Australia's horror twins are back with a new modern gothic
BRING HER BACK ★★★½
(MA) 104 minutes
Adelaide brothers Danny and Michael Philippou have a rare gift for communicating directly with a young audience, as they've demonstrated on YouTube as 'RackaRacka' and more recently as co-directors of the teen horror film Talk To Me, a breakout hit in 2022.
Again scripted by Danny in collaboration with the enigmatic 'Bill Hinzman', their follow-up Bring Her Back looks set to match the success of its predecessor in Australia and beyond, especially given the involvement of British star Sally Hawkins, best-known to the new generation as Paddington's foster mum, and seizing the chance to show her nastier side.
Hawkins' character here is another foster parent, Laura, who comes to the aid of a pair of orphans: Andy (Billy Barratt), who's almost 18 and has a reputation for being trouble, and his significantly younger step-sister Piper (Sora Wong), who he's determined to protect.
Piper, who describes herself as 'partially sighted', can see little beyond colours and shapes – which is the basis for much of the film's suspense as well as its visual trickery, with cinematographer Aaron McLisky often keeping the focus shallow even when we're not literally within Piper's point of view.
As in Talk To Me, the cast is exceptional. Hawkins' performance harks back to her days working with Mike Leigh, yet she blends totally into the setting, not only nailing an Australian accent but playing a credible and specific Australian type (Barratt is British too, incidentally, which I didn't guess while watching).
One of the film's key ploys is that Laura is very much the kind of character Hawkins usually plays – warm, scatty, a bit of a hippie, with a cackling laugh and a way of leaning forward to offer a sympathetic ear. We can see why Piper trusts her, and why Andy is willing to give her a second chance, even after he catches her prying into his phone.
Nor is the friendliness merely a mask. Laura is an original yet horribly recognisable creation, the kind of person who congratulates herself on being a life force, who wears a purple cardigan to a funeral to show what a free spirit she is, and because the event should be a celebration.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Son's intuition reveals Aussie Olympic gold medallist's pregnancy
Australian Winter Olympic gold medallist Torah Bright has announced she is pregnant with her third child. The 38-year-old former snowboarder has two sons with husband Angus Thomson — and she says it was their eldest who first revealed the latest addition. Bright said they are 'so excited' to become a family of five. 'The boys are hyped and so sweet with their baby growing in my belly!' she wrote. On Wednesday, Bright said they are not learning the gender until the baby arrives. 'But I'm feeling a third boy,' she said. The dual Olympic halfpipe medallist also shared that son Flow 'knew I was pregnant before I actually was'. 'A whole month before I conceived, he was telling people I had a baby in my belly,' Bright wrote. 'Maybe he already knows who this little soul is.' If you'd like to view this content, please adjust your . To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide. Bright said younger son Halo has also connected with the baby. 'Every night, Halo falls asleep holding my belly — and every morning, he wakes up and kisses it,' she said. 'Our hearts are expanding, and so is our family. So deeply grateful for this growing love. #PregnancyMagic #IntuitiveKids.' Bright made headlines in 2021 when she uploaded a photo of her breastfeeding baby Flow while performing a handstand to celebrate her first Mother's Day. 'Becoming a mother has unleashed something inside of me,' she wrote in the caption. 'It's deeply spiritual. It's primal. It's raw. it's fierce. It is pure.' The post immediately went viral, prompting Bright to address the negative reaction in a video. Bright shared an Instagram story clarifying the post. Credit: Instagram She said it was 'just a little bit of pure fun' and 'celebrating the bond between mother and child'. She also said she could 'understand how it's not everyone's taste' but lamented the judgement. 'Mothers, we need to encourage each other,' she said in the Instagram video. 'We need to lift each other up. We need to pay each other compliments. 'We need to support each other. We need to be each other's biggest cheerleaders because motherhood is so beautiful, but the reality is we are the only ones who know just how hard those hard moments are. 'And we need to have each other's back. Not compare each other and judge each other, because we all do think so differently. That's why it's so beautiful.' She finished the video by asking: 'But did anyone really think that's how I breastfed?'
