Latest news with #DannyPhilippou
Forbes
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
When Is New Horror Thriller ‘Bring Her Back' Coming To Streaming?
Sally Hawkins in "Bring Her Back." Bring Her Back — A24's new horror thriller starring Sally Hawkins from the directors of the horror hit Talk to Me — is now in theaters. When will it be available to stream at home? Directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, Bring Her Back opened in theaters on May 30. The logline for the film reads, 'A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.' In addition to Hawkins (Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water), Bring Her Back also stars Billy Barratt (Kraven the Hunter), Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Stephen Phillips and Mischa Heywood. Rated R, Bring Her Back opened in theaters on May 30 and came in at No. 5 in its debut weekend at the domestic box office with $7 million in ticket sales from 2,409 North American theaters. When Bring Her Back comes to the home entertainment marketplace, it will first make its debut on digital streaming via premium video on demand. Typically it takes films released by A24 a month between the time they arrive in theaters to the time they debut on PVOD, give or take a few days. For example, Nicole Kidman's erotic thriller Babygirl opened in theaters on Dec. 25, 2024, and debuted on PVOD just over a month later on Jan. 28. In addition, the Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd's horror thriller Death of a Unicorn premiered in theaters on March 28 and pivoted to PVOD just over a month later on April 29. Also, directors Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza's war drama Warfare premiered in theaters on April 11 and arrived on PVOD about three and a half weeks later on May 6. If Bring Her Back follows the same release pattern as A24's Babygirl, Death of Unicorn and Warfare, then viewers can expect the film to arrive on PVOD anytime between July 1 and July 8, since new films on PVOD generally are released on Tuesdays. Since A24 has a deal with Max to stream its films first, the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming platform will be the first to offer Bring Her Back on streaming video on demand. Typically it takes about four months before A24's theatrical releases arrive on Max, which will revert to the streamer's original name, HBO Max, sometime this summer. For example, A24's horror thriller Heretic opened in theaters on Nov. 8, 2024, and debuted on SVOD on Max just under four months later on March 7. Also, Babygirl, which opened in theaters on Dec. 25, 2024, and arrived on SVOD on Max exactly four months later on April 25. If Bring Her Back follows the same release pattern as Heretic and Babygirl, then viewers can expect the film to arrive on SVOD on Max sometime between Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, since new films generally debut on Max on Fridays. Bring Her Back is now in theaters.
News.com.au
a day ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Aussie film Bring Her Back called one of the best horror movies of the year
A new Australian horror film has left viewers terrifyingly glued to their seats. Bring Her Back has cinemagoers both disturbed and impressed by the movie, which stars British actress and two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins as a foster parent who takes in two orphaned children after the death of her own child. The horror flick is directed by the same duo behind the widely acclaimed 2022 Aussie supernatural thriller Talk to Me. Twins Michael Philippou and Danny Philippou wowed the industry when they went from YouTube pranksters known as RackaRack to filmmakers who raked in a cool $143 million at the global box office for Talk to Me, their debut film. And now they're back with this psychological thriller filmed in Adelaide that they've described as 'harrowing, traumatic and fun'. 'We wanted to do something different from talk to me. It's still a horror film but it's more psychological,' Michael said in a promo teaser. 'I always knew Bring Her Back was the next film I wanted to make next. I was excited doing a character study and a psycho-biddy film,' added Danny. 'My hope is that audience go away saying it's a horror movie but why am I emotionally moved by this too?' Michael shared, as Danny teased, 'There's some f***ed up s**t in this film.' The audience agrees, with many saying the film has stayed with them long after leaving the cinema. 'The sombre quietness of everyone in the theatre walking out of Bring Her Back was something else. What a movie,' one tweeted on X, as another added, 'Saw the movie bring her back last night & it might be one of the best horror films i've seen so far in the past couple years.' 'I mean wow,' tweeted another viewer. 'I'm absolutely speechless right now and I was NOT ready for just how harrowing and devastating this movie can be. the brothers have done it once again and they've impressed me beyond my expectations. 10/10.' And this from another viewer: 'Holy F**k! So I went to see A24's Bring Her Back. Brought to you by the same guys who did Talk to Me. Talk to Me was pretty good, but this movie is one of the darkest and most intense movies I've ever seen!' 'Just seen bring her back. Good movie but I'm traumatised,' concluded another fan. Bring Her Back has also been praised by critics, earning glowing reviews and an 89 per cent 'fresh' score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie has you hooked from the very first scene that features grainy VHS footage from an intense cult ritual, and the film cuts back to this grisly scene every so often. Hawkins' character Laura is stellar as the chillingly creepy foster parent who welcomes Andy (Billy Barrett) and his visually impaired sister Piper (Sora Wong) to her secluded house in suburban Australia. As it turns out, Laura's biological child Cathy, who was also visually impaired, mysteriously died too long ago, and it soon becomes apparent that she has sinister plans for Piper. 'We love Sally Hawkins and were so honoured to be able to work with her,' Danny said of their leading lady. 'She lived and breathed this character. The process of her was so incredible. She gave a part of her soul for this character and when she went there, she went there. And the crew were terrified of her and so was I.'
