INTRODUCTION.
Talk to Me (2023) is an Australian supernatural horror film directed by Danny and Michael Philippou. This is their directorial debut film and this film was written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman. It stars Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, and Miranda Otto.
Talk to Me was It was theatrically released in Australia on 27 July 2023, and it runs for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
SYNOPSIS.
From Talk To Me, When 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.
TALK TO ME FILM REVIEW.
Talk to Me begins with Cole, a young man searching for Dukette, his brother. He finds out that Dukette is in a room. Cole calls out to Dukette to open the door, but Dukette refuses. Cole has no choice but to break down the door. Inside, he finds Dukette without a shirt and with injuries on his body.
An unexpected and tragic event occurs after getting Dukette out of the room. Dukette kills Cole with a knife, and then in the presence of everyone, Dukette takes his own life.
Somewhere else, Mia, a beautiful teenage girl, is struggling to cope with her mother’s death two years ago because of suicide. She really misses her mom, but she can’t bring her back. Mia also has a problematic relationship with her father, Max.
During a boring and forced conversation with him, Mia’s phone rings and after the call, she leaves home to pick up her friend Riley, the brother of her best friend, Jade. Riley had been hanging out with his friend and was given a cigarette to smoke, which he refused. Mia picks up Riley, and they drive down the road. “I’m gonna swing from the chandelier. I’m gonna live like tomorrow doesn’t exist… “they sing aloud while listening to “Chandelier” by Sia.
When Riley and Mia went to Jade’s house, they all sneaked out to a party thrown by Hayley and Joss. The party was small, as only a few people were present, but it was enjoyable. What made it really fun was a strange hand that nobody knew where it came from. This hand was said to summon the spirits of the dead and let people talk to them.
When the time came to try it, the hand was brought out, and everyone was scared except for Mai, who volunteered to go first. Everyone could try but but there was a rule – “Don’t hold it for more than 90 seconds” or “They’ll want to stay.”
Mia was told to hold the hand and say, “Talk To Me,” which she did. But something unexpected happened – she became possessed and lost control of her body. It took almost everyone in the room to help her return to normal. Most kids in the room tried it, and everyone laughed, but Riley wasn’t allowed to try it.
After Mia’s experience, she recalled it as exciting, which made Riley curious to try it. Riley’s sister warned him not to, but he wanted to feel the excitement that others had felt. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as he had hoped.
Going into this film, I hadn’t seen its trailer or anything about it, so I was expecting a regular horror film with adults and haunted houses, but this film follows a different narrative I loved. About 60% of the characters in this film were young adults, and I loved that. Not only were they teens, they were made to be themselves and be carefree and not impose adulthood and maturity on them.
You might expect that since they are children, the film will be flawed, but that isn’t the case. The acting of the characters was off the charts. It delivered every emotion these characters felt at any given time and their reaction to precisely what was happening, internally and externally.
My favourite character is Mia; she had the most screen time and character development. Her character was one whose story I really understood. I also understood her past, hence the reasons for my choice. What stood out about these characters is that they were impressive in their role and the emotions they displayed, which makes their character relatable.
The cinematography, camera movement, makeup and direction were all incredible. The expertly crafted scenes and a very dark and foreboding story have some originality despite being another supernatural story. The scenes with the hand were really scary and tense with a very unpredictable nature; the rest of the story was surprisingly unexpected and unconventional.
As stated earlier in my review, Talk to Me contains a substantial collection of characters with great performances behind them. The writing was rather good and didn’t feel cliché. Everything pieced together nicely.
The movie is exciting and attention-grabbing. It does so with its suspense that leaves you glued to the screen. Makes you feel like if you blink, you might miss a vital action.
The sound quality is good, and the effects are too. Light and shadows were great, as the later part of the film relied on how well light was used. Talk to Me has a degree of originality as it isn’t loaded with jump scares or too much blood and gory murder scenes to be horrifying, but instead uses sounds and good acting to create some genuinely memorable moments with constant suspense and unease.
CONCLUSION.
Talk to Me, or as I would say, Talk To the Hand, is a stone-cold classic of the horror genre. It feels fresh, thrilling, and absorbing and has a brilliant concept. The tension was soaring and ever-present, the music was great too, and there weren’t many jump scares in this, but the scary scenes themselves were clever and hard-hitting.
Talk to Me is rated R for bloody violent content, some sexual material and language throughout.
You can see Talk To Me in select cinemas near you!!
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