BRING HER BACK (2025) – Atmospheric Tension Undercut by Narrative Ambiguity

From the windswept outback emerges another entry in Australia’s ever-expanding catalogue of horror thrillers, “Bring Her Back.” Where the recent Australian thriller, Dangerous Animals charged headlong into terror, this one chooses a slower, more insidious route—one that doesn’t always manage to ensnare the audience as tightly as it intends.

At its core, the plot follows two siblings, recently orphaned and vulnerable, sent to live with a foster mother whose sweet exterior barely conceals grotesque secrets. The stakes are heightened by the fact that one child is blind, intensifying every moment of peril and uncertainty. It’s a shrewd narrative choice, amplifying the tension and offering fresh opportunities to upend audience expectations.

“Bring Her Back” sets itself apart from many genre contemporaries by eschewing cheap jump scares, opting instead for a relentless, slow-burn dread. The film’s confidence is evident as it lets the story unfold organically, the atmosphere thick with foreboding. When brutality erupts, the camera refuses to flinch—delivering unvarnished glimpses of horror that will test even the most hardened viewer’s resolve. These moments are crafted with skill, but their impact is undeniably grim.

Yet, for all its technical prowess, the film courts unease in ways that go beyond the screen. The relentless grimness left me questioning whether I was being entertained or simply made to endure suffering. With no comic relief in sight, the oppressive mood never lifts, painting a bleak portrait of foster care that asks, “Is the world truly this cruel, even in fiction?”

The film opens with cryptic scenes of cult-like rituals, complete with torture and body markings—images that hint at a deeper mythology but ultimately remain frustratingly unexplained. Throughout, key character motivations and bizarre behaviors are left ambiguous, a narrative gambit that can work in certain films but here feels more like oversight than intrigue. The cumulative effect is one of disconnection: gaps in logic abound, leaving viewers adrift in a sea of unanswered questions.

Written and directed by the Philippou brothers, Michael and Danny —no strangers to the genre, given the acclaim for their prior work “Talk 2 Me”—this film aspires to leave a similar mark. However, in my estimation, “Bring Her Back” ultimately falls short of reaching the heights scaled by its predecessor. While “Bring Her Back” possesses all the makings of a memorable thriller—atmosphere, tension, and bravura—its refusal to tie up narrative threads keeps it from fully succeeding as a cohesive whole. For those who appreciate ambiguity and relentless darkness, it may well become a cult favorite. For others, the experience might feel less like catharsis and more like endurance. In the end, this is a film that dares you to look—and then wonders if you’ll ever really understand what you’ve seen.