News.com.au
a day ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Bring Her Back official movie trailer
Aussie filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou's new movie Bring Her Back has been called one of the best horror films of the year.
Digital Trends
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Bring Her Back's Danny & Michael Philippou on how horror can ‘exercise your demons'
Danny and Michael Philippou may have started on YouTube, but they are not social media influencers. Don't get it twisted. The Philippou brothers are legitimate filmmakers who hit a home run with their 2022 feature film directorial debut, Talk to Me. On a budget of $4.5 million, Talk to Me grossed $92 million worldwide, A24's highest-grossing horror film. Instead of pursuing projects in other genres, the Philippous stayed in horror for their sophomore feature, Bring Her Back. After the death of their father, Andy (Billy Barratt) and his visually impaired younger sister, Piper (Sora Wong), move into the home of their new foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins). Laura tries to be their friend first and foremost. However, Laura is hiding a sinister secret behind closed doors. The key to uncovering the truth might lie with Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a mute boy who exhibits unsettling behavior. Bring Her Back does not skimp on the violence and gore. It's disturbing and upsetting. However, the Philippous smartly snuck an emotional drama about grief at the center of their supernatural horror. Recommended Videos Below, the Philippou brothers discuss why horror is the 'best way to exorcise your demons' and how they bring out the best in their young cast. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Digital Trends: How was the premiere? Danny Philippou: It was amazing. It was incredible having everyone there, and it was just the best vibe. With YouTube, you put out videos and wait for feedback through comments and messages. At a premiere, people can literally walk right up to you and tell you what they thought. How does it feel to receive that instantaneous feedback? Danny: My gosh. The buildup to it feels like a really long YouTube video. It feels like you've been working on a YouTube video for two years, and you're premiering for the first time. It's terrifying. Michael Philippou: So much anxiety leading up. As soon as we walked up to the theater, and all those people came to watch it — we had the cast there — it was an incredible experience. Such amazing energy in that cinema. People who love movies come in to watch something together. It's awesome. Danny: It is a weird thing interacting with people right after that. They have an experience. We had to go to dinner because one of the cast members was too young to watch it. We had dinner and came back. It's so weird. They [the audience] have gone through something. They're talking about it. The vibes were really incredible. What's your most memorable movie theater experience? Danny: We watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when we were, like, 10 years old. Our dad's friend Jenny would take us to watch these MA 15+ movies, which is like America's R. She was like, 'They're OK. They're old enough. They're all right.' And so I felt so cool that I got to go watch these films. We went to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Michael was the biggest coward. [Laughs] He was so scared. He left the cinema and ran out. I was humiliated. Michael: Yeah, I literally felt sick. I thought I'd never get scared by anything, and that really scared me. When she's stabbing the friend hanging from the meat hook, I'm like, 'Oh my god!' It said, 'Inspired by true events.' I was like, 'This happened!' I ran out. It was terrifying. Danny: It's a rite of passage to be terrified by a movie when you're younger. Michael: In American film culture, there's so much more passion. In Australia, it's not really anything like that. We went to the John Wick 4 premiere at SXSW. Someone [in the movie] is like, 'You need a gun,' and John Wick is like, 'Yeah.' [Screams] The crowd is like, 'Yeah!' [Laughs] Danny: New York and LA, every time we come out here, I just want to go to the cinema and watch movies with people because I fucking love it. That's what it feels like seeing an Avengers: Endgame or a Spider-Man movie. People are running up and down the rows going crazy. Did you see The Substance? Danny: I did watch The Substance. When it ended, my whole theater was silent. There were maybe 30 or 40 people. For one minute, no one talked or move. This guy turned around and said, 'Is everyone OK?' Danny and Michael: [Laughs] The whole theater erupts in laughter. It was a perfect icebreaker. Thankfully someone said it because we had no idea what to do. Danny: That's wicked. Michael: Awesome. With horror, what makes it such a good vessel to tell a story about grief? Danny: It's the