Jonah Wren Phillips may be the most reluctant horror star of the year. The 12-year-old actor leads Bring Her Back, the latest nightmare from Danny and Michael Philippou — the Australian twin directors behind cult YouTube channel RackaRacka and A24’s horror hit Talk to Me. But despite playing a demon-possessed child who chews through furniture and body parts, Phillips confesses he’s easily spooked. "I get scared by the Simpsons Halloween specials," he admits.
Originally, Phillips planned to turn the role down — not because of the gore, but because he didn’t want to cut his long hair. That all changed when he saw some of the Philippous’ manic YouTube work. "I couldn’t refuse this," he said. And it’s a good thing he didn’t. His character Ollie, a mute foster child with a ravenous spirit inside him, transforms gradually through the film into something feral and terrifying — biting into a table, crunching a knife, and ultimately becoming a full-bodied demon.
Behind those disturbing scenes lies some impressively meticulous work. For the table-biting moment, the effects team built breakaway dentures and a chocolate-dusted balsa wood prop for Phillips to sink his teeth into. "They said they put chocolate in it... I didn’t really taste it," he recalled, still amused. More alarming was the scene where he gnaws the blade of a knife — a practical effect pulled off using a rubber prop, prosthetic dentures, and even a puppet head for close-ups.
The pièce de résistance came during the climactic transformation, which involved a six-hour prosthetic application to turn the boy into a pale, veiny, bloated creature. "I couldn’t really watch anything or listen to music," said Phillips of the process. "Larry [the FX artist] kept telling me to go to sleep." He didn’t — but he endured. And while horror may never be his favourite genre, Phillips has officially joined its ranks with a performance that’s as unsettling as it is impressive.
