Bring Her Back (May 30th, 2025)

A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.

Directors: Danny and Michael Phillippou (previously of Talk to Me)
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips

 

Saw this last night, figured I'd make a thread for discussion.

 

How was it? I actually thought Talk to Her was rather mediocre even though I adored the premise and loved the spirit scenes.

 

I think the premise less immediate than Talk To Me, but better execution. They’re similar tone wise but this is definitely darker and has more fucked up svenes.

 

Agreed I also thought Talk to Me was mediocre and def thought this was superior. Found this to be more upsetting and even though they withhold a lot more in terms of understanding the rules, I thought this premise more functional than their previous movie.

 

I really enjoyed Talk to Me but will echo what others have said in that this was a more well executed film I think. I also love the open-ended nature and ambiguity of some of the main plot. It is also very heavy and dark and grim - much more so than Talk to Me was.

 

Talk To Me has that whole goofing around montage that lightens it a bit. The closest this one has is a little cleaning up montage, I think they like a tonal break but it’s less drastic.

Talk To Me doesn’t have great use of a Veronicas song either.

 

i don't want to see this but my wife is gonna make me

 

I liked Talk To Me way more than this.

 

I liked this and Talk to Me about equally. They share a few themes and motifs. A daughter losing a mother--or in this case, the other way around--and overcome with grief, meddling with supernatural forces to feel that connection once again. Lots of water imagery. Lots of self inflicted bodily harm, especially to the head. This one takes it further, though. The violence, or even the potential for violence, feels heightened because it's a mother figure doing it to her children. There's this permeating sense of dread through every scene as you wait to see just how far she's going to take it. This could've gone the expected route, her going through with it and conducting the ritual successfully, which I think would've been more bleak, but ultimately I like the direction they chose. There's another parallel there, to Mia changing her mind at the last second. At the sound of someone yelling "mom," Laura snaps out of it, regaining a bit of her self. She lets Piper go. This obviously doesn't redeem her: she's assaulted Piper, Connor was kidnapped, possessed, and heavily injured, and two people are dead. She's done a bunch of horrific things to these kids (and the social worker). But at the very end, I just felt so sad for her.

Sally Hawkins is the best worst mom since Hereditary. Watch as another iconic horror performance get snubbed come awards season

 

I liked talk to me a lot but I liked this even more. Incredibly fucked up at times

 

Definitely my favorite of the year so far.

 

Thought this was fucking incredible.

 

There’s no redeeming what Laura did but man my heart kinda broke for her at the end

 

Thought this was great. Pretty gnarly at times too, some really sad moments too. Really solid.

 

Thought this was solid, had me wincing at a few moments.

 

I like Talk to Me (which I only just watched last night), but like this more.

Sally Hawkins is so good.

it got me a little with teeth stuff tbh haha. My weakness

 

This movie made me feel like shit. LOVED it. Like Hereditary, this movie will stick with me permanently.

Need to give Talk To Me a rewatch. I’m beyond sat for whatever these dudes have in store for the future.

 

Did not like this

 

Empty calories shock horror stuff to me. Grief sucks. I get it.

 

I think these guys should not write their own scripts. Give them an actual good script and I think they can do a good job directing the shit out of it

 

Idk this didn’t come off as shock horror at all to me but maybe it’s just because I’ve seen/read more fucked up stuff than what happens here lol

 

I think it's a bit more substantive than that. i haven't seen Terrifier but I think that would be more shock horror than this. not that there's anything wrong with Terrifier or ppl who like it. I avoid it bc I'm pretty sure it's too much for me. tbh even parts of this movie were too much for me. The gross parts are gross, yes. But I think, wrt the story, there's enough there that saying "grief sucks. I get it" feels like an oversimplification, and kind of unfair. The siblings' dynamic really worked for me. And as for Sally Hawkins' character, there's enough quiet moments where you can really understand what she's going through. Again, not justifying her actions, but the building blocks are there for you to sympathize with her even if you don't condone what she does. I know a film like this is gonna ultimately be super divisive. For me, I was really emotional at the end.

 

For those that have seen this: does it portray onscreen child death or rape? Really only looking for a “yes” or “no” - so please avoid specifics if you respond to me.

Those are both incredibly triggering for my wife, who would otherwise be game to watch this with me but if it’s in the film would be a dealbreaker.

 

yes