Talk To Me: Original Horror Movie Idea done RIGHT!

Talk To Me Joins the Horror Resurgence

In my opinion, overall the recent horror landscape over the past 5 years has been adding banger after banger to the genre, and Talk To Me joins that list. At its core it’s a possession film, but leave it to A24 and credit to the Rackaracka fellas for putting a unique spin on a possession film, adding in elements such as extreme guilt, violence, portrayals of limbo/hell, and having a cast of characters that WORK. Horror is an art form that can allow for extremely original ideas to be invested in and A24 taking a chance with this film paid off greatly. Sophia Wilde arrives in this movie and shows that she can hang with some of the best leads in making a horror film about possession feel like so much more.

While I expected it to be much scarier, to my own fault after seeing comparisons to Hereditary, the creep factor and scary imagery was still present throughout. They chose to not use cheap jump scares, but to make their audience feel through the characters and use sound and imagery to get under our skin. And it worked. I wish it was a little scarier, it’s a short run time and I felt like I didn’t get popped out my seat, but at the core it’s a very good film on an original idea which I will always applaud.

The Hand Medium and Party Tricks

I want to buy this hand so badly once they make it available to buy. Not to use it like the kids did as a party trick, but just because it’s such a dope ass prop from its design and uniqueness. They didn’t explain too much about it which I LOVED. Left it open to us to wonder about its origin and I love that so much more than the extensive monologue that happens so often to over-explain something before the third act. The kids basically get a high off using this hand to be possessed for thirty seconds and sharing a video in the group chat or social media is exactly what todays kids would do if they had this. I also appreciate how in touch the filmmakers were with todays generation. The actors felt like they actually made sense and weren’t a 55 year old trying to write lines for a 17 year old character. There were a ton of crude dick or sex jokes that I felt like we’re at times overused, but I got used to them and it’s picky to say it took away from the film for me.

Alright, now THE SCENE. When Riley gets possessed and proceeds to get fucked up while being possessed by Mia’s “mom” was so hard to watch. In a good way. The theatre was silent, as a viewer you almost felt the corners he was banging his head into, as you internally wished for it to stop and for him not to continue badgering his head in. It was brutal. Such an effective use of gore and violence to make a statement that this shit is no joke. I loved how effective it was and the impact it causes throughout after. This just adds to the guilt felt in the film, and is the beginning steps to the guilt being too much for Mia to handle.

Mia, Guilt, The Kangaroo

This film is built on guilt, from the suffering Kangaroo, the feeling of guilt her father also has about the situation with her mom, and of course Mia’s guilt over Riley. The most prevalent is Mia’s guilt over letting Riley feel the hand. She starts considering wild options in order to suppress and cure the guilt she is living with, like wanting to play the game with an unconscious Riley even. Guilt can make someone consider unspeakable things. She sees Riley suffering and giving into her guilt at one point to “put him out of his misery” like she chose not to do with the Kangaroo earlier almost resulted in the spirits being able to take Riley forever.

Final Thoughts

This film explores guilt and several emotions in a way that is extremely refreshing and really well crafted. From nervousness with Mia always picking at her nails, to the interactions she has with her dad that add an entire layer to her character in my opinion just feeling like she has to deal with her mothers loss and all these problems ongoing all on her own. The character design is really well done. I loved seeing a unique look to the spirits in limbo, as well as the “Society” like Hell we saw Riley was experiencing in the vision with the little girl. Mia was being manipulated by a spirit that was pretending to be her mother in my interpretation, and the shocking stabbing of her father blew my mind away. Her then being hit by the car and you see her in a sense of limbo with no reflection in the mirror of herself shows that her nightmare she spoke of earlier has become reality. She now lives as a spirit in the limbo waiting for someone to grab a medium and say “talk to me.” I’m very excited to see how they explore a prequel or sequel they said they have already shot. I think they have so much more they can come up with to add to the story and world they’ve built 975 in Talk To Me.

– C. A. Roethle