Bring Her Back directors discuss the fear of experiencing their new A24 release in front of an audience.

      A24’s latest horror film, Bring Her Back, is so frightening that even directors Danny and Michael Philippou felt apprehensive about viewing it in theaters. Their trepidation arises from a special anxiety that only filmmakers who have devoted years to a deeply personal project can truly comprehend.

      “We’re extremely anxious about sharing it,” Michael Philippou reveals to MovieMaker a week after a bi-coastal preview screening. “We were in the midst of mixing until the very last day, and then we jumped right into promotion. In our minds, it still feels unfinished or something. It’s always tough to watch it with an audience when it’s so personal.”

      Danny Philippou shares, “I thought, ‘I’m going to sit down and watch it with the audience,’ but as soon as it started, I realized, ‘I can’t stay here. I need to go get drunk somewhere.’ It’s just too difficult to watch. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow for the premiere.”

      “Absolutely, I want to be part of it, because that’s the great thing about movies; it’s a shared experience,” Michael Philippou adds. “And that’s the reason you create — to present a film that people can enjoy. We just don’t yet have the bravery to watch it with them.”

      Bring Her Back is the Philippou brothers’ somber follow-up to the acclaimed horror film Talk to Me, which gained attention in 2022 for its storyline about teenagers transforming an embalmed, spirit-channeling hand into an entertaining yet deadly party trick. “With Talk to Me, we were able to process what it was and come to terms with it,” Michael Philippou states. “This time, being so immersed in it, and then suddenly finishing and showing it to people, is such a surreal experience.” While MovieMaker cannot verify whether the Australian filmmakers have seen their film in a theater with an audience at this time, we can report that their new work is poised to be one of A24’s finest horror films yet, certainly living up to the anticipation surrounding its release. The Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus states: “A domestic nightmare that derives its most significant frights from Sally Hawkins’ unhinged performance, Bring Her Back is a standout horror that solidifies directors Danny and Michael Philippou as contemporary masters of the genre.” This film marks their most fully realized cinematic achievement to date, with two-time Oscar nominee Hawkins (Blue Jasmine, The Shape of Water) delivering an impressive performance as Laura, a former social worker who eagerly agrees to foster blind teenager Piper (Sora Wong) following her stepfather’s unexpected passing.

      However, she is more hesitant about welcoming her older brother, Andy (Billy Barratt), who is just three months shy of 18 and intends to adopt his stepsister formally.

      The tension begins there and gradually escalates into a chaotic, intense, and sanguinary third act filled with psychological and supernatural scares as Andy start to unravel his suspicions regarding his temporary foster mother and the secrets she harbors.

      It’s a contained, character-driven possession horror rooted in death-revival cult traditions, which Danny Philippou found appealing after witnessing a close family friend mourn the loss of a child.

      “I wanted to explore a twist on the healthy methods of grieving,” he elaborates in a lengthy conversation below.

      Warning: minor spoilers ahead as the filmmakers share their preference for practical visual effects, discuss the most daunting effects to achieve, their favorite scenes to shoot, why Bring Her Back was more challenging to create than Talk to Me, the decision to cast a vision-impaired actor with no prior experience, and their thoughts on a potential sequel.

      Greg Gilman: I believe everyone enjoyed the film at our L.A. screening. After watching your Q&A, you mentioned that most of the effects were practical. What motivated you to choose practical effects over CGI? And do you think practical effects are easier or harder to execute than digital ones?

      Michael Philippou: It goes back to how we created things as kids when we couldn’t do VFX. We always wanted to do it practically. There’s something about practical effects, especially in horror films, that has a timeless artistry to it — that it was captured live on camera, right in front of you, without digital enhancement later. [As for its difficulty,] I think it would be unfair to the effects team to claim that VFX is easier. Each method has its distinct challenges, and we relish the task of trying to execute everything practically.

      Danny Philippou: We aim to accomplish everything practically.

      Greg Gilman: What was the most challenging practical effect to execute? There’s quite a bit of blood and horror. Which sequence presented the most difficulty for you while filming?

      Danny Philippou: The rain was the most challenging. While it’s a practical effect, creating rain during daytime exterior scenes is incredibly tough.

      You have to wait for the sun to set behind the hills, and you only have about two hours to capture all