Danny and Michael Philippou

Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, known together online as RackaRacka, are Australian twin filmmakers, YouTubers, and stunt performers. They are known for their horror comedy YouTube videos and for the career as horror filmmakers which those videos spawned. They have won numerous awards for their work, including the Best International Channel Streamy Award, Best Overall at the Online Video Awards, and the AACTA Award for the Best Web Show.

Originally from Adelaide with Greek heritage, the brothers moved to Los Angeles in January 2019 but continue to make films in Australia. They made their feature directorial debut when they wrote and directed the supernatural horror film Talk to Me, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was released internationally on 27 July 2023. Their second film, Bring Her Back, was released in 2025. Both received positive reviews.

Early life and education

Danny and Michael Philippou were born in Adelaide and raised in the northern suburb of Pooraka. They are of Greek descent. Their father is a Greek Cypriot and their mother is Greek.

YouTube career

The brothers began filming their backyard wrestling matches with close friends in Adelaide when they were 11 years old, inspired by WWE. These included scenes of the brothers crashing into furniture, "flipping kids over and bashing them headfirst into the ground", and "jumping off everything", including roofs. They also filmed in a half-built house, and caused water to flood the site. They later said that some of the things they did were extremely risky and even life-threatening, and they were thankful to a friend's elder sister who helped steer them away from doing these things that could have taken them down a path of juvenile delinquency. At the age of 13, they moved on to making a "TV show" and "movies".

In 2013 they started creating "fake fail" videos for Facebook, and a few months later started the YouTube channel RackaRacka. Initially the channel was not monetised, with Danny financing the videos by volunteering for paid medical trials.

The channel's first huge success was Harry Potter VS Star Wars, which attracted 7 million views in a week, and won them a trip to the U.S.

In 2014 Michael and Danny both crewed on the Australian horror film, The Babadook. The production company responsible for The Babadook, Triptych Pictures, has also produced videos for RackaRacka, including: Versus, a series of three short films; RackaRacka Live (Stunt Gone Wrong); and Extreme Handball. Written and directed by the Philippou Brothers, these were shown on the Foxtel pay channel.

On 10 July 2017 Danny and Michael revealed that they moved into a mansion with their close friends, marking the beginning of a series of videos for the channel titled House of Racka, which combined their real-life adventures and special effects skills altogether into a vlog-like series. The House of Racka series became the majority of the channel's uploads for around a year. On 2 April 2018, among complaints of YouTube demonetising the channel, the brothers announced that they were being evicted from their mansion. Many fans thought this meant the end of the channel, as the video contained an emotional tribute to the experiences the twins had in the mansion, in a more sombre mood than they usually projected. This was later proven to be false, however, as the two later revealed that the House of Racka series was the only cancellation to their YouTube careers.

On 25 August 2018 Michael fought American YouTuber Scarce in an amateur boxing match on the undercard of KSI vs Logan Paul at Manchester Arena in England, winning via technical knockout in the 3rd round.

In December 2019 Michael was charged by South Australia Police with numerous crimes related to a video uploaded on 16 January 2019, which depicted him driving a heavily modified and watertight car on public roads while completely submerged and breathing partially through a hole in the roof. He was ordered to appear in court on 14 January 2020, but avoided conviction after entering a plea deal that saw him pay $2,000 in fines and court costs and disqualified him from driving for two weeks.

Directorial career

Talk to Me

Main article: Talk to Me (2022 film)

The twins' feature-length directorial debut is a horror film entitled Talk to Me, produced by Australian production company Causeway Films and set in the filmmakers' hometown of Adelaide. The cast includes Sophie Wilde, Zoe Terakes, and Miranda Otto, with the storyline about a young woman who summons dead spirits with a ceramic hand. Talk to Me sold to numerous international distributors at Cannes in 2022. It had a preview screening at the Adelaide Film Festival on 30 October 2022, the closing night of the festival. The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on 22 January 2023, and its European premiere at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on 21 February 2023, and was released in cinemas internationally from 27 July 2023. On 3 August 2023, they revealed that a prequel had been shot utilising a screenlife perspective, and on 8 August 2023, a sequel was confirmed to be in development.

Bring Her Back

Main article: Bring Her Back

The brothers followed up Talk to Me with another original feature film titled Bring Her Back. It was also produced by Causeway Films, and distributed by A24. The film stars Sally Hawkins and Billy Barratt.

The Philippous have said that they want to continue to make films in Australia, where they prefer the filmmaking culture. Bring Her Back began shooting in Australia in late June 2024.

Rumoured projects

In April 2023, the brothers were tapped to direct a new Street Fighter film for Legendary Entertainment and Capcom. In June 2024, the duo were reported to have left the project, due to scheduling conflicts with Bring Her Back.

During an interview on The Project, the Philippous said in June 2025 they had met with Marvel Studios for a "mystery project", also stating that Talk 2 Me was officially in the works.

In popular culture

In June 2025, Hideo Kojima revealed via Instagram that the brothers would be featured as non-playable characters in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Template:Abbr
2022	Talk to Me	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2025	Bring Her Back	Template:Yes	Template:Yes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Template:Abbr
2014	Australian Online Video Awards	Best Comedy	Harry Potter vs Star Wars	Template:Won
		Best Overall		Template:Won
2015	Fright Meter Awards	Best Short Horror Film	RackaRacka	Template:Nom
	Streamy Awards	Best International YouTube Channel		Template:Won
2017	AACTA Awards	Best Online Video or Series		Template:Won
2019	Streamy Awards	International: Asia Pacific		Template:Nom
2024	AACTA Awards	Best Direction	Talk to Me	Template:Won
		Best Screenplay		Template:Won

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Template:IMDb name
• Template:YouTube
• Left On Red on Youtube