Bring Her Back ending explained: Exclusive insights from Danny and Michael Philippou

Hawkins stars as Laura, a woman who is grieving her young daughter and turns to some supremely sinister practises to deal with the loss, which soon arouses the suspicions of her new foster children Andy (Billy Barratt) and the partially-sighted Piper (Sora Wong).

And speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, the Philippou brothers explained just how committed Hawkins was to the role, with Michael explaining that she "had lots of ideas every day" and "she wanted to disappear inside Laura".

Meanwhile, Danny outlined one story which showed the extent of that commitment. "It got removed in the final film, but there was a scene where she takes the kids ding-dong-dashing," he explained. "And we actually went ding-dong-dashing with Sally Hawkins at midnight."

Micheal added: "We were like, 'You want to go ding-dong-dashing? She's like, 'Yeah!' And she rang up Billy [Barratt]. And we're like, 'Oh, you want to go ding-dong-dashing?' He's like, 'It's midnight!' So someone somewhere has a video of Sally Hawkins ding-dong-dashing."

As the details of Laura's plan become increasingly clear, the film goes to some pretty dark places and may well leave you with some questions after the credits finish rolling. If that's you, read on to have the Bring Her Back ending explained – but be warned that there are *major spoilers* ahead.

Bring Her Back ending explained: How does Piper escape?

From the bootleg video tapes that we see Laura watching, we are slowly able to piece together the ritual that she has been attempting to recreate.

It turns out that an earlier part of the ritual had seen Oliver – the mute foster-child who has been behaving consistently oddly – possessed by a demon, with the plan being for him to then feast on the corpse of her daughter Cathy and regurgitate her soul into a new body.

That new body, of course is Piper's – but in order for the ritual to work, Laura first has to re-stage the events of Cathy's death with Piper in her place. While she has been waiting for the right moment, the demon has been growing increasingly hungry, causing Oliver to act out in increasingly extreme ways.

Meanwhile, although Laura has been doing her utmost to gaslight Andy into believing he is losing his mind, he manages to piece together some of what is going on when he spots a missing child poster containing a child who is clearly Oliver but appears to actually be named Connor Bird.

He calls on social worker Wendy to investigate, and although she is initially reluctant due to having previously had a good working relationship with Laura, she eventually agrees to drive to the house and check things out.

When she intercepts a call, Laura realises Wendy is on her way and tidies the house to hide any evidence of the ritual, but when Wendy spots Laura's arm bleeding, it is clear that something is up – and Laura suddenly blurts out that she is indeed trying to resurrect Cathy, and that the ritual is underway.

An understandably spooked Wendy and Andy attempt to mount an escape, but Laura gets behind the wheel of her car and hits them as they flee – eventually killing them both before before she collects Piper from her sports practice.

With Piper back home, the ritual does not go swimmingly, to put it mildly – but when Piper tries to escape, she knocks herself unconscious, allowing Laura to carry her to the pool where everything else is set up.

However, just as it looks like all hope is lost, Piper regains consciousness and screams out the word "mum" – an act which causes Laura to double take and suddenly release her. She then escapes the scene and finds a passing couple who rescue her.

Meanwhile, Oliver ventures outside the boundary drawn around Laura's home, where the demon can no longer function, which appears to wake him from a trance – clearly becoming Connor Bird again.

As for Laura, she retrieves Cathy's corpse – now partially eaten by Oliver – and cradles it in the pool, as numerous police officers arrive on the scene to arrest her.

Speaking about the ending, Danny Philippou explained that it was "a big thing" that Piper should be responsible for her own escape, rather than relying on help from someone else.

"[It was important] that she can handle herself a little bit and she is quite physical", he explained to RadioTimes.com. "The girl that Piper's based on is a very physical girl, like she fights and wrestles with her brother, and she wouldn't go down without a fight, so that was very important to try and capture.

"But also [it was important that] this is really difficult for Laura to do, that she's struggling with what she has to do, and she's not an inherently evil person. Like, she still has this vulnerable side to her. She still is human. She's struggling with what she's having to do."

Michael added: "And it's that thing... you know, Piper wants to be able to navigate the world, and she has to know that there's good and bad in the world. Andy's only allowing her – because he's the big brother – he only wants her to see the good in life, until he shows her that no it's not just good. There's good and bad.

"She's going to be able to navigate it, which by the end, she's able to do, you know, she accepts both sides of life, and that's the reality of it."

What happens to Oliver at the end of Bring Her Back?

Of course, while Oliver has a happy ending of sorts at the climax of the film – escaping from the control of the demon – it's left unclear what exactly will happen to him and how he'll be affected by the events while he was possessed.

So, what do the Philippous think his future holds?

"I think that he sort of does represent abuse in a way," Danny said of the character. "And that she's turning him into a monster, and he's hurting himself but he's hurting other people, and she's starting this vicious cycle and Andy was also dragged into the cycle of abuse.

"He's someone that – even though he breaks out of that at the end, those scars are going to be with him forever. So he's a really haunting and sad character, but it felt really important to have him have somewhat of a happy ending!"

Bring Her Back is now showing in UK cinemas.

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