best way to exorcise your demons. You feel like you're carrying stuff on your shoulders, and you've got this weight. It's just somewhere to place it, somewhere to put it, and somewhere to disconnect from it. There's a cathartic part of it. It's the purest thing of expression. It doesn't have to be hitting you over the head with a message. You can express something in a really visceral way. It's not a one-on-one analogy … horror allows you to dive into really, really dark themes in a fun way. Talk to Me and Bring Her Back both tackle grief. They deal with how people cope with tragedies. Two movies, but they align thematically. How do you group these two movies? Do you see them as a pair? Is one an extension of the other? Danny: Because we developed and wrote them at the same time, Bring Her Back feels like a spiritual successor or a sister film to Talk to Me. That's what it feels like to me. I feel like they're siblings. Michael: Once Talk to Me finished, it felt like we hadn't gotten that out of our system. Thematically, there was still stuff to explore. There was enough there that if we didn't make it, it would always stay in our minds. It's one of those things where once a movie gets in your head, it won't leave your head until you make it. You get it out into the world, and then it becomes real. Danny: Yeah, it's so odd. It was such an awesome place to put things because we had a loss right at the start of the film. We lost somebody, a family friend. The script changed. Things changed. Everything turned. This [Bring Her Back] was somewhere to put that and come to terms with it. We also didn't have time to reflect on the movie. We delivered it, and then straightaway we're on a flight to America to start promoting it. I haven't even watched it properly back. It was such a surreal thing. I like how you put it in the notes, Danny. The creation of Laura was a character you 'uncomfortably sympathize with.' I never found myself rooting for her per se, but I can somewhat rationalize why a broken person would do whatever it takes to get by and keep living. In developing Laura, how did you balance her nefarious actions with her more humane elements? Danny: It was always important that Laura's struggling with what she's doing. It's not something she outwardly wants to do. Always looking at it from a human perspective and making sure that it feels real and lived in. A big part of the writing process is making sure that the film can exist as a drama film. Then, the horror elements can grow out of that. Having a performer like Sally Hawkins brings such weight to these sort of roles. She brings such realism to it. That automatically helps bring that to life. She was good at toeing the line. It's a weird thing in the script. Does this feel contradictory? If you don't nail these beats in a super subtle way, it's going to feel contradictory. With a performer like Sally, she's able to bring that to life in such an awesome way. That scene where she's standing by the window with blood all over and looking at Ollie, the camera starts to move in a circle. That was like my aha moment in the movie. I'm like, 'OK. I now know what she really wants to do.' Take me through building that scene. Danny: She's on this screwed-up cycle. She's pulling these kids into this demented circle she's got. She's going in circles, and grief sometimes feels like that. It feels never-ending. It feels like you always end up on the first step. There are a bunch of different themes that we're trying to convey. What's the most visual way possible? I don't want dialogue. I want to be able to show this and feel this visually, having the camera movement tie into that. Also, the sound design and the score, using all those speakers, I want to pull the audience into it. Those circular motifs were in the sound design and in the music. Michael: We gave the script to our composer, Cornel [Wilczek], and he created these two pieces that were like 10-minute ideas of what the sound should be. That part where she's doing the circle, that was one of the moments in the music. It was perfect. That was his representation of it. It was so perfect. That was like, OK, let's work with this, and let's find out what this is. That's when the camera movement and all that came together. Danny: You have the music, and you're listening to it, and you're reading the script. It's such a valuable tool to have on set. That was something that we changed from Talk to Me, which had the music at the end of the process. Having that at the beginning in pre-production and having that music when we edit while we're on set helped the process so much. Having the actors be able to listen to it creates such a mood. Michael: [Making circular movement] That camera movement is hard. There's one guy on this rig, and it's like three people controlling it. You've got to try and keep it straight each way. Danny: There's someone on the wheel focused on the