Review: Bring Her Back (2025), The Year’s Best Trauma Horror

Australia has delivered some of the best horror films of the past two decades. The Loved Ones (2012), The Babadook (2014), and You Won’t Be Alone (2022) are just a few that come to mind. Our Aussie brethren delivered yet another beautiful and brutal horror film with Bring Her Back (2025), directed by the Philippou brothers. Starring Sally Hawkins as one of her most devious and tragically misguided characters yet, Bring Her Back is equal parts trauma dump, occult horror, and a statement on our collective failure to protect vulnerable children. 

After discovering his dead father in the shower, teenager Andy (Billy Barratt) is taken with his younger, blind sister, Piper (Sora Wong), to live with Laura (Sally Hawkins). Laura is, in no uncertain terms, strange. She lives with a young mute boy, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), who appears to be another foster child under her care. 

Despite not fully trusting her, Andy reveals to Laura that his father had been abusive to him and had always favored Piper. Laura recounts losing her own daughter, who was blind, in an accident in the pool behind the house. 

On his second day in the house, while Laura and Piper are away, Andy attempts to communicate with Oliver. He tries to get Oliver to write on a notepad, only to have Oliver savagely bite down on a kitchen knife, breaking his teeth and spewing blood in the process. Andy is horrified and attempts to help him, only for Oliver to start convulsing when Andy tries to carry him to a neighbor’s house. 

Laura arrives shortly after and screams at Andy to get inside, before rushing Oliver back to his room. In the days that come, Laura’s true intentions are revealed, though Andy struggles to get help before he and Piper succumb to Laura’s obsessive machinations. 

Danny and Michael Philippou like to play with the audience with this film, shocking us occasionally with gore and violence; infuriating us with the bureaucracy of the foster care system, the challenges that come with childhood trauma, and the utter helplessness of living with a mentally-unwell adult. 

The film also balances its two worlds very well: the obscure, terrifying “beyond” that Laura tries to control, and the very harsh reality of life as an orphan. The tension within the house builds at a perfect pace, though I will readily admit the degree to which I became enthralled in the story bordered on unhealthy. I found myself hating Laura’s character to no end, and infuriated by the impotent and unchecked foster care system.

But this is the mark of great storytelling. I was so engrossed that I forgot I was watching fictional characters in a fictional world. Part of what made it so enthralling is that, forgetting the evil occult rituals underpinning the story, Bring Her Back is simply a tale of two sad children and one sad mother. Laura, a former social worker herself, lost her own daughter and never fully healed from it. Andy and Piper lost their only remaining parent and were basically thrown to the wolves by the very people designated to protect them. Knowing that this kind of thing happens all the time in the real world is what makes the more grounded elements of Bring Her Back so terrifying (and rage-inducing). 

It must also be said that there wasn’t a bad performance from anyone in the film. I’m generally not a fan of child actors, but all of the younger cast members deserve the highest praise. Sally Hawkins, as is the case in nearly all of her films, played her role to perfection. Laura is loathsome, horrifying, and still deserving of empathy — if only just a little bit. 

When you watch the film (and I hope you do), just be prepared to feel shocked, angry, and genuinely scared at varying intervals. Bring Her Back is a wild ride that will definitely send shivers down your spine. It’s also, in my opinion, one of the best films of 2025, not to mention one of the best Australian horror films and perhaps one of the best trauma horror films of all time.

Bring Her Back (2025) Movie Rating: ★★★★½ out of 5

If you’d like to watch Bring Her Back (2025), the film is currently available to stream, rent, or purchase via Amazon or HBO Max. For more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film homepage!