‘Talk to Me’ review: Australian terror proves it’s better not to talk to the dead

After a short prologue, the meaning of which is not clear until later, we meet Mia (Sophie Wilde), a high school student who, since her mother’s suicide two years earlier, has spent a lot of time away from her father (Marcus Johnson). Mia prefers the less bleak home of her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), her little brother Riley (Joe Bird) and their single mother Sue (Miranda Otto), even if it’s a bit awkward for Jade to date Daniel (Otis Dhanji), who he was Mia’s first boyfriend.

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All of the aforementioned teenagers attend a house party hosted by Joss (Chris Alosio) and the mean-spirited Hayley (Zoe Terakes). Those two have an ace up their sleeve: possession of a plaster hand that looks like someone’s sculpture project from art class, but is supposedly the amputated and embalmed limb of “a psychic”… Yeah, sure. However, when uttering some magical words, something alarming happens: The person holding the hand first spies a macabre spirit and then is “possessed” by it. No one else can see what they see, but the strange behavior that ensues leads to spectacular and sometimes embarrassing Snapchat posts.

Eager to shed her image as the weird girl whose mother committed suicide, Mia volunteers, later declaring the experience “incredible,” if also a bit terrifying. Soon, she and Jade arrange another such gathering, while Sue is safe for the night. But this time things get out of control, especially after Mia makes the reckless decision to let little Riley try to get “groped”, and comes off much worse off. There is now a fear that malevolent spirits on the other side of the supernatural divide have “crossed over” and are no longer controlled by the hand or its users.

In its basic concept, “Talk to Me” resembles a number of recent occult, contagion, and curse thrillers, as well as “Flatliners,” with young protagonists stalked from the afterlife by some predatory force they have foolishly opened up to. a portal. But the script tries to add depth to that formula by making it a film haunted not only by demons, but also by pain: Mia desperately hopes to communicate with her late mother, whose loss she cannot accept, and she is not the only character who He becomes vulnerable because of these longings.

The skilled performers are able to flesh out these higher than usual psychological challenges in a hair-raising movie. His earnest efforts only go so far, however, in lending “Talk to Me” emotional weight, when his balance of melodrama, dark humor, and fantasy is relatively smooth in directing execution but wobbly in script terms. .

The “hand” thing is an enigma, which is fair. But otherwise the narrative is too literal to be so vague. Leaving blank not only the question of where they come from, but also who the evil spirits are, if there is any method to their madness, if they can be transferred from one body to another, etc., makes for more confusing plot twists than witty. The tongue-in-cheek ending is well done, but it would have more punch if it didn’t muddy the waters even more.

Even so, the main complaint is that “Talk to Me” has all the elements to be truly creepy, shocking, and mind-blowing, but it’s a disappointment that it’s not executed well enough to be all of that, rather than just entertaining. When it comes to more recent horror movies, the result is above average. Resistance to surprise jumps and a sleek and appealing visual aesthetic, along with the solid professionalism of the package, suggest that the Philippous are quick learners and are long past their prankster days.