I physically recoiled at acclaimed horror's most stomach-churning scene
This A24 supernatural horror has had UK fans patiently waiting nearly two months longer than our US and Australian counterparts to witness its grisliness, which reportedly left some fainting in cinemas.
Not only are there several truly hideous scenes in the movie, built up to by its looming sense of foreboding, but it leaps straight in with grainy footage from a cult showing people being tortured and hanged.
I've now warned you what kind of film it's going to be from the very beginning, but this second feature from Australian sibling filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou (Talk to Me) goes beyond simply wince-inducing.
It's also a poignant tale about the devastation of grief and boasts two-time Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins as its stunningly effective secret weapon. Not that anyone would expect anything less than excellence from Hawkins at this stage, but she triumphs here as an exquisitely off-balance and creepy presence, elevating the distressing – if sometimes slightly thin – material.
Bring Her Back opens with the trauma of step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) finding their father dead in the shower, which leads them to be placed in the care of eccentric former counsellor Laura (Hawkins).
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Laura is cheerful to an almost manic degree, welcoming the pair into her cluttered home up in the hills, where she's also fostering a young mute boy, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).
Immediately smitten with Piper, who reminds her of her late daughter Cathy (Mischa Heywood) – who was blind and tragically drowned in the home's swimming pool – Laura is surprisingly brusque with the troubled Oliver as well as Andy, who she immediately begins to undermine with unnerving behaviour.
This is all managed with icky cheeriness from Hawkins as Laura, who expertly masks her character's subtly nefarious motives with Laura's kooky disposition and professional experience handling displaced kids.
But she's not the scariest presence in the film: that honour belongs to Phillips' deeply troubled Oliver, who eats flies, bangs on windows – and much worse. It's him at the centre of Bring Her Back's most stomach-churning scenes, including the worst, which may well have you gagging or at least groaning in disgust and fright as the audience in my screening did.
I won't spoil the exact nature of what it entails (unless you want to know, then click here), but suffice it to say it's good old-fashioned body horror and a classic fear realised that many have nightmares about – and that's without the genuinely distressing cracking and splintering sound effects that accompany the blood onscreen. I'll never forget it.
The movie's sound design by Emma Bortignon is particularly impressive, thunderous in parts and quietly foreboding in others, constantly ratcheting up the unease. It also pairs well with Cornel Wilczek's score – sometimes jangling and disorienting – to emphasise the audio overwhelm someone with compromised vision like Piper can experience.
Director: Danny and Michael Philippou
Writer: Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Stephen Phillips, Mischa Heywood
Age rating: 18
Runtime: 1hr 44
Release date: July 26, 2025
Bring Her Back's performances all around are knock-out, from Hawkins and Phillips providing the fear factor to Barratt and newcomer Wong giving the film its heart. But although it pushes further into depraved places than I expected and enjoys a fair amount of impact from that alone, the beats of the story can be a little slow and overly simplified; this goes as far as the film's title itself.
As can be the case with horror movies, the revelations end up paling a little in comparison with the thrills of the journey to get there. You can guess what's behind the locked door of the shed, and the basis of the film's set-up is a little rushed and unsubstantiated, which left me feeling slightly deflated. More Trending
Despite this, Bring Her Back's rawness – in more ways than one – is something seared into my memory, thanks to its twisted and extreme horror and powerful performances.
Bring Her Back is in UK cinemas from today.
This article was first published on July 21.
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