‘Talk to Me’ Review: A Haunting Examination of Social Media and Possession!
Talk to Me (2022) is a horror film that is all the rage the last couple weeks. It has two directors, Danny and Michael Philoppou (RackaRacka). The film is a coming-of-age story of partying teenagers willing to be possessed by demons on social media ‘safely for 90 seconds maximum’, when holding a psychic’s hand wrapped in plaster and instantiating the words “Talk to Me.” Ask and ye shall receive, as sure as Candy Man in a bee factory, kids everywhere have made possession go viral in this world subjugated and categorized by literally being possessed by others online and on video ‘forever’. It’s a good metaphor for the attention seeking narcissistic culture and the lengths and risks they are willing to take to ‘be seen’.
The star of Talk to Me is Sophie Wilde, playing Mia, a black girl who lost her mother and checks out on her workaholic father, to embrace her real family, her friends in her predominantly white neighborhood. Mia is written as the outsider needing to prove herself in this habitat, but she has a small band of real friends she clings to but is unable to express her grief with them in a meaningful way.
We begin with a party. An Aussie is searching for his brother, Duckett. No one knows him, but he continues his search. Duckett is locked in a bedroom. His brother breaks thru the door to get him out of what might be a drug binge. However, Duckett seems possessed when he utters “Pop said you hurt a lot of people.” To which his brother, we are now assuming says “Pop’s dead, Duckett.” He comes out of the room, drugged-out/possessed and everyone has their phones out to record the moment of Duckett’s weakness. He tells them all to put their phones away and Duckett’s brother tells them to “fuck off!” (Tangent: I somehow feel this real-life drug weakness shaming is what sparked the concept, leading with a real event, then transferring to the ‘high concept’ which is legitimate and works to ground the concept. Tangent Outskirts: Whether this concept is then exploited thoroughly enough is of course the debate of this film. What does it mean ‘not to explore a concept deeply enough’? Is it merely to preserve cache for sequels? Likely. But to not exploit it enough leaves me feeling this might end up another It Follows. A flash-in-the-pan concept that worked as a one trick pony — albeit with incredible set designs — then poof! Dated! I do hope this movie finds its way clear of becoming ‘content’ and fleshes out in future films that expand the premise, but we are getting ahead of things). So, brother tells them all to “fuck off!” Then Duckett springs back onto the screen and knifes his brother in the chest. Everyone screams and runs away (no one pulls him off him? What the…? Must be a rich kid party). Then Duckett walks outside and stabs himself in the head.
Mia is at a funeral for her mother. Her father is seen in the background as almost a ghost himself. Her Auntie asks “what do you want to do after school? Work with your father?” She laugh-cries through the question. Her father asks her how she was doing today. She replies tensely, “Fine.” She then gets the call from her real family, her friends, and she’s out like the vapor.
On her way to her friend’s house she picks up young Riley and sings Sia’s ‘Chandelier’, a perfect lead in before the needle drops and Mia stops the car to suffering, dying Kangaroo out on the road. Are you getting those Get Out vibes yet? Mia is tasked with ‘ending it’s suffering’ as the elder in the car. But she chickens out and doesn’t want the death to be final. She is in denial perhaps of her mother’s passing, not wanting to solidify it let alone participate in it physically, metaphorically, or symbolically. She lets the beast do her suffering for her, passing it to the sacrificial kangaroo.
Mia ends up at Jade’s house, played by Alexandra Jensen. Jade is a promiscuous girl who does it for the attention, to not be perceived as ‘boring’. A perennial endemic of young girls entering puberty.
The core scene unfolds as Mia, Jade, and Riley are at a party where she is peer pressured into possessing herself for the 90-seconds but accidentally goes over the time limit. She is possessed and convincingly so. This is one of the more convincing supernatural ‘other’ performances since Jordan Peele’s Us, as portrayed by the criminally underrated Lupita Nyong’o. But I would say this performance matches it which is saying something given the age difference of actors involved and given that Lupita Nyong’o is an Academy award winning actress. Sophie Wilde has a bright future ahead indeed.
A series of parties occur where possessions take place by shaking the dead psychic’s hand while saying “Talk to Me.” Mia is possessed, and at first, she is fine afterwards.
Jade’s boyfriend volunteers his possession and confesses she doesn’t turn him on, but Mia does. Thus, humiliating Jade and flattering Mia peripherally. Then he injures himself and falls to the floor where the dog licks his face, as he kisses it back on camera phone of course. “Delete it! Delete it!” They’ll never let you go!
Fun and games ensue as everyone gets wild, possessed safely of course. Safety first when scattering your soul to the nether regions.
