Film Brain talks to the hand in his review of A24's Australian indie hit, which is getting a deserving reputation of terrifying audiences worldwide.
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00:00 This video is sponsored by Movie Palette.
00:02 Hello and welcome to Projector, and on this episode, Sophie Wilde takes talking to the hand a little bit too far
00:09 in A24's Australian horror film, Talk To Me.
00:13 [music]
00:29 Still Mourning the Death of Her Mother Rhea, played by Alexandria Stephenson,
00:32 Mia, played by Sophie Wilde, takes her friend Jade and Jade's brother Riley,
00:36 played by Alexandra Jensen, Joe Burr respectively, to a house party where the teens are using a
00:41 mysterious embalmed hand to contact the dead and become temporarily possessed.
00:46 As Mia and the teens continue to use the hand, they lose control of the contact and Mia begins
00:51 to see visions even when not using the hand as the line between the living and the dead
00:56 becomes dangerously blurred.
00:58 Talk To Me is the direct full debut of Australian twins Danny and Michael Filippo,
01:02 the duo behind the YouTube channel RackaRacka, which specialise in stunt,
01:07 prank and horror videos, and I've got to be honest, I've not seen any of their work.
01:12 Sorry lads, I'm sure the 1 billion views you've got on your channel more than makes up for that.
01:17 But the Filippo twins have been wanting to get into filmmaking for quite some time,
01:20 and have often worked as behind-the-scenes crew members on a number of Australian productions
01:25 to kind of get their foot in the door and see how the process works,
01:29 including most notably on Jennifer Kent's The Babadook.
01:32 And it seems like if you want to make a great horror movie,
01:35 that seems like a good place to learn your craft.
01:38 Talk To Me was the big hit at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
01:43 It was the big indie horror hit that was soon acquired by A24,
01:48 which is pretty much a badge of honour for this kind of movie.
01:52 So certainly there is a lot of hype behind the movie,
01:56 and the Filippo twins have already managed to get themselves a deal
01:59 directing a Street Fighter movie in the future.
02:03 And there's an easy reason to see why,
02:05 because once you see Talk To Me, you won't stop talking about it.
02:10 Talk To Me at its core is quite simple and straightforward in its storytelling,
02:15 especially reliant on familiar possession tropes.
02:18 But it takes those ideas and gives them a fresh modern spin.
02:22 There's especially relevance to today's teenagers in a social media age.
02:26 The hand isn't just some urban legend that's passed down from party to party,
02:31 but it becomes like a viral event to itself in that people post about it online,
02:36 and then others feel that they have to try it.
02:38 It becomes this social dare, and together they're each trying to
02:42 push each other's limits and then post about it.
02:45 And that's an interesting angle.
02:47 And wisely, the Filippo twins decide that the hand itself
02:52 isn't really the object of interest.
02:55 They're not really focusing on the story of the hand.
02:59 You get enough information of it, and you get the rules of it,
03:03 and you know that it's obviously connected to
03:05 someone who once had the power to talk to the dead.
03:08 But there's actually a scene where two characters are talking about the hand,
03:11 and they actually are contradicting stories about where it came from,
03:16 which suggests that it's been passed down so long
03:19 that people have actually forgotten where its origins are,
03:23 which is much more interesting because that means that it becomes more unknowable.
03:28 It becomes something scarier.
03:30 A lot of films like this do actually have a very heavy investive element,
03:33 something like The Ring or more recently Smile,
03:36 where the characters are trying to track down the origin of what's pursuing them
03:40 to try and get out of their situation.
03:42 And at points, even going to good old Google, "How do I get out of a death curse?"
03:47 And the Filippos don't go down that route.
03:51 And apparently, they did actually submit the script to a number of Hollywood studios
03:55 who often came back with the note, "Can you add a subplot
03:59 where the characters search for the origin of the hand?"
04:02 And they went, "No, we're not doing that because it's not very interesting."
04:06 And that is the right answer.
04:08 I do feel like that kind of procedural element has become very raw.
04:12 Often as a way of just trying to stretch out a story to feature length
04:17 rather than trying to actually do anything with it.
04:21 And it shows that they have much more on their mind with Talk To Me
04:24 than just making a simple, straightforward horror movie.
