The following contains spoilers for Bring Her Back, now playing in theatersBring Her Back is a heartbreaking exploration of anguish that builds to a harrowing ritual surrounding grieving mother Laura and her foster children/ritualistic victims, Piper and Oliver. Bring Her Back is very much a spiritual successor to Talk To Me filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, with both films exploring the ways people can become monsters if given the chance to cross the boundaries of life and death. Bring Her Back focuses on Andy and Piper, a pair of teenagers who are taken in by a foster mother named Laura alongside their new “brother,” Oliver.

Despite her innocent exterior, Laura is actually far more dangerous than she initially appears — as she’s found a ritual that will sacrifice the lives of the children in her care for a chance of bringing her deceased daughter back to life. The critically acclaimed Bring Her Back is a powerful rumination on how far grief will push a person. Even if the film leaves some character fates open-ended, it’s clear from the breathtakingly heartbreaking final sH๏τ what the film has been about all along.

How Piper Escapes From Laura In Bring Her Back’s Ending

Piper Is Barely Able To Get Away From Laura And Avoid Being Sacrificed To Resurrect Cathy

The bleak ending of Bring Her Back sees Piper escape Laura before she can finish the ritual to resurrect her daughter, setting up the film’s haunting final moments. After realizing that Laura has been manipulating her to turn on Andy (and discovering her brother’s corpse), Piper tries to escape her new foster mother. However, she’s dragged into the pool by Laura, who tries to drown her. Amid her struggles to escape, Piper begs Laura to spare her and even calls her “Mom.” This single act shakes Laura on a fundamental level, allowing Piper to slip out of her grasp.

Escaping to the road and flagging down a pᴀsserby for help, Piper is able to alert the authorities and bring Laura’s image as an innocent and grieving mother crashing down. The ending doesn’t confirm what will happen to Piper after the events of the film, although she’ll likely be sent to another foster home. Piper’s final scene sees her notice a pᴀssing plane, recalling how Andy once told her that planes carry the souls of the departed to the afterlife. It’s a somber ending for Piper, but she at least escapes the film with her life.

How Oliver Breaks Free Of The Possession

Piper Saving Herself Also Seems To Spare Oliver A Dark Fate

One of Laura’s other victims in the scheme to resurrect her daughter is Oliver, a young boy kidnapped under the guise of an “adoption.” Oliver is an important part of the resurrection ritual, as he serves as a living vessel for Cathy’s soul while possessed by some demonic force. The ritual leaves Oliver in a somewhat trance-like state, willing to eat anything from flies to knives and wood. Once Laura is able to kill Piper in the same way Cathy died, Oliver can then eat chunks of Cathy’s body and spit it into Piper, thus completing the soul transfer.

Any attempts to bring Oliver off of Laura’s property cause intense pain, as well as fleeting moments where the real little boy breaks through. Luckily for both Piper and Oliver, the former is able to escape Laura’s grasp and make a run for it. As a result, the ritual is interrupted and the demonic force seems to let go of Oliver. His final moments in the film are being found by the authorities and telling them his real name, suggesting he can be brought back home and can start to recover from the trauma that Laura has put him through.

What Happens To Laura After The Failed Ritual

Laura Will Likely Face A Lot Of Consequences For Her Actions

Laura is portrayed as a genuinely tragic character in Bring Her Back, even as she commits heinous acts against innocent people. Her entire motivation is the resurrection of her daughter, which the tapes she’s found suggest is indeed possible. However, after killing both Andy and her former colleague Wendy, Laura decides it’s time to enact her plan. When it fails, it doesn’t seem like Laura has anything else in her life,and she has accepted that. The final sH๏τ of the film shows Laura cradling the corpse of her daughter in the pool, waiting as the police arrive to arrest her.

Given Laura’s actions (ranging from the deaths of Andy and Wendy to the kidnapping of Oliver and the near-drowning of Piper), it’s likely that she faces a lifetime in prison. Notably, this doesn’t seem like any more of a brutal punishment for her than life on the outside. Laura is portrayed as a very maternal figure, whose attempts to bond with Piper seem genuine on some level. Laura even seems to be shaken by the necessity of killing Andy, acknowledging to Piper and Wendy that what she’s doing is awful but necessary.

Without Cathy in her life, Laura seems to have nothing. She doesn’t care about the world around her or her place in it, if it means she can’t be with her daughter. This is the central tragedy of Bring Her Back, as there are suggestions throughout the film that Laura, if she could accept her grief and move past it, could be a good guardian to Andy and Piper. There’s empathy and understanding and genuine love at times — but none of it can overcome her grief, propelling her to become a monster in pursuit of bringing her daughter back.

What Is Andy’s Secret In Bring Her Back?

Andy’s Tragic Regret Explains So Much About His Character

Andy spends much of Bring Her Back doing everything he can to support Piper, even to the point of frustrating his sister. Her severe near-sightedness doesn’t leave her quite blind, but it does impede some of her life decisions. Late in Bring Her Back, Andy tries to reach out to Piper as she’s being steadily turned against him by Laura’s machinations and reveals that one of the reasons he’s so committed to helping her is that, when she was very young and adored by their father, a jealous Andy struck her.

It goes a long way towards explaining why Andy is so committed to watching over Piper, as it’s implied he feels guilty (whether rightfully or not) for her condition in the present day. It also adds an even sadder layer to his death at the hands of Laura, as this realization leaves Piper alone in the world. Andy is a compelling character before this revelation, but Andy’s tearful confession late in the film completely redefines the character.

The Real Meaning Of Bring Her Back

Grief Can Push Men To Become Monsters

Much like their previous film Talk to Me, the Philippou’s Bring Her Back is rooted in an exploration of grief. While that film was entirely focused on the experience of being young and confronted with the lingering pain that remains after a tragic loss, Bring Her Back splits focus between teenagers doing their best to soldier through grief alongside the adult who can’t escape her own. Grief can unite people, as seen in an evening of reverie after Andy and Piper bury their father. Laura is at her most charming in this sequence, a potential new lynchpin in their lives.

However, she can never escape the grief of her daughter, even if she lies through her teeth and says she’s fine. Laura’s willing to do anything to bring her back, even at the cost of sacrificing multiple other children like Oliver and Piper to her mission. The lengths one will go to break the natural order and be reunited with their loved ones can turn good people into monsters, playing into the themes of both Talk To Me and Bring Her Back. Bring Her Back is a heartbreaking story about loss and what it can do to someone.