When Danny and Michael Philippou drop something, you pay attention. The Australian YouTubers-turned-genre-wunderkinds shook the horror scene with Talk to Me. Naturally, when I got the invite to a special A24 event in Los Angeles to see two exclusive scenes from their follow-up feature , Bring Her Back, I showed up like my life depended on it. Because maybe it did.
Talk to Me was truly personal for me. When I escaped Russia and was prepping my second short, The Power of the Strike (a Dread Central exclusive, check it out), I saw the Philippous’ debut feature at its European premiere in Berlin, my jaw unhinged, and then immediately booked another screening. I was obsessed not just with the film’s merciless tension and visceral sound design, but also with the Philippous themselves. These guys get horror. They love horror. And they know how to make you suffer beautifully. That energy is contagious.
Now, this energy is back, and judging by what I saw, the brothers may have outdone themselves.
So what did I see? Pure, unhinged terror.
The two scenes were packed with what makes their work so special: tactile, practical effects, eerie kids, and gut-wrenching horror grounded in emotional devastation. The two scenes I watched start off deceptively grounded, something that could pass for an European kitchen-sink family drama. But don’t get comfortable. Because what begins as something intimate quickly spirals into something really fucked up.
The eerie kid from the new poster? Yeah, we see exactly why he’s unsettling. And then there’s the acting—disturbing, raw, unnerving. Oh, and this time, they’ve got Sally Hawkins. The Philippous gushed about her performance, citing their love for “big Hollywood” turns like Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Vera Miles in Psycho. They wanted something grand, theatrical. And from the glimpses I caught? Mission accomplished.
The directors flew in from Australia just to share this footage with a couple dozen lucky souls. “95% of the film is done,” they said. “After this, we’re heading straight back to do the final mix.”
What exactly is Bring Her Back about?
That’s still mostly a mystery. A24 just dropped the trailer, but we’re still in the dark on key plot details. What we do know is that it dives into witchcraft, specifically resurrection rituals. But the Philippous didn’t just make this up in a vacuum. “We interviewed people who actually believe in resurrection,” they revealed. “But at the same time, we didn’t want to stick too much to it. We wanted to create our own mythology.”
Interestingly, they wrote the script while working on Talk to Me, so expect some familiar DNA: demonic possession, fractured families, and fresh, gut-punching ways to explore grief. But according to the brothers, Bring Her Back is “more grounded.” Which, coming from them, is both comforting and deeply concerning.
Mark your calendars.
On May 30, 2025, I’ll be front row, bracing for impact. If these two scenes were any indication, Bring Her Back is about to become another horror hit.
P.S. The resurrection ritual footage? Absolutely jaw-dropping.
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