When we last saw brothers/directors Danny and Michael Philippou, they created 2022’s sleeper horror hit Talk to Me. The siblings return to mine more creepy territory via 2025’s Bring Her Back.

17-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) and his vision-impaired stepsister Piper (Sora Wong) discover their father dead in the shower. This sends their lives into a spiral and they go into foster care.

The siblings wind up with Laura (Sally Hawkins), a counselor who deals with her own loss issues, and her additional foster Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a mute boy with problems as well. As Laura’s perky demeanor starts to crack, Andy and Piper find themselves in chilling circumstances.

Should one interpret the title Bring Her Back to relate to Laura’s concerns and desires? No real spoilers but… yeah, and it doesn’t take much effort to figure out the “her” in question.

That points me in the direction of the aforementioned dreaded spoilers, though, so I’ll leave the rest alone. Suffice it to say that Back pursues a theme that feels pretty easy to deduce.

For many films, that doesn’t become a real flaw. Plenty of movies come with predictable narratives but they still work just fine.

In some ways, Back falls into that club, as it becomes a mostly eerie experience. However, I must admit that the degree to which we can figure out plot points turns into an issue here.

I feel that way because a scary flick like Back really needs to find ways to catch the viewer off-guard. Of course, it comes with some curveballs in how it executes the story, and those offer jolts.

However, the basic thrust remains inevitable enough to remove more suspense than I would prefer. As I implied, the title pretty clearly points us in a certain direction, and that undercuts potential shocks.

Still, even with these drawbacks, Backk turns into a reasonably involving affair, and the cast helps. In particular, Hawkins does terrific work as Laura.

“Kindly caregiver with a dark ulterior motive” doesn’t exactly offer an original concept. However, Hawkins gives us a suitably slippery performance that adds layers to Laura another actor might not find.

The others don’t fare quite as well, but no one would expect the younger actors to live up to the work of a double Oscar nominee. All do fine, however, with a particular nod to Phillips as the creepy silent Oliver.

Back did keep me with it and it ends up as a well-executed creepfest. Still, I can’t help but feel the predictable elements keep it from greatness.

We get a reasonably engaging horror tale. Back just doesn’t leap to a higher level than that.

Bring Her Back appears in an aspect ratio of 2.00:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a terrific presentation.

Sharpness consistently worked well. Virtually no softness materialized via this tight image.

The film lacked jaggies or shimmering, and it came without edge haloes. No source flaws came along for the ride either.

The palette leaned toward a fairly standard mix of amber/orange and teal, though not cranked to annoying levels. The disc reproduced the hues as intended.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows felt smooth and concise. Everything about the visuals satisfied.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack also succeeded. Of course, the soundscape came with plenty of creepy elements to accentuate the scary vibe.

In addition, music filled the channels nicely and effects popped up in the proper spaces. Those elements blended well and accentuated the story. Throw in some localized dialogue and the soundfield fleshed out the tale nicely.

Audio quality pleased, with speech that appeared natural and concise. Music felt full and dynamic.

Effects came across as accurate and vivid, with solid low-end. This turned into an appealing and evocative mix.

When we shift to extras, we start with an audio commentary from writer/director Danny Philippou and director Michael Philippou. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, influences and themes, cast and performances, sets and locations, various effects, music and audio, stunts, photography, editing and connected domains.

Energetic participants, the brothers speak a mile a minute and cover a broad range of topics. They make this a lively, fun and informative chat.

A featurette called Coming Full Circle goes for 19 minutes, 25 seconds. It features Danny and Michael Philippou, hair/makeup designer Rebecca Buratto, prosthetics designer Larry Van Duynhoven, makeup effects artist Paul Caddy, production designer Vanessa Cerne, director of photography Aaron McLisky, and actors Sally Hawkins, Sora Wong, Billy Barratt, Jonah Wren Phillips, and Sally-Anne Upton.

“Circle” examines story/characters and the tale’s path to the screen, cast and performances, makeup, prosthetics and effects, shooting in Australia, and photography. Despite some of the usual happy talk, this becomes a fairly informative reel.

Entitled “Ding Dong Dash”, a deleted scene spans one minute, four seconds and shows our leads as they prank neighbors. It seems pretty insubstantial.

If you click to the right of the deleted scene on that menu, you can access an Easter Egg that gives us a one-minute, 16-second view of a video we see in less detail as part of the final film. It delivers a cool little extra.

Like apparently all A24 releases, this one comes with six Photo Cards that display shots from the film. They seem forgettable.

Despite some positives, Bring Her Back comes with too many predictable elements to really connect. While the movie provides some scares and creepy impact, the story just leaves the audience ahead of the characters too much of the time. The Blu-ray provides excellent picture and audio as well as a few informative bonus features. This becomes a decent thriller but not one that really clicks.