04:28 There is actually some genuine substance here.
04:31 That's probably a quite bad turn of phrase considering where I'm about to go,
04:35 but I'm just going to stick with it.
04:36 The hand is pretty clearly meant to function as a metaphor,
04:39 specifically about drug abuse.
04:42 It's something that gets passed around at the party,
04:45 and the characters are getting off on the thrill of it,
04:48 on the danger of it, of the excitement of it.
04:52 They have to surrender themselves literally to it.
04:55 And so you get these extreme reactions and personality changes,
05:00 and they're all being filmed on their phone cameras.
05:04 In fact, it's often a thing that pops up in this movie
05:07 in that people keep filming scenes even when they probably shouldn't be,
05:11 even when the characters are at their absolute lowest and most embarrassing moments.
05:17 And that is a deliberate critique on the part of the filmmakers,
05:21 the way these characters put themselves into vulnerable positions
05:25 simply for clout, essentially.
05:28 But of course, they get off on that at first,
05:31 and then the dangers start to become more apparent.
05:35 They start to become more manifested, and then it goes out of control.
05:40 And the problem is that once that happens,
05:43 there are some characters that just simply don't know when to quit.
05:47 They are addicted to using the hand,
05:50 even though it is pretty clear that the more they use it,
05:55 the more self-destructive it becomes.
05:58 But nevertheless, they're seduced by it.
06:00 And so the allegory is pretty obvious to see,
06:04 but it's not done in a way that feels heavy-handed or moralising.
06:09 It more feels like a cautionary tale.
06:11 And this isn't something that I've pulled out of thin air.
06:13 There are several moments where the characters bring up the subject of drugs,
06:17 specifically Jade's mother Sue, played by Miranda Otto,
06:21 who is depicted as being quite savvy.
06:23 She knows that the kids are kind of up to no good because that's what they do.
06:28 But also, she's very firm.
06:30 She doesn't want drugs in this house
06:33 and kind of gives the little interrogation at the door once the party-goers arrive.
06:38 And so you have that there that's clearly meant to put in our mind
06:42 that this is what the film is actually about.
06:45 That seems very pointed.
06:47 And there are several moments that kind of allude to the metaphor as well.
06:52 But it is also a movie about grief.
06:55 Mia is dealing with the anniversary of her mother's death.
06:58 And clearly, there is a lot of unresolved feelings within her about that.
07:03 Not least of which, because the way that her mother died,
07:06 it's not clear at first whether that was accidental or not.
07:12 And that's probably about as far as I can say on that particular issue on YouTube.
07:17 But nevertheless, there is this sense that maybe Mia is deliberately avoiding the subject
07:23 because there might be some truths that are unpleasant about it.
07:27 Especially because she spends a lot of time with Jade and Riley.
07:31 They essentially become her second family as a way of escaping from her own.
07:36 Her father keeps calling her on her phone and she keeps avoiding the calls.
07:41 Over the course of this movie,
07:43 Mia not only has a motivation for keep on using the hand,
07:48 but also why she's drawn towards it in the first place.
07:52 There is something about it that makes her want to keep coming back to the hand
07:57 and having that connection to the other side because of that possibility.
08:02 Mia's discomfort with death is established early on in a scene
08:05 where she's driving Riley to Jade's house
08:07 and they encounter an injured kangaroo in the road.
08:10 And Riley suggests putting it out of its misery.
08:13 But Mia struggles to go through with the act
08:16 and ultimately decides to opt out of it and simply drive away.
08:21 And this actually reminded me of a very similar scene
08:23 in another recent Australian horror film called Sissy,
08:27 which is on Shudder and came out last year.
08:30 And it does feel like these two movies actually would make a good double feature with each other.
08:35 They do have kind of similar ideas in some respect,
08:38 particularly with modern social media culture.
08:42 But this scene establishes that Mia struggles to go through with that action.
08:48 And that's something that comes back later in the movie.
08:51 She struggles to do what might be the right thing in that action,
08:56 even if it's unpleasant.
08:57 I don't actually agree with that opinion,
08:59 but that's clearly what the film is imply in that particular moment.
09:03 And Sophie Wilde is absolutely fantastic in this movie.
