The death of a loved one is always a hard thing to experience; deciding to let go is much harder. Though, hold on to it for too long—grieve for too long—and it might just consume you. It will make you entertain the wrong ideas in your head. It will make you disregard any consequences. It will make you do things you might have not intended to do in the first place. Then, there's trust. Keep a secret or lie once and you'll lose it.

Bring Her Back marks the Philippou Brothers’ sophomore filmmaking venture after the well-deserved success of their debut film, Talk To Me. Bring Her Back offers much deeper messaging compared to Talk To Me, conveying themes of grief, loss, acceptance, family secrets and how it can cause distrust. As Talk To Me comments on peer pressure with viral culture, Bring Her Back proficiently comments on the abusive nature of foster care systems with relevant characters and empathetic writing. This time, the gore is much tamer than memory serves with Talk To Me. Though, it still manages to avert gazes, cause flinches and make palms sweat.

The film stars excellent actors in Sora Wong as Piper, a blind teenager struggling to fit in with her peers; Billy Barratt as Andy, Piper's older brother who takes care of her; and the great Sally Hawkins as Laura, a foster mother taking in Piper and Andy as her new foster children, joining Oliver, played by Jonah Wren Phillips. Every character is played to perfection, especially Sally Hawkins and Jonah Wren Phillips. The way Sally conveys a sense of longing on her face as she stares at a video of her daughter is great. On the other hand, Jonah is the definition of haunting—his dead flat face, the screams and screeching.

The Philippou Brothers successfully depicts the gruesome and haunting manifestation of parental sorrow and pain. Although Talk To Me might have been more off-the-rails with its gore, this film might leave a longer-lasting message regarding the consequences of familial secrets or lies and prolonged grief. With Bring Her Back, the Philippou Brothers show that they can keep things fresh, still having plenty to give.