Finally young, innocent Riley gets possessed to prove he is metal, but only Mia’s deceased mother comes through him to talk to Mia, telling her “I am so proud of you.” She doesn’t want his possession to stop so she can continue talking to dear mama. He then slams his head into the table and ends up hospitalized. Mia has to confess to Riley and Jade’s mom they let him do it to himself.
Mia reconnects with her boyfriend who was honest while possessed and prefers Mia to Jade. She presses her skin gently next to his in an inverted head to toe moment. But then falls asleep and dreams of them together until someone knocks on the door. Reality! An untoward memory of her seeing her mother dying and her father carrying her out of the room and attempting to resuscitate her. And her father staring at Mia, unable to revive her in time. She looks down and sees blood on her hands.
Mia wakes up and a creepy figure in the corner of the room runs at her from the shadows. It’s a sad, dog-posed, grandma-faced, greasy-haired, muscular lady in pearls, in a wedding dress or elegant nighty of some sort. It’s an off-putting combination for sure. There’s a sad and desperate expression on the demon’s face. It then sucks the toes of the boyfriend. Mia tries to get her ex-boyfriend to wake-up but just as he does, we turn to see Mia is the one sucking the toes and she is in fact possessed while doing so unbeknownst to her. Boyfriend is freaked and runs away.
The dead mother returns and tells Mia “I never wanted to leave you. Ever.” She then warns her that “Riley needs help.” She doesn’t specify how or why.
Next, Riley is back at the hospital, being scrub bathed by mom and Jade. The unseen father calls, “Can you believe him. He’s unbelievable.” Real fathers are useless you see. Everyone knows that! Skirting that issue, Jade cares for him alone. Possessed Riley bites him and smashes the back of his head against the wall while laughing then licks up the blood, which is visceral and memorable. The blood trickles down the drain as the screaming ebbs. Love it.
Rule time: Jade and ‘everyone’s boyfriend’ talk to the black guy at the parties who was leading the ritual for possession. We learn from him about the myth of Duckett: “Wait. Didn’t Duckett say they could imitate people? I got the hand off him. Later Duckett says they started to follow him wherever he goes.” says the MC for possessing others. Also “If you die while they’re in you, they have you forever.” It sucks to be Riley.
The MC of Possession and Mia are at a bus stop in a random cut, talking to Duckett’s Brother, who is browbeating them for not being a real friend, for noticing Duckett had a problem (insert drug addiction metaphor here). The brother jumps on the bus and Mia follows him. She sits beside him on the bus and confides she knows how much it hurts to lose someone close. Jade is also on the bus now for some reason. The brother blames the Possession Ritual Master (i.e., drug dealer, Possession Dealer?) for causing the problems.
Jade then blames Mia for what happened to Riley, sacrificing him carelessly just as she wants to forget her pain with the loss of her mother, not putting everyone out of their misery. Riley is the kangaroo metaphorically now. Skipadoodle!
Jade, Mia, and Boyfriend in the middle, go to the hospital back to Riley and consider that if Riley is in limbo now, like the other spirits, maybe they should perform another session, “asking Riley to talk to me” will work. Good thinking on Mia’s part. Instead, a little girl appears, not Riley. “I can take you to him.” Always trust the little girl in demon movies. Mia is possessed again but suddenly, she’s Freddy Kruger’s mom, in a hospital full of 1000 maniacs. But only one holds Riley tightly in its grasp. Mia wakes up totally black pilled on saving Riley. There’s no way. They’ll have him forever.
Now it’s flashback time with Mia’s father who wants to come clean. Mia’s mother was struggling with depression. She left a suicide letter saying she feels hope and wishes the reader to also feel hope into the future. But Mia says she talked to her mother while possessed and says she didn’t do it to herself. The demon mother comes and says “That’s not true.” Demons lie. They’re the worst!
Mia’s dad starts to bang on the door. Mia asks the demon “Why would she write the letter?” The demon replies “That’s not your dad. That’s not Max. They’re imitating him. He’s going to hurt you.” Meanwhile we see the dad downstairs rummaging thru Mia’s bag (i.e., not banging on her door). Demon truth?
Demon says “he needs to die. He needs to be put out of his misery.” Demon lies! Behind her is Riley, possessed, dying on the couch.
The demonic father comes in, another layer of deceptive demon. He attacks, as her real father tries to break down the door now. She is on the floor, grabs scissors, as her real dad tries to save her, she stabs the real dad believing him to be the demon. Demonic synchronicity. Yet without emotion or empathy for her own father she simply moves on to saving Riley… uh yeah and? I guess if it helped to move the plot to knowing how to save who REALLY matters, Riley, it’s that easy to forget? Either that or the editing and pacing logic of this film was possessed by the spirit of brevity, overriding the natural empathy response altogether. Form meet content albeit ironically.
