RackaRacka is an Australian

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channel created and run by

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filmmaker brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, based in

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(originally from

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). The channel is known for its intense live action horror comedy videos. Between Facebook and YouTube, RackaRacka has over 2 billion views and over 6 million subscribers. Named one of ''Variety'' magazine's FameChangers, and ranked fifth on the Australian Financial Review’s Cultural Power List, the brothers have won numerous awards including the Best International Channel Streamy Award, Best Overall at the Online Video Awards and the Australian Academy Award for the Best Web Show. Their debut feature film '' Talk to Me'' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2023.

History

Danny and Michael began filming their backyard wrestling matches with close friends when they were 11 years old. At the age of 13, they moved on to making a "TV Show" and "movies". They created "fake fail" videos for Facebook, but a few months later started the YouTube channel ''RackaRacka''. Initially the channel was not monetized, 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. This video won in the Best Comedy and Best Overall categories at the 2014 Australian Online Video Awards. In September 2015, the channel won the award for Best International YouTube Channel at the

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. In 2014, Michael and Danny both crewed on the Australian horror film, ''

The Babadook ''The Babadook'' is a 2014 Australian supernatural horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent in her directorial debut, and produced by Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere. The film stars Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hay ...

''. 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

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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 on the undercard

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boxing event, where he beat Scarce by TKO. Due to lack of demonetisation on the main RackaRacka channel, on 14 December 2019 the brothers created a new channel called ''Left on Red'', vowing to upload a shorter and possibly more marketable video to the channel daily. On 16 December 2019, the brothers announced that Michael had been charged by

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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. Other claims included that the brothers had been charged for quite a while and were unaware they were being sought by law enforcement; most of them were confirmed when Michael was ordered to appear in court on 14 January 2020.

Film

''Talk to Me''

In 2020, the twins announced that they would be making their feature-length directorial debut on a horror film titled '' Talk to Me'' with Australian production company Causeway Films, which made ''

''. The cast includes Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio,

Miranda Otto Miranda Otto (born 16 December 1967) is an Australian actress. She is the daughter of actors Barry and Lindsay Otto and the paternal half-sister of actress Gracie Otto. Otto began her acting career in 1986 at age 18 and appeared in a variety of ...

, Alexandria Steffensen and Marcus Johnson, with the storyline about a young woman who summons dead spirits with a ceramic hand. ''Talk to Me'' sold to numerous international distributors at

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in 2022. It had a preview screening at the

Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October ...

on 30 October 2022, the closing night of the festival. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on the 22nd of January 2023. After the premiere spurred a bidding war with

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and others,

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acquired the rights to distribute the film in the United States. It had its European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 21st 2023. ''Talk to Me'' is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on July 28, 2023.

Filmography

* '' Talk to Me'' (2022) * ''Bring Her Back'' (TBA)

Amateur boxing record

Michael Phillipou

References

External links

*
Left On Red
o
Youtube
{{authority control Australian YouTubers Australian filmmakers Living people Australian people of Greek descent Comedy-related YouTube channels Streamy Award-winning channels, series or shows YouTube channels launched in 2013 1992 births English-language YouTube channels