Bring Her Back: I Got An Extended Look At The New Horror Film From The Talk To Me Directors, And It Had Me Jumping Out Of My Chair

No conversation about our current age of great original horror is complete without discussion of Talk To Me. Blending a fantastic metaphor for party drugs, a unique angle on a possession story, and emotional meditation on trauma, the small Australian movie successfully blew minds in the summer of 2023, and it instantly established filmmaking siblings Danny and Michael Philippou as talents to watch.

Now, the duo is getting set to unleash their new horror movie on the world, titled Bring Her Back, and it’s an experience for which you may want to start girding yourself immediately. The cinematically squeamish need not apply for this one, as it is going to be one hell of a hardcore ride.

With the new movie set to be released in May (the first trailer arrived in February), I attended a preview event for Bring Her Back at the end of last week in Los Angeles, and while I am typically one of those genre fans who grins like a goof while everyone in the theater around me is cowering and covering their eyes, that was not my experience while watching two full scenes from the film. Along with everyone else in the small gathering, I was left agog, screaming at the screen, and jumping out of my chair.

Meeting Laura And Oliver

Billy Barratt and newcomer Sora Wong star as Andy and Piper, a brother and sister who start the story being sent to a new foster home, and the first clip we got to watch from Bring Her Back. As the siblings enter the house, “Alive” by Empire Of The Sun plays at a deafening level, and they make their way down the foyer to the open space living room – with Piper, who is visually impaired, using her hand to trace the wall. When their presence is finally noticed, their new foster mom Laura (Sally Hawkins) stops the music and rushes at them with extreme excitement to introduce herself. She asks that the three of them take a photo together, but she notably blocks Andy with her own head in the selfie angle.

Laura’s oddness is further exposed when she introduces the teens to Pom Pom, her dead stuffed dog, and when she learns that Piper doesn’t like to use her cane because of how it makes people treat her, she quotes/growls her nan’s perspective on judgmental people: “Fuck off, you fuck fucking fuckers!” The mood quickly changes when Andy notices tape on the floor, and Laura explains that her daughter was blind, but died. Piper inquires how (Andy scolding her for rudeness), and Laura says that she drowned.

When the phone rings and Laura answers it, the siblings make their way to the backyard through a sliding glass door. Laura calls to not let the cat out… but it’s seconds after the feline has escaped. It doesn’t take long for Andy and Piper to understand the concern: there is a large, triangular pool that has been drained, and at the center of the blue cement hole is a shirtless boy with a buzz cut standing with his back to the newcomers. The cat is in his arms, and while he remains calm, the cat cries and struggles – leading Laura to rush out and demand that he let go of the animal. This kid, with a face baring no expression, is Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).

Cutting Cantaloupe… And Faces

That first scene shown from Bring Her Back was what could be called an amuse bouche: in just a few minutes, we got to know the characters, got an awareness of the relationships and setting, and got a creepy sense that not all is right. The second scene went for the jugular.

While Andy is in the backyard at a spigot washing his hair, Oliver is shown to be in his second floor room watching him through a closed window. When a fly lands on the glass, Oliver smacks it with his palm and kills it, getting Andy’s attention. Andy waves, but Oliver ignores him; instead, he picks up the dead insect with his fingers, puts it in his mouth and chews.

Now inside (and not having seen this bug eating episode), Andy goes to Oliver’s door and discovers that he has been locked in, but he grabs a knife and jimmies the lock. Sitting together in the kitchen, Andy takes out some cantaloupe and offers to slice some up in exchange for some communication – giving the seemingly mute child a pencil and pad. Initially, Oliver is hesitant, but when he goes for the writing utensils, Andy stabs some melon on the end of the knife and gives it to him.

Andy turns around and ducks down for a moment to grab a plate, but that is all the time that is needed for the start of a horror show. Instead of just taking the cantaloupe, Oliver has instead started to chew on the fruit and the blade simultaneously. Close-ups of the kid’s mouth reveal him cutting him his gums, and the capper is it slicing through his philtrum. Blood pours out as Andy screams for him to stop.

Recognizing the situation as an extreme emergency, Andy tries to get Oliver to a hospital, but this proves much harder than imagined. There is a white line surrounding the property, and Oliver absolutely will not cross it. His feet drag and struggle, but Andy is bigger and overpowers him. It’s a mistake. As soon as the child crosses the line, he screams, collapses to the ground, and has a seizure – white foam mixing with the blood in his mouth and creating pink bubbles. His eyes bug out and turn red. Something within the cavity of his bare chest begins to vibrate and push through his skin. While we previously thought Oliver couldn’t speak, he meekly says, “Help me.”

Upon reflection on this footage, I have no idea what Laura’s psychological deal is, I have no idea what the white line represents, and I definitely have no clue what’s going on with Oliver… but everything shown from Bring Her Back ranged from “unnerving” to “unrelenting nightmare,” and I am over-the-top excited to experience what Danny and Michael Philippou have delivered as their follow-up to Talk To Me.

On hand at the preview event, the brothers noted that the film isn’t 100 percent complete yet, as work is still being done in post-production, but Bring Her Back will be unleashed on the world in just two months – with A24 handling domestic distribution and launching the movie in theaters on May 30.