Like a flash, Mia is back to Riley’s hospital bed again and Riley’s mom says she’s sorry she blamed Mia. It wasn’t drugs. It was something ‘else’. And she assures her Riley isn’t a friend, he’s family. (Someone hate real family much?!)
Suddenly and without real reason the REAL demon plays peak-a-boo with Mia and reveals itself. “You can’t take him.” it says. And it’s disappointingly Drag Me to Hell meets Freddy Krueger. Yawn. And without learning a thing she threatens to kill the demon with blunt force murder (like she did her real father!) to release the demon from Riley?! Uh. But she cries and lets out a primordial caveman scream in anger. She doesn’t kill possessed Riley. “Why don’t you touch me?” the demon beckons. These demons seem to want Mia to touch everyone in her white family in her near age bracket.
Mia sees a bloody kangaroo scamper out in the hallway. This kangaroo metaphor/symbolism is getting stretched to the absolute breaking point.
Jade finds Mia’s dad bleeding to death. Jade calls her mom and says, “Mia is dangerous.” Okay. Mia has taken Riley in a wheelchair next to the freeway and… pushes him into it! Jade tries to get Mia to stop it. The demon mother says, “I’m so proud of you.” as the demon in Riley smile from the wheelchair. She throws herself into the middle of the road instead. Swerve! What follows next: sequel bait…
Talk to Me Uppers:
The fresh, energetic performances by these young actors are all superb. Especially the breakout star, Sophie Wilde, who delivers an emotional and nuanced role. Kudos to casting and I look forward to seeing many of these young actors’ progress in their careers.
I like the concept of the film. A fine metaphor for possession of one’s actions by other viewers while having every stupid and young moment of their lives captured on social media, “forever.” It’s a cautionary tale worth telling. And it’s a fine coming-of-age story.
Is it up there on the pantheon of great horror films? Not yet. But it’s certainly the best horror film of 2023 I’ve seen this year in a weak year for horror thus far.
The ending, while vacant on what happened to Riley, as he was still technically possessed, is an absent note, leaving the sequel opening act door wide open. But the ending was of course a powerful turn of events when the voluntary possessed becomes the possessor by the end in a daisy chain from Hell. Full circle endings have not been done well lately, but this one was.
Talk to Me is strong enough concept that sequels should be expected. By keeping it laser focused on just this small group of friends in Australia they preserve the sequel’s ability to take the local McDonalds and go national, and global!
Talk to Me Downers:
The logic of Mia while possessed leaves us with the impression at first that she was stoic or deeply in denial when her mother died, which was a linchpin of her character, but then she didn’t care that she stabbed her own father. Also, the fact that Riley’s dad was also ‘unbelievable’ in that he wasn’t in the picture? This is a lot of dad hate. Being a dad, I just feel this unnecessary level of neglectful hate projected which wasn’t warranted within the context of the story or the characters themselves. It felt obligatory rather than purposeful which is very negative. Does a film’s ESG score go up every time a father figure is hurt in a film? I’d like to know.
Mia dismisses the murder of her father without any moral weight whatsoever. But she’s possessed you say! Well, if that’s true, then why did she have the moral restraint to not kill Riley while possessed and yet didn’t she have the intuition to feel bad for even a microsecond for her real father that she was tricked into killing? This is what I call “plot vision.” Where the needs of the plot outweighs the reality of a character to that point. She just says she ‘knows how to save Riley’ after this debacle with her father but the connection to knowing how wasn’t clear at all. It’s a total non-sequitur.
Overall, Talk to Me was a very good film, close to great. I feel the pacing, and editing overshadowed the characters at times and cut out continuity at key moments which I understand was to heighten the high concept’s energy, which was required. It was a trade-off. I feel it’s a great start to a franchise. We’ll see what comes next. I hope to see Mia in that sequel as well! And I hope that concept doesn’t date itself before we get the chance to ‘Talk to Me’ again.
Directed by: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Written by: Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman, Daley Pearson
Produced by: Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings, Christopher Seeto
Cinematography by: Aaron McLisky
Editing by: Geoff Lamb
Music by: Cornel Wilczek
Special Effects by: Peter ‘Babylon’ Owens, Leeth Keough, Josh Head
Cast: Sophie Wilde, Sunny Johnson, Jayden Davison, Sarah Brokensha, Kit Erhart-Bruce, Hamish Phillips, Ari McCarthy, Alexandra Jensen
Year: 2022
Country: Australia, United Kingdom
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 35min
Studio: Causeway Films, Head Gear Films, Metrol Technology, Screen Australia, Talk to Me Holdings, The South Australian Film Corporation
Distributor: A24