horrors of Talk to Me for something quieter, more unsettling, and more adult. This is a slow descent into grief, obsession, and the false comfort of control.

Sally Hawkins is chilling as Laura, a grieving mother who’s crossed the line between love and delusion. She never overplays it. Her performance stays grounded, which makes the horror more disturbing. Billy Barratt and Sora Wong give the story its heart. Their bond feels real, vulnerable, and necessary in a film where adults can’t be trusted.

The film leans on mood more than spectacle. Shadows, silence, a looming storm, and domestic unease carry more weight than the occult flashbacks on video, which suggest a sinister but mostly unseen underbelly. The heaviness sticks and it’s the kind of dread that builds steadily and unrelentingly. This becomes an endurance test by design.

When the horror hits, it lands with overwhelming, visceral imagery that evokes a deep darkness. It’s proof that the Philippous are after more than just viral horror. They’re circling something deeper, mainly grief as possession, love as control. If that sounds more sad-tragic than spooky-scary, it is. But that sadness hits harder than most jump scares ever could.