Talk To Me: A Gripping Horror Film That Drags You Down Under
When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.
Kids have been communing with spirits for decades in the horror genre, and it’s high time someone gave the Ouija Board a cool new spin. That’s precisely what Danny and Michael Philippou have done in their feature debut, Talk To Me, which swaps the Ouija Board out for a severed hand that provides its characters the supernatural bridge connecting this world and the beyond. It’s a uniquely stylized prop with an alluring creep factor, something that’s made all the more chilling — and entertaining — by the youthful folly of its paranormal shenanigans that span the gamut from “fun and games” to “not cool, man, not cool!” It also serves as a potent symbol that reinforces the film’s central theme of connection, how human touch brings us together and how our longing for it can sometimes lead us astray.
Somewhat of an Australian cross between Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead and Drag Me To Hell, with a dash of Schumacher’s Flatliners, Talk To Me offers a fresh slant on the familiar “cursed object” conventions and gleefully drags you further and further down under. The film essentially explores the old adage “it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt” (and to a lesser degree, “be careful what you wish for”), and it finds some seriously fun, funny, and frightening results that are further bolstered by its character-driven focus, cohesive themes, and excellent performances. Its wicked and wild ride is also made all the better by its lean and mean 90-minute runtime, which doesn’t really rush story beats or skimp on characterization.
The film centers around Mia (played by Sophie Wilde in a stellar breakout performance), a teenager who’s still reeling from the sudden loss of her mother, whose death (from an “accidental” overdose of sleeping pills) is nearing its anniversary. Estranged from her father as a result of the tragic event, she spends most of her time hanging out with her surrogate family, consisting of her friend Jade, Jade's younger brother Riley, and the siblings' mom (played by Miranda Otto, the film’s only familiar face).
Things take a supernatural turn when Mia, Jade, and Riley venture out to a possession party, where teens gather together not to drink or do drugs, but to chase a sick new high by seizing hold of a dead medium’s embalmed severed hand and saying the phrase “talk to me,” allowing a random spirit to temporarily enter their body. Taking turns, each possession yields a little something different, bloating and distorting the vessel’s facial features and causing them to act a fool in humorous and horrifying ways, the results of which are documented and uploaded for viral entertainment, making a soft statement on the increasing lengths the youth will go to catch a thrill.
Everything up to this point is pretty harmless and light fun, until Mia’s mom shows up in a possession, which causes the evening to take a startlingly violent turn, resulting in a violation of the game’s rules, spiritual doors which remain unclosed, and Riley to be caught between realms. This puts Mia in heated turmoil with Jade’s family, which plunges her into feelings of extreme guilt that are exacerbated by the nightmare visions that now haunt her.
Similar to Evil Dead’s deadites, the Talk To Me spirits play some nasty head games and seem to relish the twisting of human emotions they inflict, which further adds to Mia’s struggle as she desperately tries to save Riley from the throes of hell. Sophie Wilde makes the sorrow and torment palpable, selling the emotional depth and breadth of Mia’s increasingly nightmarish predicament in scene after scene. The harrowing journey is an electrifying thrill, but its narrative veers into some murky terrain near the end as Mia attempts to solve Riley’s dilemma. Luckily, it leads to a cool ending sequence and a final moment that brings everything full circle in a neat enough way to not be hung up on the specifics.
If Evil Dead Rise didn’t quite hit the spot, Talk To Me is sure to satiate your horror hunger. It wrestles with heavy themes and dark spaces, but it also harks back to the horror films of the 80s and 90s, gracefully swiveling between horror and comedy, to inject a welcome sense of fun back into the genre. When something this wicked your way comes, the only thing you can do is grip it by the hand and whisper, “I let you in.” Like the kids chasing supernatural highs, you’ll want to commune with this one again and again. We’re eagerly awaiting our next trip to limbo-land hell, and we’re excited to see what the Philippou brothers and Sophie Wilde do next.
Recommendation: If you’re looking for fright, look no further than Talk To Me. We say grip it and rip it; see this one in a theater with the biggest crowd possible.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!