Brothers Danny and Micheal Phillipou are the Australian equivalent of The Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE). While The Daniels first practiced with very extreme and very funny shorts, the Phillipous found success with their anarchist, hyperactive YouTube channel “RackaRacka.“ Their first horror feature TALK TO ME is being distributed by the legendary US company A24 who have also produced The Daniels films. TALK TO ME is a teen horror film which pays tribute to the Japanese RINGU franchise as well as Polanski‘s paranoid classic ROSEMARY‘S BABY.

Mia (Sophie Wilde) has been an outsider at school since her mother died. She spends a lot of time with her friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and her family, to others she seems to be too clingy. There‘s a new sensation at school: you meet and conjure up the dead with the help of a magic, embalmed hand. One person touches the hand, says “talk to me“ and sees a half-decayed ghost. With the words “I let you in“ the ghost possesses the person. After 90 seconds, the connection has to be broken: “otherwise they want to stay“ says player Cole. Possession as a party trick, raucously shot with a smartphone. This goes awry, as Mia and Jade‘s little brother Riley conjure up the dead. Mia sees her dead mother from then on, Riley is doing worse. Mia begins to lose her mind and can‘t tell reality, dreams, and the spirit world apart. TALK TO ME has drive and a feel for the thrill and horror of teenage border transgression. Mia‘s intensity, her search for support, and absolute determination to repair what has happened is very convincing. A teen horror film that takes teens seriously.

Tom Dorow

Translation: Elinor Lewy