Bring Her Back is the latest horror feature from Michael and Danny Philippou, the acclaimed filmmakers who made their name with 2022’s Talk To Me. Much like their previous movie, Bring Her Back is an extremely stylish and atmospheric piece of horror that uses bold visuals and sharp writing to explore many important themes, such as overcoming grief and dealing with trauma. Although Bring Her Back is tangentially connected to Talk To Me, it’s still a very isolated story that works on its own and doesn’t require any existing knowledge of their previous film.

There are some major deaths in Bring Her Back that immediately catch audiences off guard, proving from the very beginning that nobody is safe in this atmospheric tale of possession and demonism. The directors do an excellent job of using this terrifying story to highlight the film’s themes, never settling for cheap thrills or easy jump scares but rather capitalizing on the atmosphere to tell a more mature, lingering story of death and grief. This is emphasized by the brothers’ decision to dedicate Bring Her Back to their friend Harley Wallace, whose death inspired much of the film’s thematic resonance.

Harley Wallace Is A Friend Of Bring Her Back’s Directors

Wallace Is Described By The Directors As A Family Friend

When the credits roll at the end of Bring Her Back and the film reveals itself to be dedicated to the memory of Harley Wallace, audiences would be forgiven for ᴀssuming that he somehow inspired one of the film’s characters. However, Wallace was actually the long-time friend of the Philippou twins who tragically pᴀssed away in 2024. Though neither of the brothers has explicitly talked about Wallace or their shared history, it’s clear that his friendship was a driving creative force for the brothers and his death impacted them greatly.

Harley Wallace Died Before Bring Her Back Started Filming

Their Friend’s Death Impacted The Twin’s Approach To The Film

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Philippou said that “[Harley] was a very close family friend, and he pᴀssed away at the beginning of pre-production. It was so out of nowhere, and it changed the way some of the scenes played as well.” The brothers’ new film offers such a rich and ubiquitous exploration of grief and loss that’s clearly inspired by their own experiences with Wallace’s death, so it’s only fitting that Bring Her Back was dedicated to him.

“When you’re dealing with grief,” Philippou says, “you almost try to close yourself off from it, but then it comes out in different ways while you’re shooting.” Clearly, while Bring Her Back wasn’t inspired by Wallace’s death (as it was written before he pᴀssed), the experience of losing such a close friend strongly impacted the way the brothers navigated this story. It gave them a more tangible connection with the subject matter, allowing them to channel their grief into this story.

How Harley Wallace’s Death Changed Bring Her Back

The Brothers Took A Unique Approach To Telling This Story

While it’s impossible to say exactly which scenes in Bring Her Back were changed by Wallace’s death, the experience gives a whole new authenticity to the story as a whole. It’s one of the reasons Bring Her Back’s reviews have been so strong; the exploration of grief and anguish feels so visceral that it’s impossible not to care about these characters. This may not have been so tangible without the Philippou brothers channeling their own first-hand experiences into the project.

While Bring Her Back has a great script, it’s the visual language of the film that really elevates it into something excellent. The brothers have such a dynamic and energetic eye for what makes horror genuinely scary, and while this project isn’t quite as frightening as Talk To Me, it’s not necessarily supposed to be. It’s a more gradual, methodical exploration of how grief shapes us and distorts our perception of the world; it’s fair to ᴀssume from the brothers’ comments that their experience with Wallace may have impacted this fresh, new direction for their filmmaking.