09:06 She's a relative newcomer, but I could easily see this being a star-making role for her
09:11 that puts it on a lot of people's radars.
09:13 In fact, she was already on mine because she impressed me earlier this year
09:17 in the Henson Back fantasy movie, The Portable Door,
09:20 which funnily enough also co-starred Miranda Otto,
09:23 where she made the most out of a kind of underwritten love interest.
09:27 But here, front and center, Wilde really shines.
09:31 She gives the character a lot of empathy, particularly in the more dramatic scenes,
09:36 where you understand her mindset, if not necessarily all of her decisions.
09:40 But the way she commits to the physicality of the part,
09:43 especially in the possession scenes,
09:46 now that is really outstanding,
09:49 especially in that first scene where she's taking control of the hand,
09:53 and she turns into this completely different person,
09:57 and she just becomes so threatening and so menacing
10:02 in the way that she just uses her gestures.
10:05 It's phenomenal acting.
10:07 Wilde shows a lot of promise in this movie.
10:11 And I know that some people say that Mia isn't a likeable character,
10:14 but that's not the point.
10:16 She is grieving, after all.
10:18 She's not making the best decisions because,
10:20 A, we wouldn't have a movie,
10:22 and B, you aren't thinking totally rationally in that mindset.
10:26 Sometimes you do make selfish decisions.
10:29 That is indeed the point.
10:31 The allegory of the movie is the fact that she keeps on using the hand,
10:35 even after the point where it's established
10:38 there is a danger to herself and her friends,
10:41 because she thinks the more she keeps using it,
10:44 the more she can try and control it,
10:46 the way that she can try and reverse what has happened to her and her friends,
10:51 and only realizes, maybe too late,
10:54 that actually it's poisoning her.
10:56 She's become seduced by it,
10:59 and she doesn't realize that the more she keeps using it,
11:02 the worse she's becoming,
11:04 and she's trying to justify it to herself.
11:07 She's trying to justify her actions.
11:09 She thinks she's right,
11:11 but in actuality, she's out of control,
11:14 and doesn't even realize it.
11:16 I'm not trying to excuse the writing here,
11:19 because that's precisely what it's trying to accomplish.
11:22 It's trying to show someone that is in a spiral,
11:25 but doesn't even know that they are in one.
11:27 But enough talking about metaphor.
11:29 Is it actually scary on its own terms?
11:32 And I would emphatically say, yes, it is.
11:35 And for the first half of the movie, it's in a fun way.
11:38 You like the characters at the party.
11:39 You're enjoying the vicarious thrill of watching these people
11:42 become possessed in front of you.
11:44 It becomes its own kind of spectacle
11:46 that's unpredictable and volatile,
11:49 and that's part of the enjoyment of it.
11:51 But also, there's a bit of dark humor
11:54 running through these possession scenes,
11:56 especially because it's an out-of-body experience,
11:58 and these characters are doing things
12:00 that are quite disturbing and embarrassing,
12:03 and that's all part of the joke, essentially.
12:05 There's a moment involving a dog
12:08 that actually made a couple of people walk out in my screening.
12:11 But certainly, there's a bit of an amusement from that,
12:15 and there is some uneasy laughter from the audience
12:18 at certain other moments as well.
12:21 And I do think there is some points of comparison
12:23 to movies like Flatliners, for example.
12:26 It does have that kind of idea of young people
12:29 playing around with the boundaries of life and death.
12:32 They turn it into a game, essentially,
12:35 like the characters in that movie,
12:38 and then the game goes too far,
12:41 and then suddenly, it's not a game anymore.
12:44 And here's the thing.
12:46 About halfway through the movie,
12:48 there is a major sequence
12:50 where the tone of the film completely changes.
12:54 This is a key plot point for the entire second half of the movie,
12:57 and A24 have completely left it out of the publicity,
13:00 which is a wise decision
13:01 because it maintains the shock of this moment.
13:04 They have a lot of experience in doing that,
13:06 in cutting trailers that don't give too much away,
13:09 and in some cases, deliberately mislead the audience.
13:13 And I'm going to try and maintain that as best as possible
13:16 because Talk To Me is best viewed
13:18 without knowing all these surprises in advance.
