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Talk to me movie review: What it is all about?

Talk to me movie review

By Nidhi SharmaPublished 10 months ago 4 min read
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Talk to Me movie review: One of the worst things in “Talk to Me” is how brilliantly Danny and Michael Philippou create a terrible fad that might easily engulf an entire generation. In order to participate in the social media feeding frenzy, one must hold a severed hand encased in clay that has been vandalized with names and symbols that represent a lengthy line of past owners.

Australian teenagers like Mia , Jade (Alexandra Jensen), and subsequently Riley (Joe Bird), Jade’s younger brother, are the most recent participants in this type of game, which involves exposing the players to the deceased for no more than 90 seconds at a time.

The youths quickly spring backward in a chair as the spirits are “let in,” and their pupils suddenly become pitch-black when this occurs (the camera jolts back with them). They asphyxiate, choke, and quiver as if they are going to pass away. While they are being filmed, their excited buddies encircle them. What a rush, as a YouTuber likely once remarked while referring to swallowing Tide pods.

A Contemporary Horror narrative

It’s a wonderful device for a contemporary horror narrative (Daley Pearson is credited with coming up with the idea), and a franchise waiting to happen (in the horror genre, it usually implies a good idea is still there, like when “Final Destination,” “The Purge,” and “Saw” first came out).

Follow – Ups: Talk to Me movie review

In its follow-ups, “Talk to Me movie review” might easily result in more deaths or a directly creepy plot. But the game starts out modestly with an honest pitch that goes straight for the heart; this first episode is about witnessing someone get possessed by terrible sorrow notions and the harm their actions cause to their loved ones.

Talk to Me movie review: There are guidelines on how to do this dance with death “safely,” and in a fast montage that combines partying and possessive play, Mia, her friends, and the hand’s present owners, Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio), give us a fantastic feeling of the intense fun it can be. But when one of the spirits who possesses baby Riley turns out to be Mia’s mother, who committed suicide two years prior, everything changes in a snappy, vicious instant.

What the spirit says: Talk to Me movie review

At least that is what the spirit says. Riley suffers from numerous self-inflicted gashes on their skull as a result of the freaked-out Mia forcing this one connection with the dead to last for too long. This is an effort by the ghost to kill Riley.

The second half of “Talk to Me” suffers from being yet another contemporary horror film based on the anguish of loss, but Sophie Wilde’s great performance adds a remarkable number of dimensions.

Talk to Me movie review: Not only is Mia attempting to maintain communication with her mother, but she also needs to avoid alienating her new family, which includes Riley, Jade, and their protective mother Sue (played with dry harshness by Miranda Otto). Since Mia is such an upbeat character with a consistent yellow clothing that always stands out and nice sequences with Riley, like when the Philippous hard-cut to them early on blasting out Sia’s “Chandelier” during a nighttime car ride, we desperately want Mia to be okay.

The Philippous rarely show us the TikToks or Snapchats that capture these things, but we do not need to see them since writers Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman let kids be teens, which results in these bizarre circumstances playing out just as they might in real life.

As Circumstances worsen for individuals

The individuals simply become more obstinate as circumstances worsen and become even more dangerous when everything starts to fall apart and souls are on the line. “Talk to Me” has the simple wisdom of a coming-of-age story, and even while it occasionally gets the audience to laugh in incredulity, it never talks down to the viewers on whom it is intended to reflect.

Especially for aficionados of well-made blood-dripping head wounds, sound design that makes you cringe without resorting on jump scares, and an unfriendly tone, “Talk to Me” contains plenty of nasty enjoyment. Additionally, the film’s comical possession moments keep getting better (the youthful actors of the film is outstanding writhing in those chairs, even though the makeup for possession seems familiar to so many previous movies).

It is difficult to avoid seeing “Talk to Me”‘s terrifying opening sequence, a one-shot through an unrelated party, as an isolated red herring that is not followed through by the rest of the movie. However, “Talk to Me” can rely too much of its brilliance on merely being a solid pitch that is best fulfilled later.

General Restraint is commendable

Talk to Me movie review: The film’s general restraint is commendable, and it is most evident in the several instances where the camera stays fixed on a person’s terrified face while we can infer what ghoul they are staring at. But despite the potential of its wonderful concept, “Talk to Me” runs the risk of being too conservative.

Whether or not we receive additional rounds from this hand of fate, “Talk to Me” endures as the Philippous’s stunning and assured directorial debut; his propensity for hyperactive YouTube fight and prank vids is particularly obvious in this film’s emotional carnage. The Philippous have effectively transitioned into feature filmmaking with such a lighthearted parody of a possession narrative, but it will need a little more genre inventiveness for us to keep talking about them.

Read more on full review on this movie.

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About the Creator

Nidhi Sharma

Welcome to my world of letters, words and knowledge, where imagination knows no bounds and stories come to life with every stroke of the pen. My purpose is to ignite a passion for reading, learning and exploring new perspectives. Love.

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