Bring Her Back gets a Mother’s Day surprise + more from the directors

Michael and Danny Philippou have an unusual and refreshing take on the horror genre. In their feature film directorial debut, Talk to Me, they proved that emotional stakes bring something special to scares. The two have taken that aesthetic with their latest, Bring Her Back. And, the other night, I got to see it for myself! To note, I sat in the very front row of the damn theatre in a packed house – a seat that can easily ruin a good movie – and it was mesmerizing. You can look out for a full JoBlo review later in the month, but there is much to love in this creepy examination of loss, which also just got a special Mother’s Day spot you can check out above!

After the screening, the audience tuned in for a live stream interview with Michael and Danny, and their enthusiasm for what we had just witnessed was invigorating. And yes, the closer we get to the release date, you can expect to hear serious discussion on Sally Hawkins and award season. Like her previous work, Ms. Hawkins brings an emotional depth to this fascinating character. The Academy Award-nominated actress shares the screen with an impressive younger cast. It includes Billy Barrett, Jonah Reen Phillips, and Sora Wong in her debut feature. Here’s what they had to say about Hawkins:

“She was so dedicated. I’ve never seen someone dissect a script like that and embody a character so strongly before. And there are so many different versions of each scene. It was hard in the edit, because there were so many good versions. She’s incredible in each scene. So there’s a breakdown of every single line, and every single character is motivated to go through it with her and live and breathe it. She just lived and breathed the character, and it was the first time [she had done a straight horror film], and she was so incredible.”

However, the beginning of the livestream was a bit more downbeat, as they spoke about the duo’s personal experiences with loss. “It’s the best way to express anything you’re going through and any thoughts and feelings you’re going through. And then looking at it through a horror lens and then looking at, it’s such a thing that’s been talked about in horror before, but grief, the idea that grief is all consuming and it takes a bite out of Laura, she has a chance maybe to allow that wound to heal, but she decides to succumb to it, fall victim to it, and yeah, it is very cathartic. And then on set, it was very cathartic. We lost another, a close family friend who you see at the end there, and then there was no way to process that or put that out. And then the film became this place that you sort of put it in and those emotions, and we were very open about it with Sally and our producers and stuff like that.”

The filmmakers continued speaking about the loss, putting those feelings into the script and film itself, and the cathartic nature of placing this work on camera. “It changed the script and scenes that were written to be scary were sad, and it was the most expressive thing and then the most cathartic part, we shot a lot of it as much as we could in chronological order.”

As far as any classic films that perhaps influenced these two, Danny was quick to sing the praises of Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. “I was always super obsessed with psycho beauty films. Super obsessed with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. I love Bette Davis, and I really love crazy character actors like that. And when they really stick their teeth in, that was always my biggest inspiration point as well, in terms of a cinematic thing that we can point to. I love those films. I love Betty Davis, so that was always the North Star.” For Michael, it was quite a different take on inspiration. “I’m going to say Mouse Hunt.”

As far as the effects, the two discussed working with practical effects. “So this one, we had two different makeup teams, and that sort of made a bit of a competition between them. We put ’em against each other. That dead body looks pretty cool, you guys are going to f*cking do better than that. So there was this constant, and the work was incredible. So there’s one team dedicated mostly to Oliver and his stuff.”

Michael and Danny appear to be very excited to bring their latest to audiences. And frankly, that excitement is always apparent in their approach. It was just as infectious as it was at the trailer reveal. However, aside from that footage, I avoided other spoilers before viewing. And since the Q&A was after a screening and full of information that could affect those yet to experience it, it would be a disservice to those waiting patiently to catch the new feature to reveal any more. It was easily one of my most anticipated film this year. It didn’t let me down.

Bring Her Back haunts theatres on May 30th.

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