13:21 But this is a scene where you know
13:23 that something bad is going to happen,
13:26 and then the way that it plays out
13:29 is so much worse than you thought it would be.
13:32 It's at that moment that Talk To Me
13:34 reveals its true sting in the tail
13:37 and just how dark it really is.
13:40 It has a really nasty streak to it,
13:43 but not for its own sake.
13:45 It is very purposeful,
13:48 and it's the kind of scene that, in my audience,
13:51 absolutely stunned them completely.
13:54 You could hear a pin drop after this scene played.
13:57 We were all completely shell-shocked by this moment,
14:02 and it carries through to the entire second half of the movie.
14:05 Suddenly, you spend the whole of that portion of the film
14:08 completely on edge.
14:10 I'm not lying here.
14:12 This is the most tense I have been during a horror movie
14:16 in a very, very long time.
14:18 I don't think I've actually been genuinely as chilled
14:23 by a horror film since the time I watched It Follows.
14:27 I felt really, really unnerved
14:30 by what happened in that scene,
14:33 and with each passing twist and development,
14:35 the movie gets darker and bleaker,
14:39 and it commits to it.
14:41 It doesn't pull any punches.
14:44 Talk To Me is absolutely pitch black,
14:48 and the more it goes down into this disturbing hole,
14:52 the more compelling it gets,
14:54 and that's also a testament to Philippo's direction as well
14:59 in that they know how to turn those screws on the audience.
15:04 It's a really impressive and assured debut from them.
15:08 Yes, their cinematography is really energetic and youthful,
15:13 and certainly that makes the movie stand out,
15:15 particularly in the montage sequences,
15:18 but I think what really impresses
15:20 is just how in command of the direction they are,
15:24 and there's a reason why the direction feels so assured.
15:27 It's because they're not debut directors in the conventional sense.
15:30 The Philippo brothers have made plenty of horror shorts on YouTube.
15:34 That was their film school,
15:36 so this movie is the culmination of all those efforts,
15:41 everything that they've learned in how to use the genre,
15:44 how to work an audience,
15:46 and how to build tension and suspense.
15:48 Even scenes you've seen done in tons of other horror movies
15:52 have this kind of off-kilter edge.
15:55 They're done in ways that feel different than other horror movies,
16:00 and this kind of scrappy vibe that they bring to the film
16:04 in terms of their direction,
16:05 but also because it's an indie movie,
16:08 they make the best of it,
16:10 and so it genuinely feels unpredictable
16:13 in a way that a lot of its studio cousins just honestly can't.
16:18 That shows that these two have so much potential in the future,
16:23 but also I think we're seeing the actualization of something
16:26 that I think people have been theorizing for a while
16:29 in that we are seeing that transition from YouTube to filmmaking.
16:33 That pipeline is actually coming to fruition.
16:36 I can see a lot of people starting to make that jump,
16:40 and I think we're going to see a very big seismic shift,
16:45 not just in terms of horror,
16:46 but in terms of all genres in the terms of the way films are made,
16:50 and "Talk to Me" is a very promising example of what might be in the future.
16:56 We're currently in a very strong period for horror as a genre,
16:59 but even by those standards, "Talk to Me" stands out.
17:02 It's an audacious calling card for a number of very promising potential talents,
17:07 including the Filippo twins,
17:09 but also Sophie Wilde,
17:10 who absolutely carries this movie on her back
17:13 with a fearless, completely committed performance.
17:17 She is absolutely one to watch out for,
17:21 but this movie genuinely got under my skin
17:25 in a way that even critically acclaimed horror movies
17:27 in the last few years haven't.
17:29 Even the ones that have had a lot of hype behind them,
17:31 like "Barbarian,"
17:32 I found a little bit underwhelming when I saw them.
17:35 That's not the case with "Talk to Me."
17:38 There is something genuinely quite rattling about this movie,
17:43 and I think that's because even though it has a relatively simple story,
17:47 it's done with such verve,
17:49 but also it does actually have some storytelling depth to it at its center,
17:55 and I think that's what really resonates.
17:58 And I think if you're a horror fan,
18:00 this is absolutely one you've got to see.
18:03 I dare you.
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18:56 Until next time, I'm Matthew Buck, fading out.