On May 31st I went to a 10:20 pm showing of Bring Her Back. Despite the late hour—which would have caused me to at least doze off—I was alert and awake for the whole film. Moreover, since that day I have thought about this film often: the themes, the story, the tragedy and grief and horror on display stuck with me and resonated with me on a deep, deep level. It stirred up emotions and thoughts that I had not realized were logjammed in my emotional state.

The film is grief incarnate, and the story from the get go—a cult committing suicide on fuzzy VHS, kids finding their dead dad—-lets us know that there will not be a happy ending to this. That is ok though because what the filmmakers spend the runtime doing from that point forward created the single most memorable theater experience I had in 2025 (closely followed by the joyfulness brought on by The Toxic Avenger and the Nazi massacre of Silent Night, Deadly Night). Every scene of the film drips with anguish and dread and anxiety as the newly orphaned kids try to navigate the circumstances that they find themselves in. Then the plot adds an incredible supernatural element and we have one of the most effective horror films of the 2020’s and the best film of 2025. 

I read a few reviews that critiqued the film for its brutality and intensity, and I read others that claimed the film made no sense. I find both kinds of reviews to be reductive and silly. The brutality was the point, and the film made perfect sense. It was a masterclass in story telling and in cinematography. It was incredibly acted. The sound design was immaculate. The FX were top notch and gnarly. So why was it left out of the awards season?

It is too hard to watch. 

It is a legitimately scary movie.

Not since The Exorcist have we had a film that was that hard to watch win an Oscar, a film as bleak as The Exorcist  is not going to get a nomination any time soon. Especially not with the political climate being what it is, and so we got the crop of cathartic nominees that we got. I understand why it happened but I hate that it did happen. I mean Sally Hawkins at least should have gotten a nod beyond the Chainsaw Awards from Fangoria.

Her performance was incredible. She haunted my nightmares for weeks after the credits rolled and while I did love Weapons and Sinners I did not have the same reaction to those films that I had to Bring Her Back. I am well aware that my reactions to a film do not merit an Oscar but I suppose that my visceral reaction is what is fueling this article. I had a deeply emotional reaction to this film and I imagine that everyone who watched did too and I think that made everyone very uncomfortable. Uncomfortable films don’t win awards. Films in which everything turns out alright are the ones the Academy wants front and center right now and I can’t say I blame them.

Stay tuned for a massive article that is part review and part rumination on the themes and films of last year, important I think because we are headed into the thick of blockbuster season and there is a dearth of new horror on the way. We should look back to see if the powers that be and the zeitgeist have moved on or if they are still locked into last year’s themes.