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.

‘Talk to Me’ is an Australian supernatural horror movie directed by Danny & Michael Philippou, two Australian YouTubers making their feature film debut. If that pedigree doesn’t exactly scream out at you, this movie does have strong critical acclaim and has performed well at the box office in both Australia and the United States. It is a movie that builds on horror tropes – Ouija boards, possession etc – and creates something fresh in a genre littered with sequels and cheap imitations. For me, it doesn’t quite bring everything together in the final act, but the setup and premise is very well realised and it marks a very solid debut for the aforementioned brothers.

‘Talk To Me’ centres on Mia (breakout star Sophia Wilde), a teenage girl struggling to come to terms with her mother’s death and bond with her father, who has became distant as a result. She spends much of her time at her friend Jade’s (Alexandra Jensen) house, where she lives with her younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) and mother Sue (Miranda Otto). As bored teenagers are wont to do, they seek out thrills and find it in the form of a mummified hand that a couple of their shadier acquaintances have got their hands on. When an individual grasps the hand and says ‘Talk to Me’, it summons a spirit which possesses the individual – temporarily while a candle burns and as long as the possession lasts less than 90 seconds. You will have watched enough horror movies by now to know that yes, that timeline will be breached, and yes, it’ll cause issues that drive a lot of the film forward.

I liked the premise and thought the filmmakers got good mileage from it, and the characters were a bit more distinct and original than the usual archetypes you find in a horror movie. It is also a pretty funny movie (at least until things start to go wrong), with Miranda Otto getting a lot of the best lines as a mother with (justified as it turns out!) concerns about her children. As I mentioned at the outset, I do think it falls apart a bit in the final act and I was a little confused at who was possessing who at this point (perhaps that one is on me!), but as a debut horror movie ‘Talk to Me‘ is an impressive piece of work from the Philippou brothers, with a genuine breakout performance from Sophia Wilde at its core.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Danny & Michael Philippou

Starring: Sophia Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Miranda Otto, Otis Dhanji, Zoe Terakes and Chris Alosio

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt10638522/