Bring Her Back [2025]

September 2, 2026

Bring Her Back is one of the rare horror movies featuring both a visually and emotionally intense experience. It’s hard to explain just how beautifully nasty it is; you just feel it in your bones. It’s coming to us from two very promising young Australian directors, brothers Danny and Michael Philippou. Their previous movie, Talk To Me, was good, but it wasn’t this good. However, it was hugely successful, and this is why they’re currently working on its sequel. Which is a shame because I really wanted to see something new and original from them. Here, they drew inspiration from the Psycho Biddy subgenre. Don’t worry, this is the first time I’m hearing about it too.

Psycho Biddy horror movies feature older women (biddy – mean older woman), usually prominent or beautiful in their youth, who go psycho on those around them. Two notable modern examples are Ma and Weapons. I’m not so sure Bring Her Back falls so neatly into this category, as it features several different elements. One of the more impactful ones is grief. After the untimely passing of their close friend, Danny and Michael were coming to grips with it and making this movie. And you can clearly feel that. There’s a lot of dark ambiguity and uncertainty in the air. And the story doesn’t wrap itself in a nice bow at the end, something that will perhaps disappoint non-horror fans.

On the other hand, it might blow them away; who knows. What I do know is you should watch this movie. It gets a solid 9 out of 10 Subversive Rabbit recommendation. Bring Her Back is an A24 movie through and through. It simply has that vibe, that intelligently quirky vibe almost all of their productions have. So, what’s this movie about? Andy and his sister Piper have been living through a nightmare for the last few years. Since their father just died after a long battle with cancer, the adoption agency wants to split them up. To make things worse, Piper can only see shapes and colors and needs help from her 17-year-old brother in everyday life.

This is why Laura, who already has a daughter who is blind, seems like a perfect fit. And this is where their new nightmare begins. Bring Her Back is a movie full of contradictions. You can immediately sense where the story is going. However, it’s still going to surprise you. The atmosphere is predominantly heavy, foreboding, and distinctly uncomfortable, although there are some bright patches. Of course, I don’t need to tell you that the cast did one hell of a job. Especially considering how fucked up and emotional the story is. Not to mention all the makeup poor Jonah had to wear. Some five hours of sitting absolutely still at 11 years old- little guy is committed.

Sora Wong, who plays Piper, was born with coloboma and microphthalmia, severely impacting her vision, and she fucking nailed her role. And this is her debut. Billy Barratt was just as good, but Sally Hawkins as Laura was fucking haunting. Jonah Wren Phillips didn’t have a lot to work with, and he still gave it everything. Bring Her Back creates an additional level of discomfort as it features three kids in a precarious position. You instinctively want them to be okay and save them from any potential harm. Alas, we all know that’s not how the story is going to play out. Even the color palette is somewhat muted and leaning towards blue, similar to Nordic Tide.

Which is quite strange, considering this is an Australian movie and they usually feature bright and vivid colors. Perhaps the whole Russian element of the story and the overall depression took over. Yeah, there’s a Russian element, there’s an occult element, and there’s a retro VCR element. I’m not going to spoil anything, so I’ll just shut up right now. What I will talk about are highly creative and incredibly nasty scenes of graphic violence. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, here comes Bring Her Back and surprises you. The knife scene was probably the worst.

Now you’re thinking, what the fuck happens here? But as I said, I don’t want to spoil anything. I think it’s that memorable and impactful not just because it’s nasty on a visceral level but also because it lacks coherence. It’s not one guy chasing another guy with a knife and stabbing him, if you catch my drift. With all of this said, the main story is a familiar one. One particular Stephen King adaptation comes to mind. And I’m sure you’re going to figure out its title after the first ten minutes. Add a bit of the generic “creepy kid” stuff, and you’ve got yourself a horror.

Oddly enough, all of this makes Bring Her Back even more impressive, as it feels fresh and engaging. Especially if you like those slow-burning movies full of dread. There’s not a lot of them out there. If you’re looking for more horrors like this, I recommend Birth/Rebirth, a little-known 2023 gem with a similarly dreadful atmosphere and even creepier visuals. Of course, you can always go back and rewatch Hereditary or The Loved Ones.