Imagine for a moment that you’ve just arrived to a party with some friends. Yes, this is unlikely now that we’re all introverted, but follow me here. You just grabbed your first plate of snacks and have sat down to chat. That’s when the host opens a duffel bag and drops a heavy ceramic hand on the table.
They announce that it’s time to begin and explain the rules. “This is simple, but you must listen closely. Someone must sit in a chair and be willing to be strapped down for their own safety. Once you’re secure, reach out to the strange hand that’s outstretched to you and place your hand in it, as if you’re shaking the hand. Once you do, simply say ‘Talk to me.’ You are guaranteed to see a ghost sitting right across from you. “
Everyone in the room laughs in disbelief and people start having their own conversations. The host butts in. “Not only will you see something you don’t want to, but the second part allows us all to communicate with that spirit. Don’t worry! As long as we stop the link within 90 seconds and take the hand away, the ghost can’t stay. All you have to say before the connection happens is ‘I let you in.’ Any volunteers?”
This is the concept behind the new A24 festival horror hit, Talk to Me. This is the first feature for brothers Danny and Michael Philippou and it might have just revitalized the teen horror genre. They’ve created a sincere teen horror experience. For too long, we’ve seen actors deliver lines that are all too clever, while they are too old to portray actual teens or seem believable. The teenage cast here, lead by Sophia Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, and Joe Bird, act like genuine teenagers. They are over-excitable and also willing to cross lines of logic and safety because they feel invulnerable.
Horror movies have really struggled to adapt to the convenience of phones and technology. While Talk to Me doesn’t necessarily need phones to keep the horror going, it plays on the culture of teens seeing viral videos of something unbelievable and dangerous and feeling compelled to be part of it. It shouldn’t be scary to see a ghost in a well-lit room when all of your friends are recording you, but for the person seeing the apparition, it’s a look into a hellish afterworld.
Many moviegoers might purposely avoid A24 due to the studio’s focus on horror subversion. They’re a brand that is more keen to weird you out rather than terrify you. Thankfully, this movie is easily their most accessible. It’s a straight-forward horror with several familiar tropes. Similar to It Follows, the movie goes into the territory of why it’s so important to never break the set rules with the risk of facing horrifying consequences.
Sophia Wilde’s Mia is the focus of the story. Because of her previous trauma, she has allowed things to go a little too far and to allow herself and those around her to be haunted. The hauntings go further than seeing jump scares when they’re least expected. Instead, her own particular demons play on her trauma and seek to confuse every action she does. These scenes do veer away from the scary and lean more into depression, but it builds on her character and her natural impulsiveness.
Horror is in a good place with new voices like Zack Cregger (Barbarian) and these brothers. I hope they continue to make horror for at least a few more years instead of doing the typical indie horror to cape flick transition.
Talk to Me isn’t necessarily a game-changer for the horror genre, but rather a welcome return to familiar tropes that have the power to unnerve the most desensitized among us. This has all the potential to be the next big horror franchise, but as it stands on its own, it’s a total thrill ride. A-
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