‘Bring Her Back’ Review: A Grotesque Family Nightmare Drenched in Body Horror

Horror doesn’t get much more graphic than this. The Australian duo Danny and Michael Philippou — who made their names with Talk to Me — return with a film that is absolutely not for the squeamish. Anyone who can’t handle the idea of human skin or facial tissue as something almost edible should steer clear. But those with a higher tolerance for gore and bodily fluids may find this twisted family drama turned dark fairy tale right up their alley. There’s a witch-like figure, an isolated house in the countryside, and children trapped in a nightmare — though the film takes its time before revealing just how far it’s willing to go.

A chilling VHS-style prologue, complete with Russian voices and a sinister ritual, promises shocks to come, though viewers will have to wait a while before the film fully unleashes them. For half of its runtime, Bring Her Back operates like a disturbing psychological thriller. Piper (Sora Wong) and her brother Andy (Billy Barratt) arrive home and find their father dead in the bathtub in what appears to be an accident. Piper is nearly blind, able to see only shapes and shadows, and depends completely on her older brother.

Social services place Piper with a new guardian, but Andy insists on accompanying her. He refuses to leave his sister, especially with only three months left until he turns 18 and can request legal custody. The siblings arrive at a remote country home and meet their guardian: Laura (Sally Hawkins), a volatile, hyperactive woman whose unhinged behavior suggests something is deeply wrong. Living with her is another adopted child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a silent boy who wanders around in a catatonic daze and frequently endangers himself and others.

The core of Bring Her Back revolves around Laura’s increasingly manipulative attempts to drive a wedge between Andy and Piper. Through psychological games and more direct acts of cruelty, she tries to isolate the girl and make her turn against her brother. Andy is immediately suspicious, but no one takes him seriously, and he finds himself trapped in yet another traumatic situation just as he is still reeling from losing his father. A key piece of information eventually explains Laura’s behavior: she once had a daughter who died —the title makes her goal clear— she intends to bring the girl back, through a series of grotesque and inexplicable methods that require help from those now living in her home.

Before that plan fully materializes, the movie plays as a psychological battle between Laura and Andy. But when Oliver enters the picture, things escalate rapidly. He becomes the vehicle for some of the film’s most shocking, violent, and self-destructive moments. From there, the Philippou brothers embrace full-blown gore, staging a wild series of scenes that rot the house from the inside out. The logic behind Laura’s scheme isn’t always clear — a weakness in the script — but clarity isn’t the main goal. The film is driven by trauma, madness, and Hawkins’ unrestrained performance, which shifts from oddly comedic to terrifying in an instant.

Like Talk to Me, this film uses supernatural or folkloric elements to explore trauma, grief, and messy family bonds — this time with adopted siblings and guardians. The mythology is more fragmented and less precise, but the impact is just as forceful, maybe even more so. The movie leans heavily into body horror, supported not just by visuals and effects but by the sheer sound of tearing, squishing, and breaking flesh. Here, disgust overwhelms fear, and at many points, a quick death feels less like a tragedy and more like mercy. Bring Her Back is not subtle, and it’s not a pleasant watch — but for viewers with the stomach for it, it’s a raw, nasty horror tale that pushes the Philippou brothers deeper into the darkest corners of their imagination.