pull. Michael: [Laughs] Yeah, it was hard. You've worked with a younger cast in two movies. Obviously, you have Sally, but you also have three awesome young kids in this movie. There are things you can say and do around an adult that you wouldn't necessarily do around young people. What have you learned about working with a younger cast and how to direct them on set? Danny: Obviously, an important part of the process is having their parents on set, having them be comfortable, and letting them know that there's no such thing as a bad take. There's no such thing as a bad performance. Whatever you need to do to feel comfortable, you can do. You don't have to stick to this dialogue. If it doesn't feel right or it doesn't feel natural, how would you say it? How would you do it? Collaborating with them and letting them bring their voices into it — that is the end result for all of the actors. You can pick the costume. You can dress the set. Collaborating with them as artists and allowing them to express themselves as well. With someone like Sora, who is vision impaired and can bring another layer to the script that we couldn't have possibly written, that's an amazing part of the process. They're [the child actors] so open and a bit more raw because they're not fully pretending. They are themselves. I think that's a cool part of the process. Michael: And keeping it fun, keeping the energy on the set. You're dealing with such a heavy subject matter. … It's keeping it fun and light and getting into these headspaces for specific scenes. The kids would sometimes put too much pressure on themselves, thinking, 'Oh my god. This movie, I've got to make sure it's right.' All of that doesn't matter. All these cameras, all these people around — it doesn't matter. Do what you did in the audition and put yourself in this moment and feel this emotion. Let's get that. We have time. We're not going to rush it. It's not one-and-done. We'll work with you. Let's just make this moment feel real and genuine. There was an amazing transformation. Sora, who had never acted before, from the beginning of the film to the end, was incredible to watch. She's amazing. Danny: Even with Sally, there are certain scenes she was nervous building up to where she's like, 'I don't know if I can pull this off. I don't know if that's right.' If we need to come back and shoot it, even though we don't have the budget or money, we will find a time to come back and shoot it. Let's try and tackle these scenes head-on. Whatever lets people feel comfortable, we try to accommodate. A24's Bring Her Back is now in theaters.
CBC
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Bring Her Back proves even great horrors aren't horrifying anymore
Do movies have the ability to scare us anymore? This is not a question of whether they can disturb us. The early 2000s evolution to violence-based endurance cinema via Saw, Hostel and The Human Centipede proved we still cringe at the worst depictions of gore. The more recent turn to cultural commentary via horror metaphor — as seen in The Substance, Sinners and The Invisible Man — proves we are still at least passingly interested in horror as a vehicle for something deeper. After all, what's more cutting than to suggest that racism, colonialism and misogyny are the actual boogeymen of today — and that these, unlike vampires, are shockingly real? But for those films that still try to achieve the genre's original goal of making us shudder at what goes bump in the night, perhaps their work is cut out for them. That includes Michael and Danny Philippou's new A24 production, Bring Her Back. The follow-up to their 2022 viral smash Talk To Me, it's a visually beautiful and cinematically stylish outing, though it may be better viewed as a blood-drenched drama rather than pure horror. Another supernatural thriller à la The Exorcist, its slick excesses are sure to garner critical and audience approval, even if one can effectively guess at the general beats of its possession plot about 15 minutes after its unfortunate stars amble in together. WATCH | Bring Her Back trailer: That's because, like its recent predecessors, Bring Her Back isn't among the meta-fictional outcropping of horrors. Those offerings — like Ready or Not, Cabin in the Woods or Happy Death Day — eschew fear entirely, to instead cleverly point out, and joyfully subvert, just how formulaic the genre has become. Instead, as its marketing would suggest, Bring Her Back goes for something closer to horror's increasingly elusive original promise. Following blind teen Piper (Sora Wong) and step-brother Andy (Billy Barratt) shortly after the death of their father, the "her" of Bring Her Back 's title takes a bit of doing to get to. First, we're greeted by manically kind foster mother Laura (Sally Hawkins), her creepily mute foster son Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) and her deeply unsettling stuffed dog. But as Laura