Bring Her Back 2025 - review

It's no secret that A24 is the film distributer taking over the world currently as their films include some of the most talked about pieces in the last decade with horror titles such as Hereditary and Midsommar and other titles such as Priscilla and Everything Everywhere All at once and Bring Her Back is another standout amongst their horror titles.

I recently watched this film for the first time even though it released over the summer this year and I have to say, I'm glad I waited to watch it. This film disturbed me in ways I haven't been disturbed in ever and it's a premise I feel like is basic and overdone but it's not and I think that's what really makes this film so unique and interesting because it's a fairly basic plot compared to something like Hereditary or Midsommar. This film was directed by Australian brothers Michael and Danny Philippou and it's interesting that we don't get more horror films out of Australia, but I think that this film is going to open up a lot of doors for more films in the future.

This film follows a pair of stepsiblings as they navigate becoming orphans and entering the foster care system together after their father falls and passes in the shower (which becomes massively important later on in the story) and their new foster mom is a bit odd. After a few weeks with their foster mom, things start to get really weird and they discover something sinister going on with Oliver, another foster child in the household.

This film is very graphic and I want to make sure everyone interested in the film is aware of the gore in this film. It's not gore for the sake of shock value but there is skin being peeled off and needles and even I had to look away and usually gore in films doesn't bother me as much as real life. Like I said, there's no gore that's added in for pure shock value and there is meaning to it all but it's very hard to ignore that it's a lot.

This is a sort-of possession movie in my opinion because the concept of possession is the main horror-aspect of the film but it's a very different form of possession than what people may be used to within the horror genre. I enjoy that it subverted those expectations especially as I knew this was a possession film going into it but not in the way I expected.

The acting, especially from the teen actors in this film are incredible and the same goes for the adults. The acting makes this film get even closer and closer to perfect but what I think really is the standout from the film is the story. The story is tragic and somehow just gets more tragic as the runtime goes on. At just over 1.5 hours, this film doesn't feel like a drag at any point and keeps the story going. All scenes feel necessary to the story and there's not a filler scene in sight, so it feels like a complete story. I don't want more from it and I don't think anything should be cut out so it feels like a full circle and complete story and I enjoy that. This is much like my thoughts on Heretic where I mentioned that I won't be watching the film again or at least not anytime soon. There's one plot twist that's not mind-blowing but in relation to the point in the story it happens in, it's tragic and shocking.

I won't be watching this film again not because I didn't like it but because it's one of those films that doesn't hit the same after the first watch for me. It may be very different than your experience but for me, I will not be rewatching.

Now I'm going to get into the spoilers section so as per usual, please stop scrolling here - watch the film - and come right back after.

Brin Her Back (2025) - A24 Distribution

The plot twist to this film, or what I consider to be the biggest twist is when Andy is killed by Laura right before Laura attempts to transfer Cathy's soul into Piper's body so you start to feel hopelessness that Piper's going to make it out alive because Andy spent the entire film basically being Piper's sole protector. But that's really the biggest takeaway I had from the film as an impactful moment. That's not to say I didn't like the film at all, but it just doesn't stick with me exactly the same as some other possessions or just general horror films.

Laura's story is tragic, and you do really feel for her, but it doesn't feel like the film effectively executed the justification for Laura's actions to turn to witchcraft and possession transferring stuff or why she kept Cathy's body even after her soul was put into Oliver and was going to be put into Piper. It feels like you're supposed to be 3/4 of the way to being like "poor Laura I get why she did what she did" but then the filmmakers stopped with 1/4 to go because there is more to Laura and why she felt so attached to Cathy and why she chose that one outlet to turn to for possession.

The initially bright and sunny atmosphere and then the slow turn to darker and more gloomy and rainy themes in the film's visuals was good for the story becoming more and more tragic but it's a common thing to do in films. I do like the use of water and rain and the fear Andy has of the shower, and I think that's a really neat aspect of the film that I really enjoyed watching and dissecting the layers of.

Overall, I give Bring Her Back (2025) a 6/10