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Joy Reid floats speculation that her race, 'anxiety' surrounding Donald Trump played role in MSNBC firing
Ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid spoke out about her show being canceled on Monday, speculating that her race and network "anxiety" surrounding President Donald Trump played a role in her ultimately being fired from the liberal network. "I try not to speculate too much publicly because, again, I can't get inside the minds of other people. But I can tell you what other people have speculated about… There are lots of people at the network who are critical of Donald Trump. I mean, and they're still critical of him, I'm assuming, you know. So I don't think that's [it], but I do know there is a lot of anxiety both there and, I think, in every media. We're seeing it at CBS," she said, referring to Trump's lawsuit against the network over a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Reid spoke with Katie Couric in a video posted on her Substack page and on her YouTube channel. Reid's MSNBC show was canceled earlier this year. "We're seeing it at ABC, where allegedly 'The View' hosts were told not to go so hard on Trump. There's a push for people to, hey, do less Trump. Do more entertainment. Don't be hard on him," the former MSNBC host said, noting reporting that ABC's "The View" hosts were told to tone down their political discussions. Couric pointed out that there was no difference between Reid and liberal hosts Nicolle Wallace or Rachel Maddow, to which Reid responded, "only in one way was I different. I'm a Black woman doing the thing." "I think that there is a difference for Trump in hearing the kinds of criticisms specifically out of a Black woman, it bothers him in a way it doesn't bother him like anything else. He's got this sort of tick about race, you know, and about, sort of criticism coming specifically from a Black woman because we've seen him lay out and dish out real abuse against Black women journalists," Reid said during her conversation with Couric. "I did a specific thing, which was, I tried to constantly unpack the racial history of the country, which is very much against the sort of Project 2025 thing. And it's something I can do in a certain capacity because of my background, because not only am I a Black woman, but I come from immigrant parents who come from what Donald Trump would consider s---hole countries, but that have a take on race that is different," Reid continued. Reid's show was replaced with "The WeekNight", an ensemble program featuring former Kamala Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, and Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair who now staunchly opposes the GOP. MSNBC's new lineup has struggled in its first month, with Psaki shedding half the audience her predecessors averaged in the same timeslot, and with its other new programming struggling to attract viewers. MSNBC and ABC's "The View" did not immediately return requests for comment. Reid said prior to her show's cancellation, she was told that her show was "down less" in ratings than any other MSNBC show, aside from Maddow's. Reid and her former primetime colleagues faced a major ratings decline after Trump won the election. Her show, "The Reidout," shed 47% of its total audience, averaging just 759,000 viewers after averaging 1.4 million viewers throughout 2024 leading up to Election Day, "Our show was down less than any other primetime show. We were down, other than Rachel Maddow, we were down the least. So we were just told that we were holding on pretty well. And, you know, it's not like the ratings have gotten better since I've been gone. So I can tell you, honestly, I even had my exit interview and no one has told me why I was fired. I have no idea," she said. Reid said MSNBC's reasoning was "scripted" and "perfunctory," and explained that she had started being careful on social media. "We were being very careful, and I was trying to be more careful about anything on social media, because I know there was a real anxiety about social media, very much an anxiety about anything on social media," she said. "I don't know, I genuinely was not told." Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn and Brian Flood contributed to this report. Originally published as Joy Reid floats speculation that her race, 'anxiety' surrounding Donald Trump played role in MSNBC firing
7NEWS
2 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Son's intuition reveals Australian Olympic gold medallist Torah Bright's pregnancy
Australian Winter Olympic gold medallist Torah Bright has announced she is pregnant with her third child. The 38-year-old former snowboarder has two sons with husband Angus Thomson — and she says it was their eldest who first revealed the latest addition. Bright said they are 'so excited' to become a family of five. 'The boys are hyped and so sweet with their baby growing in my belly!' she wrote. On Wednesday, Bright said they are not learning the gender until the baby arrives. 'But I'm feeling a third boy,' she said. The dual Olympic halfpipe medallist also shared that son Flow 'knew I was pregnant before I actually was'. 'A whole month before I conceived, he was telling people I had a baby in my belly,' Bright wrote. 'Maybe he already knows who this little soul is.' Bright said younger son Halo has also connected with the baby. 'Every night, Halo falls asleep holding my belly — and every morning, he wakes up and kisses it,' she said. 'Our hearts are expanding, and so is our family. So deeply grateful for this growing love. #PregnancyMagic #IntuitiveKids.' Bright made headlines in 2021 when she uploaded a photo of her breastfeeding baby Flow while performing a handstand to celebrate her first Mother's Day. 'Becoming a mother has unleashed something inside of me,' she wrote in the caption. 'It's deeply spiritual. It's primal. It's raw. it's fierce. It is pure.' The post immediately went viral, prompting Bright to address the negative reaction in a video. She said it was 'just a little bit of pure fun' and 'celebrating the bond between mother and child'. She also said she could 'understand how it's not everyone's taste' but lamented the judgement. 'Mothers, we need to encourage each other,' she said in the Instagram video. 'We need to lift each other up. We need to pay each other compliments. 'We need to support each other. We need to be each other's biggest cheerleaders because motherhood is so beautiful, but the reality is we are the only ones who know just how hard those hard moments are. 'And we need to have each other's back. Not compare each other and judge each other, because we all do think so differently. That's why it's so beautiful.' She finished the video by asking: 'But did anyone really think that's how I breastfed?'
