Please don’t tell my mom this, but as a youngster, I experimented a few times with tarot cards and Ouija boards. I was 13 and fascinated to try playing with something new and unique, but when that first weird event happened, I was pretty much done and have not messed with those types of things since. Looking back, I accept the possibility of these types of things being more in my head than messing with the afterlife, but there is always that possibility. It is these types of things that are dealt with in Talk to Me.
Directed by brothers known for their RackaRacka YouTube channel, Danny and Michael (who also co-wrote the script) Philippou, this cast includes Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, Marcus Johnson, and Alexandria Steffensen. Mia (Wilde) and her circle of friends find an object that is told to them to be an embalmed hand from a medium that when a certain phrase is uttered, a spirit is freed and inhabits the speaker. The catch is that the longer the hand is held, the power of this dark spirit grows and gets closer to total possession. As its power grows amongst Mia and her friends, she tries to stop it before it goes too far.
This is an A24 release (who specializes in the crazy and scary) from Australia, so there is a different feel, which is not a bad thing, but it’s not the normal American type of film, story, and in some types of terminology. Wilde has not had a lot of credits to her name, but she does a very good job here carrying the story, engaging the role and selling each and every scene she is in. Even though Miranda Otto has a smaller role as the mother of one of the group, she definitely gets a shout out from me here as the “cool mom” that also understands when she needs to fully commit in the more tense moments.
Even though Talk to Me is definitely a horror film, there are some comedic moments to help break the monotony, which works well. There are a few jump scare scenes here, which kept me fully interested as each moment led to the next. Even though there were more than a few moments where I was pretty sure what was coming, it was all done very well. The gore and violence is done just to the right level in a way that may not be on the level of The Shining but also not done for the sake of just doing it. This should really be seen in a dark theater at a matinee weekend showing so you can be with a larger group of people, and that will make it that much more fun.
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