TALK TO ME
****
Directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou.
Starring Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes. Australia, 2023, 95 mins, Certificate 15.
Released on 4K UHD / Blu-Ray Special Edition and Standard Edition by Second Sight on June 23rd 2025
The feature film debut for popular YouTubers RackaRacka, a.k.a. Adelaide-raised twins Danny and Michael Philippou (the former co-writing with Bill Hinzman), is something special. An Instagram / TikTok-age spin on the enduring “Let’s have a séance!” horror trope of the 1970s and 80s, it sells a potentially hokey premise with authentic characters and performances, while capturing the anxieties, insecurities and compulsions of the social media generation without condescension.
Sophie Wilde, who has since appeared in BOY SWALLOWS UNIVERSE and BABYGIRL, is terrific as Mia, a 17 year old grieving for her late mum and drawn into thrill-seeking shenanigans with best pal Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and Jade’s easily led younger brother Riley (Joe Bird). The embalmed, ceramic hand of a medium allegedly provides a gateway to the other side, if you harness its powers for a maximum of 90 seconds, inviting spirits via the order “Talk to Me” and the bond-forming “I’ll let you in”. This set-up immediately brings a sense of tension: you’re anticipating the moment in which someone will ominously admit “We went a bit over”, but it’s lots of fun getting to that point. Other early warning signs that this might not end well include the familiar harbinger of a mortally wounded kangaroo on the road, the kind of grim portent that dominated seminal Australian eco-chiller LONG WEEKEND almost five decades earlier.
Enjoy the light-hearted montage conveying the buzz generated by the hand’s potential abilities, Miranda Otto’s highly amusing appearance as Jade’s mum and the often funny teen dialogue (“This spirit’s a bit of a cunt!”) – because, when things turn sinister, TALK TO ME hits hard. Key to its success as a scary movie is the crafting of relatable characters whose actions don’t simply feel contrived to point the story from A to B. Whereas the stubborn, “Why are you still filming?!” actions of a thousand found footage horror protagonists would often be the result of an unlikely narrative demand, here it feels convincing that the youthful ensemble would insist on documenting what turns out to be a grave mistake.
As with other genre films with similar plot hooks, TALK TO ME relies on characters making repeat visits to the source of their potentially life-threatening problem, having broken established “rules”. Wilde’s appealing performance is essential to its effectiveness, her desperation to clarify her mum’s intentions being key to both her character’s journey and the unravelling “We see dead people” narrative. The concept of spirits stuck in a place of eternal suffering and their attempts to manipulate the living is powerfully executed, and the Philippou brothers sustain a powerful sense of dread throughout the refreshingly compact running time.
Avoiding the lazy jump scares we’ve all seen countless times before, it isn’t averse to outright frights and makes startling use of physical injury detail: a scene involving the underage Riley contains at least one moment that will make you wince and / or yelp out loud. The denouement is chilling and, if the coda is both guessable and inevitably a gateway to the swiftly greenlit TALK TO ME 2, it still ends the movie on a marvellously shivery note.
TALK TO ME might be only a couple of years old, but few fans of the film will dispute the need for an all-singing, all-dancing special edition – especially when it arrives courtesy of the peerless Second Sight. Housed in a rigid slipcase with striking new artwork by Ann Bembi, the limited edition comes with six collector’s art cards and a 120-page book of essays by the likes of Kat Hughes, Amber T. and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. It will look very handsome on your already creaking shelf.
The disc itself packs in hours of extra features, including those ported over from the initial Blu-ray release: you get a peek behind the scenes via a couple of short production featurettes, six minutes of (rightly) deleted scenes and almost 40 minutes of entertaining cast and crew interviews, including Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird and Miranda Otto.
Most of the new features are edited and produced by the reliable Philip Escott, including the standout “Talk to Them”, in which the hugely engaging Philippou twins (also characteristically energetic in the 2023 commentary track) convey their early horrific obsessions, genre influences and the challenges facing YouTubers making a break into cinema. The brothers are often hilarious company as they discuss the challenges of selling horror in Australia, changes made to early, more “savage” script drafts and the anxiety that comes with having to follow up a critical and commercial hit like this.
Elsewhere, producer Samantha Jennings, in “Conjuring Demons” (19 mins), recounts her experiences with the Philippous on CARGO and THE BABADOOK, the decision to turn down potential U.S. financing for the film and her pride that Australian audiences embraced it on the big screen. In “Beautifully Grotesque”, cinematographer Aaron McLisky talks of the story’s themes of addiction, grief and alienation, while recounting major production challenges – including the long Steadicam “oners” that open and close the film. Kat Ellinger’s thoughtful video essay “Contagion” looks at TALK TO ME’s various precursors on film and in literature, while homing in on our digital age.
Also well worth your time: a good-humoured new commentary track with Emma Westwood and Sally Christie, recorded in Melbourne and tackling everything from the key montage sequences and Australian accents to the 2017 censorship issue that prompted the filmmakers to look to other mediums
Steven West