First Look at the A24/Philippou Brothers’ Upcoming Film: ‘Bring Her Back’

Last Friday, we had the pleasure of previewing a sneak peek of the Philippou Brothers’ upcoming horror film, Bring Her Back.

The legendary Sally Hawkins stars alongside Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, and Jonah Wren Phillips. Bring Her Back follows a brother and sister who uncover a terrifying ritual in the secluded home of their new foster mother.

EVENT

Back again with another gritty tale designed to make you flinch, the Talk to Me directors (The Philippou Brothers) are pushing the envelope once more. This time, they raise the stakes with a story steeped in lore—and absolutely dripping with gore.

The event was held at NeueHouse, where guests were led into a warehouse space lit only by a projector playing eerie footage. The analog horror vibes were immediate, and I was more than ready to see what these two maniacs had cooked up.

SNEAK PEEK

The Brothers introduced two scenes from the film, and—holy cow—they did not disappoint. The first scene was more grounded: a bit of world-building and character introduction. I won’t give away too much, but it definitely had me hooked. When it ended, all I wanted was the rest of the movie.

The second scene, though? That’s when the whole room started peeking through their fingers. If you thought the deaths in Talk to Me were intense, Bring Her Back is ready to top them. The tension was brutal. The sound design especially stood out—elevated and immersive, with some effects reportedly done by the brothers themselves.

THE PHILIPPOU BROTHERS

Danny and Michael Philippou were there in person to introduce the footage and speak about the film, providing informative insight about the production, ranging from how they started to lessons they learned during their directorial debut.

For those unfamiliar, the Philippou Brothers got their start on their YouTube channel RackaRacka, where they created viral videos like ‘STAR WARS in Public’ and the infamously twisted ‘Scary BANNED McDonald’s Ad!’. Their work has racked up over 100 million views.

Many of their early sketches parody horror and genre films, proving not only their love for horror—but also for filmmaking itself. That passion was clear in Talk to Me, and it’s even more palpable in the preview we saw.

After, they directed their first feature, a captivating and extremely intense Talk to Me, which was presented at the Adelaide Film Festival and eventually theaters around the world!

TRAILER

Q&A HIGHLIGHTS

Following the preview, the brothers sat down for a Q&A. Here are some of the questions that were asked:

We’re stoked you guys are here. We know you’re in the middle of finishing this film. Can you talk about where you are in the process?

Philippou Brothers: Yeah, I’d say we’re 95% done. We’ve got some sound design stuff we’re working on, music… and as soon as we land—we go back to Australia tomorrow or the day after—we go straight into the final mix. That’ll be two more weeks of finishing touches sound-wise, and then the movie will be done, which is crazy. It’s been a really wild journey. But I’ve fixated on discovering or playing with sounds people haven’t really heard before. Even with the sequence you just watched, I was chewing on set-coloring to try and get that sound. If we could’ve given the sound design team a reference, I’d be like: “How do we make it sound like someone is actually eating a knife?” And for some reason… I started eating a knife.

Sounds pretty good, though. It’s a pretty hardcore sequence. I was watching your faces. So it’s clear from Talk to Me and now Bring Her Back, from what we’ve seen, you guys really like to use horror to tap into emotions like trauma. Can you talk a little bit about how you came to this particular story? Was there any real-life inspiration?

Philippou Brothers: It’s such a… it’ll always be the first thing I think about. We were in the middle of writing, going back and forth, and my cousin lost her two-year-old. We were in the hospital and I remember seeing her on the bed, hugging her kid. The whole family was around—holding his feet, his hands, his head, his arms. And over time, everyone slowly let go. My cousin was the last one to let him go. And horror—it’s a fun way to look at really dark things like that. The idea that she’d never be okay again after that… that sort of became the inspiration. How far could she go to try and heal from that? The idea of a never-ending grief cycle is terrifying to me. That experience happened while we were writing, and it found its way into the screenplay. It always does, in some way. Horror becomes a way to express those things… in a fun way, hopefully.

Can you talk, from a writing and directing standpoint, about what you learned making Talk to Me that informed how you approached Bring Her Back?

Philippou Brothers: I guess we had the experience of doing a movie before, but honestly, it still felt just as scary and unknown. When we first got on set for Talk to Me, even the crew didn’t really take us seriously. And to be fair, we didn’t totally know what we were doing either. This time around, the pressure was so much more intense. You don’t want to let people down—there’s more at stake. But everything you think you’ve learned goes out the window, and it feels like you’re drowning again. But in the end, it’s finally coming together. We’re really happy with how it turned out. We’re excited to show you all. And Sally Hawkins—oh my god. I didn’t think she’d say yes. We sent her the script and she got back to us straight away, said she loved it, connected with it. I was like, What?! Even while writing, I was obsessed with old-school psychological horror—Bette Davis, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, those really big performances. So the idea of getting this incredible character actor like Sally to take this on… that was huge. And she’s never done horror before! This was her first horror film. But from our first call, we knew she’d be perfect. And on set—she’s amazing. Just so committed. She’d stay in character between takes. Sometimes we were like, “Do we even give her a note? I love you?” (laughs) She’s from the UK, she’s been here a while… but yeah, she’s just incredible.

