After Talk to Me made a huge splash with audiences and critics alike, the Philippou brothers are back with their follow-up film, Bring Her Back. Both are A24 horror titles, both deal with grief, possession, and supernatural consequences, but which film actually delivers the stronger punch?
I’ve seen both, sat with them, and there’s a lot to unpack. So let’s break down Talk to Me vs. Bring Her Back across horror, character work, visual storytelling, and emotional depth.
Fear Factor: Fun Chaos vs. Unrelenting Dread
Let’s start where it matters most: The scares. Talk to Me opens in high gear, blending party culture with horror. Possession is treated almost like a TikTok challenge. Chaotic, wild, strangely exhilarating. It’s fun… until it isn’t. When Riley loses control and becomes violently possessed, the tone shatters. That turning point hits like a truck: no more fun, no more games. The violence is graphic, shocking, and, more importantly, emotionally charged. The fear isn’t just in what’s happening, it’s in who’s being affected and how.
Bring Her Back, on the other hand, doesn’t waste time with light-hearted setups. From the first frame, it’s steeped in unease. The film builds slowly, methodically, creating an atmosphere that suffocates. One standout moment is when a character is cutting into a melon with a massive knife. It manages to be disturbing without showing anything explicitly violent. The sound design alone is enough to give you chills. When the horror does arrive, it’s brutal, intimate, and sticks with you.
In short: Talk to Me jolts you with a surprise turn. Bring Her Back drags you down slowly, never letting you breathe.
Character Depth and Performance Power
In Talk to Me, the characters mostly serve the plot. Mia, played solidly by Sophie Wilde, is a sympathetic lead but not someone you feel deeply connected to. Most of the supporting cast feel disposable. Not poorly written, just not memorable. You root for Mia, sure, but you don’t cling to her fate.
Bring Her Back changes the game. The sibling bond at the center of the story is immediately engaging. You care about them right away. Their connection adds real emotional stakes, and when tragedy strikes early, the rest of the film becomes harder to watch (in the best way).
Then there’s Sally Hawkins as Laura. Her performance is astonishing. Laura is not likable. She’s manipulative, raw, angry and yet you feel drawn to her. You want to hate her, but you understand her grief. Hawkins gives Laura complexity that makes every scene charged. You never quite know what she’ll do next, or why. She’s one of the most unsettling, layered characters we’ve seen in horror in a long time.
Visuals and Directing Style
Visually, Talk to Me is moody and efficient. Even in scenes that seem energetic (like the early parties), there’s a coldness that hints at what’s to come. The camera work is tight, the lighting controlled, and when the horror hits, it’s sharp and effective.
Bring Her Back feels like the Philippou brothers evolving in real-time. The cinematography is bolder, the editing more creative, the sound design way more experimental. There are scenes like a phone screen revealing something terrifying through rain-streaked glass, or a blood-stained circle drawn in the backyard that feel like paintings. It’s haunting, elevated stuff, and you can tell the directors are growing more confident in their craft.
This isn’t a knock on Talk to Me. It’s clean and stylish. But Bring Her Back feels handcrafted — like every frame was designed to make you squirm or freeze or whisper “what the hell am I looking at?”
Themes and Symbolism: Shared Grief, Diverging Paths
The emotional core of both films is the same: grief. In Talk to Me, Mia’s pain over losing her mother pushes her into reckless decisions. She just wants one more connection, even if it kills her. In Bring Her Back, Laura’s grief is darker, more consuming. She doesn’t just want a connection she wants control, resolution, closure at any cost.
Both films ask: how far would you go to feel close to someone you’ve lost? But Bring Her Back shows what happens when you cross that line willingly, knowingly. It’s not just scary it’s tragic. That emotional weight lingers.
So, Which Film Did It Better?
There’s no denying that Talk to Me is a standout in modern horror. It’s fast, smart, and fresh, with one of the most original possession mechanics in recent memory. But Bring Her Back is a step forward. More ambitious, more emotionally raw, and cinematically richer. It doesn’t have the same rewatchable quality as Talk to Me, but it hits harder. It lingers.
This isn’t just a sophomore success. It’s proof that the Philippou brothers are not a one-hit wonder. If they keep progressing like this, they’re going to define horror for the next decade.
Final Thoughts
If Talk to Me is the film you recommend to friends for a wild night in, Bring Her Back is the one that keeps you up all night, thinking. One is horror as adrenaline. The other is horror as grief carved into film.
Rather Watch?
