Talk to the Hand

Movie: Talk to Me

Talk to Me, a horror film directed by Danny and Michael Philippou, who were popular YouTubers before making their feature-length directorial debut, is one of the most punishing movies I've seen in a while. It's both terrifying and emotionally devastating. There is one particular scene that is one of the most brutal I've seen. In other words: alllllll the trigger warnings. But I loved it!

Set in Australia, Talk to Me follows Mia (Sophie Wilde in a hopefully star-making turn), a teenager grieving the death of her mother. When the movie opens, it's been two years since her mother died by taking too many sleeping pills. Mia believes that her death was an accident. Mia also ignores her father's attempts to connect with her...yet she desperately craves connection. In an early scene, she goes to her friend Jade's house (Alexandra Jensen) and tries to hang out, but Jade is glued to her phone, more focused on chatting with her boyfriend than paying attention to Mia.

Yeah, I know there are a lot of horror movies about grief. Talk to Me is part of that genre, but it really leans heavily into the isolation that grief causes and I think it makes some very canny points about how teenagers in particular grieve: they want to connect with friends, and (sometimes) reject connection from adults. So Mia is left in this limbo where she is very lonely and edging closer to destructive behavior.

Well, destructive behavior finds her in the form of an occult party game. Two other teens, Hayley (a magnificent, bullying Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio), have come into possession of an embalmed hand that supposedly belonged to a psychic who could commune with the dead. There's a little ritual you do, involving lighting a candle, grasping the hand, and saying "talk to me" and a dead person will appear, holding your hand. I love that the movie just presents this as reality, full stop. There really is no ambiguity here: these teens are fuckin' talking to dead people! 

What's more, you can say "I let you in", and the soul of the ghoul will enter you and be able to talk to people in the room. And let me just say: dead people are real dickheads. I mean, these guys are assholes. Each of them seems to relish humiliating people in the room, as they know things that the living don't know.

The game can only go on for 90 seconds or "they'll want to stay" as Hayley smirkingly puts it. These dumbass teens looking for a thrill are having a great time...the hand is clearly a metaphor for drugs, which kind of fits in with the whole isolation piece. Mia is captivated by a game that makes her feel something after such a long time of feeling numbness and grief. 

Things go wrong when Jade's younger brother, Riley (Joe Bird, excellent here), wants to play. Jade forbids 14 year old Riley from playing, but when she leaves the room, Mia allows Riley to take a turn. When Riley ends up channeling the spirit of Mia's dead mother, the game goes on longer than 90 seconds, since Mia is desperate to talk to mom...and then it all goes to literal hell.

At a certain point, Riley becomes possessed with...something. And whatever possesses him makes him do awful things to his body that the other kids try to stop. This was a scene that made people in my theatre flip the goddamn fuck out. I'm genuinely surprised that no one left the movie. I mean, I was thrilled. I don't think I've watched a scene that left such an impression on me since the cliff-diving scene in Midsommar. But man, was it brutal. 

Riley is taken the the hospital. The cops are called. Mia is officially persona non grata to Jade and Jade's mother (the lovely Miranda Otto) who (rightly) blame her for allowing Riley to play. But Mia has bigger fish to fry. In the chaos, she stole the hand...and goes on a journey to contact her mother again. But whoever--or whatever--she is contacting...is it actually her mother? Or is it an interloper from the netherworld trying to gain entry? 

Talk to Me is filled with brutal and terrifying imagery. It uses no jump scares because it doesn't have to. And it fits the truest definition of horror that I can think of: when good people are punished. It's one thing to see bad people get killed or punished in a horror movie. We can easily say they deserved it. But it's another thing when it's an innocent, like Riley, or a less-innocent, but still needy, grieving teen like Mia. Mia makes some terrible choices in Talk to Me...but she's supposed to be like 17 years old! And her mom died! This is a girl who needs care and understanding. But instead, she reaches out to the abyss...and the abyss grabs her hand and won't let go. It's genuinely tragic.

Horror junkies will love Talk to Me. The slick visuals and excellent sound make the film feel polished and elegant. The acting is perfect. Also, the movie is only 90 minutes long (and, honestly, could have been longer and I wouldn't have minded). People not into horror--stay away! Go see Barbie instead! This isn't me being condescending, it's me giving folks a fair warning that Talk to Me goes to a dark, dark place. Make sure you're in the right headspace if you watch it.

Grade: A