Let’s talk about some of the less experienced actors in the movie. Billy Barratt plays Andy and Sora Wong plays Piper. They have this amazing, natural sibling chemistry. Can you talk about the casting process, especially for Sora—it’s her first time acting, right?

Philippou Brothers: Yeah! It was so important to find an actual vision-impaired actor. We reached out to those communities and met with a bunch of kids, and the pool is really small. We did this exercise—created a scenario, had them improv, and Sora just blew everyone away. She second-guessed herself a lot, but we watched her transform through the film. Day one, she’d never acted before. By the final day, she was a seasoned pro. She had walls up—like “I can’t sing on camera,” or “I don’t think I can cry on camera.” But by the end, she’s bawling her eyes out, dancing and singing at the wrap party. It was amazing. We tried to shoot as chronologically as possible, so that the characters were unfolding with the actors. We saved the more intense scenes for the end, when they were more confident. And Billy Barratt—he’s an award-winning actor. We knew he’d be great. He came to Australia, nailed the accent. Just amazing. The kid who plays Oliver—his name’s Jon. His parents are actors, so he comes from that world. He had some really intense scenes, and he just nailed it. He’s also a musician—plays guitar—and he’s a boy fighter. He’s like ten years old! Such a powerhouse.

You mentioned Sora being partially sighted. From a writing perspective, how did that change the survival stakes for Piper?

Philippou Brothers: We have a friend whose sister is partially sighted, and she was at this crossroads—she wanted to take the bus alone, have that experience. And the parents were trying to balance protecting her and giving her freedom. She told us, “I’m glad I don’t have to see. I don’t have to see the bad things in the world.” That line stuck with us. It became a part of the film’s DNA, threaded throughout. Also,  Sora has an amazing singing voice. She’s actually doing vocals in the film, part of the soundtrack.

As you saw in the Oliver scene, the practical effects and gore in this movie are intense. You’ve always leaned into that—why do you think that is?

Philippou Brothers: Honestly, one of the reasons we got into filmmaking was seeing behind the scenes of old-school practical horror. It blew our minds—these traumatic scenes were fake, they were fun! The challenge of pulling off a scene that’s never been done before, or an effect that hasn’t been seen—it’s so exciting. Like with Riley’s eye in Talk to Me, we built a side of his face so we could practically get in there and mess around. It’s fun, but also a way to explore darker themes. That eye scene—people were covering their faces. We had all kinds of prosthetics, dummies, fake heads we could stab through. You come to set with one idea, but you adjust constantly, try new things. It’s all about attacking it from different angles and piecing it together. And I promise you—this isn’t even the most intense thing in the movie. It gets way more hardcore.

Can you talk about the imagery of the rituals and mythology we’re seeing?

Philippou Brothers: That’s such a fun part of writing—creating your own lore. We did it with Talk to Me, and we’re doing it here too. We love not over-explaining things—just leaving clues and letting audiences piece it together. There’s a ritual tape, and a character who looks back at childhood footage as a way of processing grief. Then there’s the inverted version of that—a darker way of coping. That’s what plays out in the house.

Audience Question: While writing, do you ever think: Are we going too far? Will people like this?

Philippou Brothers: Totally. There’s always a line—and then you pull it back in drafts or in editing. We had early versions of Talk to Me that were so messed up they were basically unfilmable. But honestly, it’s more about expressing something real. We watch horror to be shocked, to be horrified—and we like the idea that no one’s safe. No one’s immune. It keeps the stakes real.

Audience Question: Hi! I’m a YouTuber and an actress trying to break into film. You guys are so inspiring. How do you keep the scenes feeling so raw and not over-rehearsed? Any tips?

Philippou Brothers: Great question! A big part of our process is building history between the actors. Even for scenes that aren’t in the film, we’ll improvise them to give the characters backstory. Like, we had Sally and another actor spend a day in character going shopping. Or we had Billy and Sora go to a football game as siblings to build that bond. We also throw curveballs on set—like give one actor a different direction and let everyone else respond in the moment. That creates really genuine reactions. And we let actors interpret dialogue in their own voices. Especially for kids—it has to sound like something _actually say. That keeps it authentic.

Final question—there’s definitely connective tissue between Talk to Me and Bring Her Back. Both deal with possession and crossing over. What does that mean to you?

Philippou Brothers: We developed both films at the same time, and were inspired by similar things. We’ve always been obsessed with The Exorcist. The idea of something else inhabiting a body—that’s terrifying. It’s about exploring those big questions: How far would you go to bring someone back? What would grief make you do? Right before preproduction started, we found out a close family friend passed away—he was only 23. That grief was so raw, and we had no time to process it. So it found its way into the script. Scenes that were designed to be scary became sad. And that’s just part of the process. Whatever you’re feeling—it’s gonna show up in the work.

BRING HER BACK