Bring Her Back (2025) review

Orphans Andy (Billy Barratt) and his visually-impaired younger sister Piper (Sora Wong) are forced to live with counselor Laura (Sally Hawkins) after their father passes away (they discover his body in the shower), except Laura keeps a mute child named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) in her house, performs demonic rituals and psychologically manipulates both Andy and Piper.  It isn't a bad idea to cast individuals with real disabilities in movies - Ms. Wong was born with coloboma and microphthalmia - but using them simply for audience pity is a weak move, and it's clear from the very first scene that there's something horribly wrong with Hawkins' freakish character so nothing she does is surprising.  That said, the Philippou brothers, who did start off their career making videos for YouTube, are better than a lot of horror filmmakers at creating unsettling moments without abusing jump-scares: the video Laura watches is creepy and Oliver himself is the star of the feature, as he chews on a sharpened knife, the wooden kitchen countertop and the frozen corpse of Laura's deceased daughter Cathy (Mischa Heywood).  Once the closing credits started rolling, I was worried about the mental health of young actor Phillips, but he apparently had a fun time playing in it (plus, his real-life dad is in the movie).  Aussie kids are built differently.