“What happens after ninety seconds?” “They’ll want to stay.”

Seventeen-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) continues mourning the death of her mother (Alexandria Steffensen) after two years, straining the relationship with her father (Marcus Johnson). Avoiding confrontation, Mia spends her free time at the home of her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and younger brother Riley (Joe Bird). The three sneak out to a party hosted by Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio) before meeting up with Jade’s boyfriend Daniel (Otis Dhanji), but the star attraction at the gathering is a pale disembodied forearm, with defaced fingers extending into an awaiting handshake. As viewed on recent social media posts, clasping the supposedly embalmed hand connects the living with a random spirit while onlookers record the spectacle of the brief but addictive possession. Secretly hoping to see her mother one last time, Mia volunteers…

Directed by RackaRacka YouTube creators Danny and Michael Philippou from a script by Bill Hinzman and Danny Philippou, the concept combines The Exorcist possession, horror transgression rules, TikTok challenges, and the best new horror prop icon this side of Hellraiser’s Lament Configuration (“It’s yours; it always was.”) The production feels tailor-made to become a cult classic and inspire a generation of cursed object fright films, thanks in no small part to a talented cast of virtual unknowns (Miranda “Praise Satan” Otto not withstanding) and a script that gets under your skin as much as in your face. Currently competing against “Barbenheimer” for theatrical screens in a year with other fresh horror offerings such as Evil Dead Rise, M3GAN, Skinamarink, and The Boogeyman, the low-budget Talk to Me is already a force to be reckoned with. What is it about this tiny A24 studio offering that makes it so compelling and unique?

It’s a known trope in many horror films that depression and despair make a victim vulnerable, luring dark spirits and inviting them to either possess a body, feed on life force, or both; The Boogeyman and Australia’s other big horror import The Babadook played directly into similar concepts. It doesn’t seem fair to require a protagonist to “suck it up” or “just move on” after a personal tragedy just because something supernatural might otherwise get you, but there’s a precedent for it in psychological thrillers with a metaphysical component. Talk to Me goes one step further by telling viewers the rules, but how does anyone know they’re correct? Once a user touches the spiritual plane, how can anything one sees be trusted? The film builds upon each clue even as it winds down to an anticipated reveal, but like the embalmed hand itself, the film stays a few moves ahead, delivering the horrors promised while fulfilling the needs of the story.

In addition to exemplary practical effects and slick edits, the principle cast gets to show off in a bit of a dual role; as each character becomes possessed, they take on the persona of the spirits welcomed in. While not every ghost makes it onscreen, those shown each have a unique appearance consistent with how they met their end ala Beetlejuice, leading to any number of assumptions. The false confidence in the safety protocols when using the hand like a ghost bong is infectious… and perfectly used to manipulate the reaction of the audience. The directors steer clear of false audio-sting jump scares, wielding their box of tricks to go far beyond the expected when everyone’s guard is down. Clocking in with a brisk ninety-minute runtime, there’s no time to consider all the implications while the story unfolds, but the possibilities will live rent-free in viewer’s heads after the credits roll.

Unlike The Pope’s Exorcist, religion isn’t addressed with the scope of Talk to Me; the idea of consulting the clergy never occurs to anyone while dealing with life after death, manipulative spirits, and other occult phenomenon. There’s evidence law enforcement has looked into the incidents but decided none of the social posts or video evidence were relevant. Finally, there are the changing stories in interviews from the Philippou brothers about who created the hand, weird things happening to the prop maker before delivery, and three of the six original prop hands oddly unaccounted for. Not to accuse the filmmakers of cribbing The Blair Witch Project here, there are already ideas for a sequel… but they’ll need to talk to the hand first.

Talk to Me is rated R for strong/bloody violent content, some sexual material, language throughout, and mistreating your body like a temple.

Four skull recommendation out of four

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