bristles at Andy's plan to apply for guardianship of his sister when he turns 18, the foreboding atmosphere quickly ramps up. There's something wrong with Oliver; his dead-eyed stare and attempts to wrestle with their cat can't be right. There's something off with Andy; his bed-wetting, dead-to-the-world drooling sleep and hallucinations of his dead father suggest as much. And most of all, there's something worrying with Laura; her thinly disguised obsession with Piper — and even less disguised disapproval of Andy — is clearly covering something more sinister. There is a creeping, malevolent wrongness in that house, bubbling up from just barely beneath the surface. Though, again, all but the most horror-averse will likely piece together what's hiding under that surface no longer than about 10 minutes after the character archetypes establish themselves. There is the innocent lamb here, the penitent but sin-stained martyr there, and the ill-advised deals with the devil that can only ever go one way for those foolish enough to enter into them. That's compounded by an ending that feels like a step back from the edge, an at-once predictable yet vaguely disappointing finale that undercuts its own message. This kind of failsafe turn, while something of a relief from the unrelentingly dour atmosphere up until then, also feels like the Philippous are unable to trust that their audience knows what kind of movie they've agreed to. But this type of ending is not rare for mainstream horror, a genre that isn't quite willing to alienate all but its most die-hard fans. And it also isn't enough to ruin what has come already, predictable as it may be. It at least occasionally shocks through the gore, namely through its blood-drenched, toothy crunches — almost more horrifying when you hold your hands in front of your face to be assaulted solely by the sound. Unsettling cinema However, overall — through both its atmosphere and the dare-you-to-watch marketing — Bring Her Back means to unsettle. It is overwhelmingly the strategy of the modern, "straight-scary" movie. Films that, at least on their face, exist solely to push us to imagine things that make real life pale in comparison — that are so awfully, bitterly, shockingly unsettling we check under the bed before going to sleep — are vanishingly few now. Or more accurately, vanishingly effective. That's likely due to the same reason that flashing ankles or showing married couples sleeping in the same bed is unlikely to titillate or provoke nowadays. We are so inundated with real-life stories of horrors — and so used to the once-new medium of cinema that our cognition is evolving with it — that actually scaring adults who are looking for fear has become a virtually impossible dragon to slay. That doesn't mean conjuring fear is forever out of filmmakers' reach: There are always the infrequent watchers, still spooked easily enough to increase the hype around new releases. And the trite jump scare — of which Bring Her Back thankfully is mostly absent — is an easy gimmick to make most watchers flinch. But for the vast swaths of other mainstream straight horrors, there's really only one strategy going forward. Oz Perkins used it in his bait-and-switch crime drama Long Legs, as did Kyle Edward Ball for the ingeniously confusing Skinamarink: It's to openly lie in your ads. To use viral marketing and social media to promise the most unsettling theatrical experience of your life; to assure audiences that they'll scarcely be able to sit through the stunningly suspenseful agony without screaming, passing out or running for the exit. Audiences aren't the delicate, ankle-sensitive viewers they once were. So filmmakers have to instead aim to trigger similar — though still distinct — emotions in them to at least pretend to deliver on their marketed promise. Whether shame, disgust, pity or just general discomfort, more and more, true horror movies opt to act as violation simulators to elicit the visceral reactions that draw people in. That is overwhelmingly true of Bring Her Back, a horror touted as eminently scary, but which is more eminently unsettling for how forcefully it makes its audiences sit through the various violations of social contracts and basic trust. Piper, our blind character, is repeatedly lied to about her surroundings by those she relies on to tell the truth. Andy's hulking masculinity is routinely used against him, as characters purposely misrepresent his behaviour as violent and threatening. And the most basic social contract — that adults should protect children — is so consistently and totally violated it becomes the uncomfortable thesis upon which the entire narrative rests. It's a dominant and unrelenting theme that, while not triggering fear, makes you squirm nonetheless. It is a strange but common thing, then, to say that though it is not really frightening, Bring Her Back is one of the best modern horror movies in ages.
