There are performances that stay with you long after the credits roll, and Sally Hawkins in Bring Her Back is one of them. Still thinking about it. Absolutely incredible.
Directed by twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou — the duo behind 2023’s breakout horror hit Talk to Me — Bring Her Back follows siblings Andy and Piper in the wake of their father’s sudden death. As the pair are placed into foster care, Andy is offered his own place, while his visually impaired sister Piper is sent to live with Laura (Sally Hawkins) until Andy turns 18 and can petition for custody. Refusing to be separated, the siblings insist on staying together, and Laura reluctantly agrees to take them both in.
From the moment they arrive at her isolated home, something feels deeply wrong. Gaslighting, manipulation, and a disturbing video Laura can’t stop watching all point to a dark secret bubbling beneath the surface. As the story unravels, it becomes clear Laura is hiding a terrifying secret.
Hawkins plays Laura, a former care worker whose warmth curdles into something far more sinister the longer the film goes on. It’s a sublte performance. Laura rarely raises her voice or resorts to typical horror-villain theatrics. Instead, Hawkins weaponizes calm, delivering some of the film’s most unsettling moments through quiet, matter-of-fact line readings, like her chilling confession: “I’ve spoken with an angel. It’s a beautiful angel. It does beautiful things.”
It’s a total inversion of the type of role audiences are used to seeing Hawkins in. Known for empathetic, tender performances in films like The Shape of Water and Paddington, she brings that same emotional intelligence to Laura — but redirects it into something predatory. The result is a foster mother who feels less like a monster and more like a devastating warning about grief left unchecked.
Hawkins’ performance in Bring Her Back didn’t just resonate with audiences, it became one of the most decorated turns of the year. At the 2026 AACTA Awards, the film dominated the ceremony, winning 10 of its 16 nominations, including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Lead Actress in Film for Hawkins herself.
Her work as Laura also earned nominations across the genre awards circuit, including a nod for Best Actress in a Horror Movie at the Critics’ Choice Super Awards, Best Actress at the HFCS Awards, and Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller at the Astra Awards, where she also picked up a Best Actress win at the Astra Midseason Awards. The role has cemented Hawkins as one of horror’s most formidable new forces — an actor capable of taking a genre often defined by spectacle and grounding it in something quietly devastating.
Up next, Hawkins is taking on a very different kind of role: she’s set to star alongside Ryan Reynolds in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Eloise, based on the beloved children’s book series by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight. Directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the film also stars newcomer Mae Schenk in the title role, with Reynolds playing an original villain character. It’s a sharp tonal swing from the horrors of Laura — proof of just how wide Hawkins’ range really is.
Bring Her Back is streaming now on HBO.
