If you pay attention to A24 movies, you know they are no stranger to making some of the best horror films. The company tends to make flicks that cut deeper than just jump scares, and their latest project, Bring Her Back—the next supernatural thriller from Talk to Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou—looks to continue that legacy. The newly released teaser for the 2025 movie release seems to prove that too, as it is packed with seriously unsettling footage giving major Stephen King vibes. Honestly, I think this will be this generation’s Pet Sematary.
Now, before we get into why I think this film gives off that energy, take a look at the teaser trailer:
As you can see above, the haunting trailer features creepy imagery, cryptic dialogue, and a sense of doom. But the theme is clear at its core: Someone is being brought back, and it’s not going to end well.
The Pet Sematary Parallels Bring Her Back Has
The official logline for Bring Her Back, as reported by Variety, teases a story about a brother and sister uncovering a horrifying ritual in their foster mother’s home. However, if the teaser is anything to go by, this isn’t just about discovering something sinister—it’s about trying to undo the unthinkable.
There’s something primal about horror films that deal with grief and the desperation to bring back the ones we’ve lost. Talk to Me tapped into this beautifully with its depiction of teenagers communing with spirits for a high, but Bring Her Back looks to go one step further—from contact to resurrection.
Beyond the overarching theme of resurrection, Bring Her Back drops some not-so-subtle nods to Pet Sematary as well:
- The Cat Imagery: The teaser opens with a cat eating from an A24-branded bowl—possibly just a cheeky Easter egg, but given Pet Sematary’s infamous undead feline Church, it’s hard not to make the connection. In King’s story, Church (one of the best cinematic cats) is the first sign that the dead don’t return the same. Could the cat in Bring Her Back serve a similar function? A harbinger of something far worse?
- The Ritual Element: While Pet Sematary features an ancient burial ground with dark powers, Bring Her Back appears to involve a more structured, possibly occult-based resurrection ritual. A prayer circle seen in the teaser suggests that these characters aren’t just mourning the dead—they’re trying to retrieve them.
- The Unraveling Horror: The trailer builds from grief to outright terror, featuring disturbing glimpses of a decayed figure seemingly coming back to life and Sally Hawkins bloodied hands clawing at glass. Much like Pet Sematary’s Timmy Baterman or Gage Creed’s horrifying return, it looks like Bring Her Back will lean into the nightmare of resurrecting someone who no longer belongs in this world.
Basically, based on all this, I think it's safe to say that Bring Her Back could be this generation's Pet Sematary.
Why Bring Her Back Will Be A Cautionary Tale for a New Generation
With their upcoming horror movie, the Philippou brothers seem poised to deliver another emotionally charged terror story—this time with a fresh twist on the dangers of resurrection.
Their breakout hit, Talk to Me, cleverly reworked the possession trope by tying it to Gen Z’s casual approach to drug use, using the embalmed hand as a metaphor for addiction and the consequences of playing recklessly with forces beyond control. Talk to Me was one of the scariest movies in a long time, but it was also about the dangers of chasing a high without considering the cost.
Bring Her Back could take that same approach, but this time by joining the ranks of horror flicks that meaningfully deal with grief–exploring what happens when people become addicted to the idea of reversing death itself.
Instead of an ancient burial ground like in Pet Sematary, the Bring Her Back teaser shows an occult ritual, perhaps offering a structured, almost transactional way to bring someone back. And if Talk to Me showed how addiction spreads like wildfire through peer pressure, could Bring Her Back explore a similar idea—where one act of resurrection leads to even darker consequences?
The Philippou brothers proved with Talk to Me that they could take a well-worn horror trope and make it feel fresh, modern, and terrifying. With Bring Her Back, they might do the same for the resurrection horror subgenre. So, yeah, I think they’re about to give Pet Sematary a run for its money.
Bring Her Back hits theaters on May 30, and frankly, the release date can’t come soon enough.
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