In A24’s Bring Her Back, a grieving mother (Sally Hawkins) takes a pair of orphaned siblings into her secluded home with nefarious ulterior motives. It’s another slice of southern Australian horror steeped in trauma and grief from Talk to Me twins Mark and Danny Philippou, infused with ample gore and unsettling dental carnage. The brothers’ sophomore directorial effort reteams them with Talk to Me cinematographer Aaron McLisky, who spoke to Filmmaker about their latest venture on the eve of its theatrical release. Filmmaker: I saw Talk to Me in the theater when it came out and loved it, but I didn’t know anything […]
by Matt Mulcahey on May 30, 2025Ventriloquist demons go viral in Talk To Me, the feature film debut of twin brothers and co-directors Danny and Michael Philippou. While the A24 horror venture marks their first official foray into feature filmmaking, the duo have been uploading action-packed videos onto their YouTube channel, RackaRacka, since 2013. Unlike Kyle Edward Ball, another YouTuber-turned-filmmaker whose chilling feature debut Skinamarink released earlier this year, the Philippou’s prior output wasn’t necessarily horror-focused. To date, their channel is mostly comprised of stunts, comedy sketches, satirical vlogs and prank videos. This decade-spanning commitment to making content is likely what primed the brothers to helm Talk […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 27, 2023The trailer for A24’s latest buzzy horror title, twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou’s Talk To Me, has finally landed after a pretty extensive festival run. The film had a special preview screening last year at the Adelaide Film Festival in the brothers’ native Australia, followed by its world premiere at Sundance back in January. It’s since screened at SXSW and was the secret screening at the Overlook Film Festival a week and a half ago. Despite receiving raves from audiences, the first trailer for Talk To Me is keeping specific plot details under wraps. Without spoiling too much, here’s […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 11, 2023Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Initially we thought we might have seven weeks for production, but that quickly turned into five. So, we had to be more strategic about sequences, shots and coverage. For example, we originally planned an elaborate effects sequence that was going to take days to shoot. But when we lost those two weeks, we came up with an alternative solution using […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2023