STACK #252 October 2025

MOVIE FEATURE

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GENRE: Horror RUN TIME: 1hr 39m

TWISTED SUCCESS: BRING HER BACK Bring Her Back re-affirms Australian twin filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou as modern masters of horror. B uilding on their breakout success with 2022’s Talk to Me , the writing to have her own independence.” The core idea would ultimately

Jonah Wren Phillips (left) with Sally Hawkins

impressed by the young filmmakers: “Danny and

directing duo return with Bring Her Back – an excavation of the horrors of suburban family life, heightened by the deepest emotional shocks and gnarliest gore of any genre film in recent memory. But it began with a more gentle and innocent inspiration. “Our friend’s little sister is non-sighted, and there was a situation with her family where she really wanted to go and catch the bus by herself, but her parents wouldn’t let her do it,” recalls Danny. “She was trying to communicate with them that she’s going to have to learn to navigate the world without everyone babying her all the time, that she needs

manifest in the story of blind girl Piper (Sora Wong), shielded from the darkness of life by her protective older brother, Andy (Billy Barratt). When the siblings experience a tragedy, they're flung into unthinkable circumstances, landing under the care of foster mum Laura (Sally Hawkins), living in a secluded home with the orphaned, and increasingly troubled, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips). A domestic nightmare that draws its most profound scares from Hawkins' deranged portrayal, many critics have noted that her performance rivals that of Toni Collette’s in Hereditary . For her part, Hawkins was most

Michael will storm the world. They have never-ending energy

and drive, which can only inspire those around them. They are so smart, so witty, and coupled with such an emotional intelligence and integrity,” says the Oscar-nominated The Shape of Water actress. Building on that freshman success, Bring Her Back is ultimately a chilling supernatural rollercoaster blending grief, manipulation, occult terror, and intense family dynamics into one deeply disturbing yet emotionally resonant film. Gill Pringle

Sally with director Michael Philippou

• Bring Her Back is out Oct 22

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU’LL LOVE THESE:

Talk to Me, Hereditary, Heretic, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Birdeater

DYK?

GENRE: Horror thriller RUN TIME: 1hr 55m

GOING VIRAL: 28 YEARS LATER

A fourth instalment, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple , was filmed back-to-back and is set to hit cinemas on January 15, 2026.

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s long-awaited third entry in the 28 Days Later saga has been a long time coming, arriving 18 years after it was first announced.

Ralph Fiennes

I n the meantime, both filmmakers have seen their careers soar: Boyle took home eight Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire , while Garland established himself as a director with acclaimed films such as Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Civil War . Now the duo reunite to revisit the saga that first brought them together. As the title suggests, it’s

look like for those who remain untouched. “We imagined how a world would remake itself after an apocalypse, when everything – all the ‘stuff’ – that had surrounded us now feels irrelevant or even useless,” explains Boyle. “How would you go about making sure to have the essentials, like food and fuel?” The story centres on a small fortified island community, located several hundred metres off the

to fend for themselves in a world ravaged by zombies. “We considered what the infection would look like,” says Garland. “What happens to the

country being quarantined and essentially abandoned by the rest of the world? “For those answers, just look at the real world,” he continues. “There’s a kind of ruthless, pragmatic, dog-eat dog dimension to the ways things play out when a nation collapses. Broadly speaking, people not affected by the collapse ignore it and just go about their lives.” Glenn Cochrane

been 28 years since the viral outbreak that wiped humanity off the European map, sparing only a handful of survivors. This time, Boyle and Garland imagine that world decades on, exploring what life might

mainland and connected only by a tidal road accessible for a brief window at low tide. We follow a father and son who journey to the mainland for the boy’s rite of passage. But when they miss their chance to cross back, they’re forced

Alfie Williams and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

• 28 Years Later is out Oct 8

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU’LL LOVE THESE:

Train to Busan presents: Peninsula, World War Z, A Quiet Place

OCTOBER 2025

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