“Talk to Me” (2023) is an A24 Australian horror film about a group of teens who treat a mystical embalmed hand like a party favor. The consenting participant sits in a chair, gets strapped down, says “Talk to me” while touching the hand, sees a deteriorating figure that was not there before, says “I’ll let you in.” The spirit possesses the participant, which makes the possessed ‘s neck snap backwards from the force of being possessed. The participant’s face gets distorted: the eyes become black, darkens the nose, mouth and face and a distorted voice emits. Before ninety seconds, the other party goers must separate the possessed from the embalmed head or else…. Former YouTubers RackaRacka, aka twins Danny and Michael Philippou, make their feature film debut, follow Mia (Sophia Wilde), the latest player in a game with no winners.
“Talk to Me” is effective at establishing characters and group dynamics. There is an emotional journey from dumb, but loving teens acting stupid to the damned experiencing irreversible, grave consequences. Watching Mia go from a person whom the community embraces to exiled in grief and guilt is as hard as watching the goriest moments in the film which includes self-harm, bones breaking and eye gouging. I’m immune to most gruesome spectacles, but this film had me looking away from the screen. The cast deserves kudos for being able to have instant chemistry then watch it ebb. If you are unfamiliar with Australian films, even the uneven ones tend to pull no punches so be prepared for a bleak outcome. Even characters who refrain from touching the hand experiences its damning effect. No one emerges unscathed. The consequences range from psychological damage to death as possession sows the seed of discord and division within individuals, families, and communities. Even if Mia is only central to a couple of homes, the effect of her longer than advisable exposure to the spirits harms everyone.
Initially possession appears to be a metaphor for drug use or any activity that initially seems fun but can turn harmful when it becomes addictive. Later the supernatural transforms into a metaphor for unresolved grief and shame over mental illness, which is the most destructive force in the film. With a little more connective tissue, the drug use could have symbolized self-medicating to create a smoother transition to the latter half. If “Talk to Me” needed a little more work, it needed to create a more cohesive through line in the supernatural narrative. By the end, the twins answer the question regarding what is going on at the other side, but if viewers look back at all that came before, there may be more questions. At times, the possession takes the form an insatiable hunger-sexual or for tasting living energy/flesh, but no zombies here. The tongue is the primary vehicle to consume. There is a flash in the middle of the film showing a person being devoured as if in hell like a scene from a Gasper Noe film. There is no good or evil here although the spirits are not benign or neutral. They are just selfish, single-minded like the dumbass teens. Misery loves company, and the spirits are hungry for thrills and indifferent to even short-term consequences. The film evokes how seemingly close friends will still record and distribute another’s pain for entertainment and are disconnected from the consequences of distributing these images or having these experiences. Mia watches these videos then actively seeks out the experience thus illustrating the logistics of a never-ending tragic cycle to “see if its real.” The use of a device makes people feel more remote from danger despite its proximity.
Is “Talk to Me” the best horror movie to date of 2023? Maybe, I have not seen every horror film this year. On the same level as “Hereditary”? No. I will give it one award: the best sound effects in horror ever. Most theatergoers agreed that the sound felt all enveloping and enhanced everything unfolding onscreen. If there were jump scares, the twins did not rely on visual tropes, but sound cues. In the opening, pre-credits sequence, the sound of a knife is foreboding even when utilized as a kitchen utensil. The camera movement is dynamic as it follows the emotional momentum of an individual or a group by following a man moving in a crowd or the squeals of delight as a vibe flows through a crowd. It felt as if the twins sped up the film when possessed people turned violent, which added to the supernatural vibe of the horror. People out of focus in scenes where nothing frightening happens is foreboding and terrifying. While the dog does not die, there is a mortally wounded kangaroo….
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“Talk to Me” basically makes the hand an entertaining pyramid scheme in which it recruits more spirits by ensnaring unsuspecting partygoers. Worst MLM scheme ever! So were the twins trying to create a cohesive vision of a spiritual world or just going for the most chilling effect? I’ll be charitable and say the latter. When Mia initially tries to save Riley by using the hand, she sees many dead spirits devouring him. Is there a middle world between the real world and the dead, dark, isolated one that Mia occupies in the final scenes? There are spirits of the dead possessing people and others who seem to want more to join them, but after Mia dies, she is alone so the latter spirits are not the ones trapped in solitary and forced to entertain dumbass teens for eternity. What are they? Demons seems reductive and too Christian-based for a secular supernatural story, but hey, we can also call it the demon from “Smile” (2022)’s cousin. Maybe they are like gatekeepers, and they do take pleasure in devouring life, particularly if vulnerable because of their vital, youthful age or experiencing trauma such as the death of a parent. They do not exist in the MLM scheme, but a middle ground.
Or (and you’re going to hate me for this explanation) there are no middle ground spirits at all, but the “Smile” spirits are hallucinations from touching the hand and talking to real spirits. After Mia’s first extended exposure, she begins to disassociate, touch Riley and become the spirits. People’s behavior while possessed maybe a mix of being uninhibited and possessed by a spirit that died because of using the hand. When the twins show us Mia from others’ perspectives, we do not know if she is acting of her own volition or because she is no longer herself, which explains why she encourages Riley to play and disobey his sister. Yes, she is encouraged when she thinks that her mom’s spirit appears, but the film emphasizes how she would never hurt him. If we take that line at face value, when she harms Riley unintentionally, during scenes earlier than sleep toe sucking episode, she is not herself. It happens as early as the scene where she shares the pullout couch with Riley, but the reason that I do not find this explanation satisfying: why would she subconsciously want to hurt Riley? She would not, and the story never says this. Would she want to subconsciously make out with her best friend’s boyfriend? Yes, and he subconsciously reciprocates. So the story falls short in making a thorough, well-thought out supernatural mythology.
What does a medium and a former fundamentalist have in common? I talked with a medium after the film, and we shared a lot of common ground. We were struck by how dumb all these people are to repeatedly agree to get possessed. Riley, a kid scared of cigarettes, wants to belong, and have fun so I bought that he would do it. The actors had to be likeable to avoid having the audience actively rooted against them so it would feel like a tragic horror, not a comedy, though there are numerous moments of hilarity. I found it hard to suspend disbelief that people of color would act recklessly, but the twins said in interviews that they based the characters on their friends so I’ll go along for the ride. If I was a character in “Talk to Me,” it was mom Sue (Miranda Otto), but not even because she never followed through on her instincts.
Shout out to Jade who needs to go no contact with all her friends, family, and boyfriend. Why does she hang out with those people when they reject her, betray her, or disgust her? She is having the worst time witnessing everyone self-destruct and deserves the Princess Leia award for standing her ground and not allowing anything to change her character.
What frustrated me: there was no significance to Mia having a cold and never finding out why Hayley couldn’t stand Mia. Explain how Daniel, an alleged Christian, could agree to be possessed. Why is water characteristic of the other side? How in the world is Mia’s dad still alive?!?
