Talk to Me – Film Review

Directors – Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Writers – Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman, Daley Pearson
Stars – Ari McCarthy, Hamish Phillips, Kit Erhart-Bruce

Do you ever wonder what teens get up to at weekends? If you think it’s all drinking in a park, you’re hopelessly out of date. These days, it’s all about summoning the dead and letting them take control of your body! That’s what we’re led to believe from this new film, anyway. Talk to Me tells the story of one such teen, Mia (Sophie Wilde), who goes to a party with her friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and Jade’s kid brother Riley (Joe Bird). This particular gathering has the strangest party game in existence. They take turns holding a strange sculpture of a hand, believed to contain the actual embalmed hand of a clairvoyant. If you utter the words ‘Talk to Me’ you see a undead presence in front of you. If you say the words ‘I let you in’ the spirit can take control of your body! If this all sounds a bit dangerous, be sure to know that the partygoers are careful to ensure that the spirit is not allowed to stay inside the body for longer than 90 seconds. What could possibly go wrong?

This is the debut film by the Philippou brothers, Michael and Danny, who both had roles in the production team of The Babadook, one listed as Additional Crew, while the other worked in the camera department. While both sound like relatively small roles, they were obviously paying attention! The film gets a lot of things right. The production was made for a paltry $4.5m, which wouldn’t even pay for an A-listers entourage.

There are some flaws, as the sound in some sections is of dubious quality. I found myself missing sections of the script as it was more or less unintelligible. This only affects a few scenes and for the most part, it is perfectly clear. This film is reminiscent of ‘It Follows’ in the way it deals with teenagers and a strange curse that affects them for relatively minor actions they commit. The script is gripping and it doesn’t rely purely on jump scares like so many of its Hollywood contemporaries. The ending is another slight flaw as it doesn’t seem as creative as what went before and is flawed by its own logic, but really there is much to admire about this original and exciting new Horror. It is bound to get a sequel, or dare I say it, the most terrible of fates; a Hollywood remake!