Talk to me (2022)

Talk to me (2022) is an Australian film directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou (a.k.a. RackaRacka), classified under Horror-Thriller.

We could talk for hours about the interesting subjects raised by this film, such as the spirit world, mental health, the psychology of the characters, the loss of a loved one with the desire to be able to communicate one last time, the step that the mind can take over the body, Plato’s philosophy…

…but the fact remains that this is a very bad film !!!

The story seemed rather original and pleasant, but alas, the film takes a long time to get going and only the hand scenes are really gripping. The rest is long and slow, the proceedings get bogged down in mawkishness and interest wanes sharply. The recommendation is weak.

In fact, the potential of this film has not been exploited to 100%, which is a shame. From that to saying it was the horror film to see at the cinema and the horror film of the year… No, I don’t agree with that at all. It’s not one of the films I liked in the horror genre. On paper, it was an interesting project, but it’s the kind of film I forget very easily.

I’d heard good things about this film and since I watch a lot of horror, I was a little late getting round to watching it. I’ve got mixed feelings about it.

The film gets off to a very late start. There’s a very long first part where we get to know the characters, who are mostly teenagers with a bit of a problem. Everything that’s written in a very ‘progressive’ way, with a gay couple and a trans man, will still upset some people who find it vulgar and compare it to a modernised American Pie. Fortunately for them, the actors are generally pretty good, especially Sophie Wilde and Alexandra Jensen. On the whole, that’s because the acting is sometimes approximate, but above all, some of the characters are rather poorly written, such as Miranda Otto‘s vulgar outbursts, which ultimately serve no purpose in characterising her character.

The result is a relatively banal teen horror film. On the other hand, there are a few good, fairly creepy scenes that salvage the film somewhat.

The first half also struggles to achieve any great originality in its direction. There are some fine scenes at times, but they are often stretched beyond reason, so much so that they become a bore. This improves markedly in the second half of the film, with some nice ideas, camera reversals and the like, made all the more enjoyable by the avoidance of easy jumpscares. The film, slow and sluggish in this first part, manages to breathe new life into itself once the film’s key event is underway. Unfortunately, I have to say that even then I wasn’t completely convinced. There are some rather clichéd passages and in the end… is the plot original? Not really. Apart from a hand instead of a Ouija board, there’s no real revolution. What’s more, the film isn’t all that radical in its approach, refusing to be any meaner than that. Still, the second half is quite gripping, and the finale is very effective, it has to be said.

The sets aren’t particularly interesting, nor is the music, and the film generally doesn’t create much of an atmosphere, apart from (and the effort is to be applauded!) the introduction of the ghosts, which are frankly well made-up and creepy, and its bloody effects, which are rare but well delivered and rather successful.

However, despite this enthusiasm, this film remains a disappointment for me.

Summary: Rather flabby, not all that original, despite some good moments and driven by characters who aren’t very well written… it’s a shaky feature film that manages to get away with a few good ideas and some neat visual effects. So… not fabulous!

I found this quick, simple and effective review that I loved: ‘This time an Australian horror film, “The Hand” proposes a different way of making contact with the afterlife in an addictive way, like a drug. But the rules that must be respected are broken, creating a rift between these two worlds.

It’s clear that this attracts curiosity, with one or two disturbing scenes, but the rest becomes rather banal, a little too reheated, which didn’t plunge me into the ‘anguish’ of the film but, on the contrary, pushed me aside. No thrills despite a good start and an original ending. Shame!’

That’s it! That’s all for this movie.