Talk to Me, the feature debut from Australian Youtubers-turned-filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, was in many ways the model of a first film. This is not to say that it was amateurish— on the contrary, it was one of the most assured horror debuts in recent years. What I mean is that, watching it, you can sense the giddy head rush of the first-time filmmaker, the thrill that comes with the possibility of the format (this exuberance extends to the Philippous themselves, who were practically jumping up and down in their seats when I interviewed them in 2023). Indeed, the Brattle used Talk to Me as the inspiration for their “Thrill Ride Horror” series, programming it alongside such high-octane frightfests as Barbarian and Malignant. Talk to Me is a thrill ride, and an exceptionally crafted one at that.
The Philippous’ sophomore feature, Bring Her Back, is just as assured as its predecessor, but it probably won’t inspire many “thrill ride” repertory series; it would be far more at home in Bleak Week. Bring Her Back is a nasty little piece of work, as emotionally punishing as Talk to Me is infectiously entertaining. Whether you’ll be able to hang with it likely depends on your tolerance for grim, but one thing is clear: the brothers Philippou are the real deal.
Bring Her Back lets you know what kind of movie it is early on, as teen step-siblings Piper and Andy (Sora Wong and Billy Barrat) discover their father naked and dead in the shower. The pair are tough to place in the foster system— Piper is blind, and Andy has a history of instability— but they seemingly find a savior in Laura (Sally Hawkins). Laura is, at first blush, a perfect fit; she’s kind and effervescent, and her own late daughter was also blind. But the more Andy gets to know Laura, the more he suspects something is not quite right with his new foster mother, who is at once smotheringly attentive and blithely oblivious to his wellbeing. Then there’s the matter of Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips, in an instant hall-of-famer bad-vibes-kid performance), Laura’s other foster child, who spends his days silently lurking and occasionally torturing small animals. The longer they stay in Laura’s home, the more Andy is convinced they need to find a way out— as soon as possible.
It’s raining constantly in Bring Her Back; the color palette is green-gray and muted, the heavy weather providing an oppressive atmosphere which amplifies the sense of foreboding doom. This is, of course, on top of the truly upsetting horrors which befall our young heroes at every turn, both psychological and (extremely) physical. In short, Bring Her Back is probably nobody’s idea of a good time at the movies— but, for a film of this nature, that can hardly qualify as a demerit. What the Philippous have done here is craft a mood so thick and dark that it practically drips off the screen. I can’t say I walked out of the theater with a smile on my face (as I did for Talk To Me, bummer ending and all), but it did take me a good long while to shake the damn thing, and that’s gotta count for something.
The film’s most distinctive aspect is perhaps Hawkins, who is as cannily deployed here as Hugh Grant was in last year’s Heretic. Like Grant in that film, Hawkins isn’t so much playing against type so much as she is weaponizing her type against the viewer. We are, after all, conditioned to fall in love with Sally Hawkins at first sight. She’s Poppy Cross! Paddington’s mum! Mrs. Shape of Water! Yet for all her sunny disposition— particularly striking in a film so unremittingly cloudy— we clock early on that Laura is not quite right, posing for a selfie with Piper while deliberately blocking Andy out of the frame. She’s also, occult machinations or no, a comically terrible mother figure, drastically overstepping the boundaries of these two grieving children who she’s just met. There are a few moves Laura pulls, particularly during the father’s funeral, which I’m genuinely not sure whether they’re a part of her overarching plan or if she truly thinks she’s doing what’s best for the kids— and I’m not sure which scenario would be more horrifying.
But Hawkins’ daring performance is probably not what you’ll be walking away thinking about; your brain will be too full of the film’s many truly horrid set pieces. The Philippous, born as they are of the shock-friendly world of viral stunt videos, know when to lean into a scare— and keep leaning in. The film’s flashes of body horror are all underlined with drippy practical effects and some truly nauseating sound design, and they just don’t stop. There is one gag toward the middle of the film— you’ll know the one if you see it— which prompted at least three walkouts from my preview screening, something I can’t remember the last time I saw.
Of course, when it comes to oppressively bad vibes and god-level mommy issues, the standard-bearer remains Ari Aster’s Hereditary, a hurdle which the Philippous, like most working filmmakers, are unable to quite clear. Part of that is, of course, familiarity; we are by now more than a decade into the current cycle of “elevated horror,” and muted color palettes and heavy themes of familial trauma are as de rigeur as masked killers picking off camp counselors were in the ‘80s. But one also senses that the brothers Philippou are perhaps a tick too young to land this sort of heavy exploration of grief; the trauma is affecting, but it’s very much Movie Trauma, and it’s hard to get the sense that it’s grown from something genuine. I would be interested to see the Philippous return to this territory once they’ve done a little more living, and how much more fleshed out their characters might be.
Still, even if the powers of Bring Her Back are surface-level, they pack a mighty punch. This is a masterful bit of anti-entertainment, filled with more un-unseeable images than you’re likely to see all summer (though those with a weak stomach for depictions of child endangerment and abuse probably ought to stay home, full stop). One of the exciting things about living through the continuing horror boom is catching glimpses of new filmmakers at the ground floor of their careers. Two films in, I’m fairly confident the brothers Philippou will be around for some time.
Bring Her Back
2025
dir. Danny & Michael Philippou
99 min.
Opens Friday, 5/30 @ Coolidge Corner Theatre, Somerville Theatre, Kendall Square Cinema, Apple Cinemas Cambridge, and all local multiplexes
