Director duo/brothers Danny and Michael Philippou’s debut feature is a well-produced Australian, A24 possession horror with interesting, likeable characters, excellent performances and well woven scares. Sadly Talk to Me stumbles in the latter half due to drawn-out, superfluous scenes and wonky plotting.
On the anniversary of her mother’s death, twenty-something Mia (Sophie Wilde) attends a party with her friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and plays a game that involves grasping the embalmed hand of a dead psychic (or satanist, whichever legend you believe) and asking it to talk to her. After conversing with a spirit conjured by the hand, the event leads to an accident involving Jade’s younger brother, Riley (Joe Bird). Mia then sets off to seek out the secrets of the severed limb so she can save Riley and reconnect with the spirit of her late mother.
It’s difficult to see how a straightforward story with such a solid set up can become so muddled in the latter half, as Talk to Me inelegantly plods towards a thankfully satisfying finale during which it slightly redeems itself. Despite setbacks, there is still great fun to be had thanks to Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman’s script being strengthened by enthralling drama, originality and enough relentless blood-letting to mollify the gore hounds, but structural defects prove detrimental and encumber what is otherwise a compelling debut.
The Philippou brothers inject high concept horror with refreshing depth and naturalism conveyed via strong performances and characters who are more than just genre stereotypes. The drama deriving from complex character dynamics, particularly those involving Mia’s ex-boyfriend Daniel (Otis Dhanji), augments cleverly embedded dread and suspense with striking jump scares and gnarly, knife sharp violence.
Talk to Me’s flaws are few and predominantly structural/story related, but there is enough lean meat on its wonky old skeleton to ensure the Philippou brothers’ film stands out in a sea of subpar genre efforts, making this debut horror feature well worth checking out on the big screen before it dissipates into streaming platform purgatory.
