By Edward Bayliss
The Phillipou brothers seem to be the next sibling duo to stamp their seal on the cinematic landscape of the 2020s with the release of their film Talk to Me, made available to the public this summer just gone. An A24 horror film that follows an increasingly esteemed pedigree from the same producers, Talk to Me offers challenging takes on the nature of the supernatural object (in this case an embalmed hand) and its teenage users. I apply the word ‘users’ here because this ceramic hand is presented as an article of obsession for the characters who take turns to enjoy its terrifying ecstasy of possession, all while filming it behind mobile phones. That is until the central character played by Sophie Wilde (embodying brilliantly the dizzying psychologies of childhood grief) believes she has contacted her dead mother through the ‘hand’ and unwittingly unleashes a paranormal presence.
Cue the inevitable line: ‘What if we opened the door but didn’t shut it?’
What follows is an effort spearheaded by Wilde’s character to amend the rift with the parasitic spirits of limbo, while peeling back the mystery surrounding the circumstances of her mother’s death.
This film seems to be cut from the same cloth as The Babadook (2014), a fellow Australian production whose crew involved many of the same that are present in Talk to Me. Despite relatively low budgets, both films explore their respective objects of horror (the Babadook book & the embalmed hand) with a shrewd eye.
The embalmed hand itself is a great object of cinematic invention. Unlike the doll of The Conjuring, or the blood stained hockey mask of Friday the Thirteenth, the hand has an implicit dexterity, angularity, and importantly, a grip; all of which give it an impression of uneasiness. It is white with graffiti all over, displaying its use over the ages by similarly curious teens. There is no heavy-handed discussion of the object’s backstory, and no such origin is questioned in any detail by any of the characters. We are told it is the hand of a medium, that’s it – the rest isn’t important to the plot so isn’t worth dissecting to a tedious degree, allowing for a good pacing and continuation of plot in real time.
A great supporting cast convey convincingly the stubbornness and unforgiving nature of the contemporary teenager navigating relationships at a tricky time in life. They cover most archetypes of the college character, from shy misfits to smug socialites, albeit in a sensitive and reasonable fashion. The characters behave plausibly, while also allowing for decent plot development. Additionally, it must be said that the Phillipou brothers have their fingers on the pulse when they enjoy the strap-line, ‘Possession Goes Viral’, as they capture our era of internet crazes and trends in this absurdly horrific iteration of the phenomenon.
The camera is at its most ‘involved’ in the possession scenes which punctuate the film with regularity. The lens flings itself with the possessed subjects, rotating and jolting as we the observers participate in the rituals with the teens. There is one very clever match-cut wherein our perceptions of horizontal and lateral plains are completely messed with by the camera work as the main character moves seamlessly from reality to her possessed state. Prosthetic effects are used with a potency that will satisfy any gore enthusiast, mainly thanks to a really ‘head banging’ scene relatively early in the film’s run time.
Having not gone too far into the ins and outs of plot, the film does have a tangible and satisfying narrative; it begins with a flashback scene and returns there to embellish it later, suitably connecting the threads. The ending, however, is the exceptionally gripping moment in the drama which will stay with you for some time. Interviews reveal that the directors were sure that the horror would conclude with this twist regardless of what preceded it – I think this says something of its gravity.
Talk to Me has enjoyed some celebrity among the releases of the year so far, and I’m not surprised. It brushes broad strokes across horror history – inviting us into the age old traditions of the candlelit séance and the cursed object all through the zeitgeist lens of the Phillipou pair. This feature directorial debut is one to watch.