By Robert Scucci
| Published
Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but back in the day when my friends and I wanted to party, we’d sneak a case of beer out of our parent’s garage and slam those brewskies down in the woods before getting into whatever mischief we had in store for the evening. Never in a thousand years would it occur to us that we could get recreationally possessed by a disembodied hand that could ruin all our lives should whatever troubled soul actually breach into the mortal realm like in 2022’s Talk to Me. As a parent myself, I’ll most definitely be having a talk with my kids when they reach partying age because if they’re going to get into the occult with their friends, I’d rather them do it safely under my roof than at some stranger’s party… or something like that.
Simple, Stylish, And Supernatural
Talk To Me is such a simple movie that you don’t need to put a ton of thought into the viewing experience. In my effort to give you the most basic rundown because words can’t do justice to Talk to Me’s top-notch visuals and practical effects, I’d frame it to you as a simple possession movie with a healthy serving of psychological horror to keep things interesting.
We’re introduced to Mia (Sophie Wilde), who’s having trouble coping with the two-year anniversary of her mother’s death, which happened under mysterious circumstances. Mia, along with her best friend, Jade (Alexandra Jensen), and her little brother, Riley (Joe Bird), are invited to party hosted by Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio), where the sole purpose of the gathering is to mess with a disembodied, embalmed hand that offers a disturbing glimpse at the afterlife. Legend has it that if the kids light a candle, it opens the door to the afterlife, and when whatever willing participant says the phrases “talk to me,” and “I let you in” in rapid succession, will allow them to experience possession from the other side first-hand.
But here’s the kicker, if whatever spirit from the other side occupies its subject’s body for longer than 90 seconds, they can take over their entire being for good.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
After volunteering to communicate with the dead in Talk to Me, Mia walks away from her initial experience wanting to see more. So much, in fact, that she neglects to mention that the spirit she encountered seemed interested in Riley. At another party a couple of days later, Mia encourages Riley to try using the hand despite the fact that Jade doesn’t want him taking any part in the ritual because that’s what protective big sisters do.
As you would expect, things go terribly wrong after Mia surmises that her dead mother, Rhea (Alexandria Steffensen), is occupying Riley’s body. Ever on the search for answers involving her mother’s death, Mia inadvertently welcomes the spirit into Riley’s body indefinitely because they went well past the 90-second mark.
Excommunicated by Jade and the rest of her family after putting Riley in mortal danger, Mia begins to spiral because whatever gateway she left open during the ritual is bleeding into her real life. Plagued by demonic hallucinations and persistently haunted by the death of her mother, Mia resolves to close the gateway using the hand, but naturally receives pushback from every other traumatized party involved.
A Masterclass In Bare-Bones Suspense
At face-value, there’s not a lot going on in Talk to Me, but its delivery is why you want to check this movie out as soon as possible if you’re a fan of supernatural horror. Fully admitting that I’m not Australian, and by extension unfamiliar with their regional phrases, I felt that every kid had such a command over their youthful slang that the dialogue never felt unbelievable. Naturally referring to their private parts as “guccis” and calling somebody a “fetus” instead of a sissy felt authentic and grounded, which allowed me to stay engaged in the storytelling instead of thinking to myself, “kids don’t talk like that.”
More importantly, the practical effects that Danny and Michael Philippou use in their directorial debut are second to none. While there’s no doubt in my mind that most modern productions use CGI for any sequences involving crossing over to the afterlife, the actual gore is enough to make your skin crawl because you won’t be spared by breakaway cuts– you’re going to see faces and bodies get wrecked in real time right in front of you.
Finding strength in its inherent simplicity, Talk to Me tells a familiar story, but with a modern edge and strong cast that makes everything seem believable, no matter how off-the-rails things get. If you’ve slept on Talk to Me upon its initial release, then I strongly encourage you to queue it up on Netflix the next time you want to be spooked into submission.
