'Talk to Me' Review: Possession Game Goes Wrong for Rebel Teens in Solid Australian Horror Flick
Talk to Me
R: Strong-bloody violent content, some sexual material and language throughout
Runtime: 1 Hour and 34 Minutes
Production Companies: Causeway Films
Distributor: A24
Directors: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Writers: Bill Hinzman, Danny Philippou
Cast: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio
Release Date: July 28, 2023
Exclusively in Theaters
Australian-based twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou (also known as YouTubers RackaRacka) spent years entertaining viewers with their surrealist sketch comedy and horror short films. Now the duo, who racked up over six million subscribers, have gone from the internet to the big screen with their joint directorial debut indie horror flick Talk to Me. Following its buzzy debut at Sundance this past January, A24 swooped in and grabbed the embalmed hand featured in the film. During the first night of SXSW, Myan and I checked out the newly anointed A24 horror flick, which has been possessing viewers in its current festival circuit. Sadly, it did not rock us as we would have hoped.
17-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) mourns her mother, whom she lost via suicide. A year after her passing, Mia avoids her estranged dad (Marcus Johnson) and spends her days at her best friend Jade’s (Alexandra Jensen) house. Feeling accepted into their loving home, Mia lives comfortably gossiping with Jade about boys and babysitting Jade's eager 14-year-old brother Riley (Joe Bird). Jade's hard-working mom, Sue (Miranda Otto), cares for Mia as one of her own.
One weekend, Mia, Jade, and Jade’s boyfriend/Mia’s ex Daniel (Otis Dhanji), go to a party where several cool kids bring an embalmed hand with demonic powers. They all take part in a game called “Talk to Me.” The rules are simple: strap into a chair, hold the embalmed hand, say: “Talk to me,” and look at whatever grotesque spirit appears. When you’ve finished freaking out, you say: “I let you in.” Whoever holds the hand will then be possessed for 90 seconds. Any longer than that will allow the spirit to stick with you forever. Of course, with teens being teens, the hand becomes their habit until a certain someone too young to play wants in. When the game turns deadly, Mia’s relationship with everyone around her is on the line.
Out of numerous horror flicks about teens playing with demonic spirits, like Truth or Dare or Slender Man, Talk to Me might be the first to accurately capture the Gen-Z teen experience through a fun and empathetic portrayal, which is hard to do because teenagers suck. The bloody cold open features a teenager confronting his possessed brother in front of their fellow high school students, who are all recording the event. The Philippou brothers nail the current landscape of Gen-Z culture, where the obsession with doing dumb shit to seek viral fame has desensitized us to life-endangering consequences.
Writers Bill Hinzman and Danny Philippou crafted a clever and original horror game that aligns the viral challenge notion with the horrific flair of other ghastly games like Ouija—and gives it a run for its money. When the embalmed hand reaches Mia and her peers, the Philippous emit an intoxicating atmosphere full of youthful rebellion and naiveté, delivering a sense of FOMO. They create a sturdy set-up with the Aussie kids drawing their iPhone cameras, giggling as their friend is possessed. All the characters, especially Mia, are written with endearing characteristics that fit well into their respective ages, paired with a dark comedic backbone that adds weight to the film’s pacing.
As the slow-burning beat of body horror comes into play, the brothers offer a strong showcase of practical effect work, adding disturbing imagery and feats of gore. When a certain character gets rocked by their possession to a near-death extent, their injury makes you audibly scream, “GOD DAMN!” I won’t spoil who becomes injured and possessed, but I’ll give that actor their flowers for putting on a disturbing display of possession, committing to violent physicality that made me wince.
Apart from the Philippous horror showcase, Talk to Me provides a strong leading breakthrough performance by Sophie Wilde, who confidently handles the complexities of Mia. She delivers a wide acting range, giving you chills through rickety body movements in Mia’s possession scenes and empathic vulnerability when her world comes crumbling down. Wilde effectively portrays the naiveté of her character with a subtle expression that elevates the pivotal examination of grief when the story reaches its second half. Even when some aspects of the story didn’t work for me, Wilde’s performance and the unpredictable chaos kept me engaged.
I’m going to keep it real with you, chief. I have become numb to horror flicks that use engaging premises to explore themes of grief. Every other horror movie explores grief, trauma, and loss. That message feels fresh when it hits a home run, like M3GAN. With something like 2022’s Smile, the underdeveloped tissue between the premise and theme left a poor taste in my mouth. Talk to Me isn’t as much of a misfire as Smile, but its execution in its attempt to bridge its original premise and theme didn’t… talk to me.
The script holds a solid portrayal of Mia’s grief early on, making her easily addicted to the possession game, detracting her mournful soul from her body. When the midpoint occurs, the story pivots to fully examining grief while hitting familiar beats. Mia becomes detached from reality, has constant traumatic flashbacks of her mom’s death, and starts to crack at the seams, slowly burning to madness. As it still supports a chilling aura, the overfamiliarity of the beats—especially in elevated horror—left a deep longing for the rebellious offbeat storytelling it prospered from in the first half but completely abandoned in the second. Thankfully, the film is short, and I could latch onto the energy from the first half, but it’s disappointing to see an exciting premise like this get undercut by a conforming second half that makes it clear why A24 picked up the picture at Sundance.
The Philippou bros’ debut flick Talk to Me prospers from an engrossing first half full of energetic teen anarchy, disturbing practical effects, and a solid central performance from Sophie Wilde. Sadly, when its narrative pivots, the film failed to talk to me, for I saw so many other horror spirits that tackled the same theme of grief with more than middling results.
