Talk to Me (2022)

phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2023

Talk to Me

IMDb Info

Release Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 35m
Country: Australia, UK
Language: English
Genre Tags: Horror, Thriller
Plot Summary: When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

Poster - Title Card

phancy.com rating:

phancy.com notes: Freshest new horror I've seen since It Follows. 90 minutes of dread, punctuated by horrific violence and disorienting fear. Takes a great premise and runs with it to the logical conclusion while keeping it grounded in character, rather than plot. Strong lead performance of how grief can lead to making some poor decisions.

Outside Reviews:

Nick Allen
3 out of 4 stars - rogerebert.com

Whether or not we get more rounds with this hand of fate, "Talk to Me" lingers as a striking and confident directorial debut from the Philippous, whose penchant for hyper-active YouTube fight and prank vids is mostly evident in this movie's emotional carnage. With such a playful send-up on a possession story, the Philippous have successfully crossed over into feature filmmaking, but it will take a little more genre ingenuity for us to keep talking about them.

Lauren Coates
Grade: B+ - A gripping tale of adolescent dread

Certainly, Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman's understated yet deft script (based on a concept by Daley Pearson) is a crucial element in painting such a visceral portrait of Mia's sorrow, but the true emotional meat of Talk To Me comes from Wilde's all-encompassing performance. With her massive eyes and rail-thin frame, she sometimes looks more like a wild, terrified animal than a young woman—constantly hunching in on herself, riddled with tension, and twitching like an addict the more she begins to rely on the hand as a way to commune with her mother.