There is a significant portion of the population that believes in ghosts. Whether you believe the dead walk among us or not, there’s no denying there’s a unique fascination with what lies in the afterlife. There are several proven methods for breaking the line between life and death. Ouija boards, dimly lit mirrors, and even summoning circles have reached our mortal spiral to communicate directly with the dead, with varying results. If you’ve seen enough horror movies, it’s a given that seeking the afterlife is asking for trouble, especially if it’s a group of teenagers.
A24’s upcoming horror movie Talk to me wants to replicate this scheme with a bizarrely grotesque means of summoning the dead – a severed, embalmed hand. Defying the traditional setup of a movie about psychic possession, Talk to me wants to take the subgenre in a new direction, led by a few creators with remarkably humble origins. Until the movie finally hits theaters, here’s everything we know about A24s Talk to me.
Talk to me: the plot
The official plot synopsis for Talk to me supplied by A24 is as follows:
“When a group of friends discover how to summon spirits with an embalmed hand, they become addicted to the new sensation, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural powers.”
From the synopsis alone, things seem a bit basic. Aside from the inclusion of an embalmed hand, it presents a typical “messing with forces beyond your comprehension” story. Grasping the hand in the presence of a burning candle and uttering the phrase “talk to me” leads us to believe that a spirit can momentarily take possession of the one who grasped the hand until the candle is extinguished. You can almost draw parallels with drug use based on how interacting with the hand feels “great,” how reactions to the hand’s influence are filmed and shared through a group chat, and so on. It’s safe to assume that some of these teens are more than a little complicit in upsetting the other side. Satisfying, Talk to me focuses on the more personal side of contact with the dead.
Continuing the similarities to drug use and addiction, our main character Mia finds herself in sole possession of the hand after coming into contact with what she believes to be the ghost of her dead mother. It can be assumed that, in an attempt to reconnect with her mother, she finds herself misusing the hand’s connection to the afterlife until the consequences of this come to fruition. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Mia’s “mom” might not be who she says she is, as her friends are sent off in exceptionally horrific fashion one by one.
While we won’t be seeing buckets of pea soup, we’re bound to see some gnarly effects. In Talk to me trailer, the “2” in the A24 logo consists of our spirit hand bending and twisting into the gnarled number, making the same kind of horrible oppressive noises you’d expect from a meat grinder. A brief glimpse of a kangaroo in what appears to be a sterile environment also promises to be uniquely terrifying.
Talk to me: the cast
leading Talk to me since Mia is Sophie Wilde, an actor from Australia who previously helmed the original Stan series, Eden. She also appeared in the Netflix series You don’t know me and Stan’s upcoming original movie The portable door. No stranger to dramatic roles, she also played Ophelia in a 2020 production of Hamlet. Together with Wilde, Joe Bird (First day, rabbit), Otis Dhanji (Aquarius), Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Marcus Johnson (Spartacus), Alexandra Jensen (Amazing grace, Defeat), Alexandria Steffensen (Eden, How to please a woman), and Zoë Terakes (Wentworth). The film’s noticeably younger cast does acclaimed by critics since the first premiere, with highlights focusing on Sophie Wilde and Joe Bird.
Date of publication
Talk to me hits theaters July 28.
Talk to me: everything else
Talk to me was created by twin filmmakers Danny and Michael Phillippou. The duo shared a mutual interest in filmmaking from an early age before founding a YouTube channel called “RackaRacka” in 2013. From there, the duo has produced several viral shorts featuring a parodic take on Ronald McDonald, multiple pop culture mashups, and serious horror stories. Talk to me will mark their feature film debut, and if it performs well, it could open the door for future Phillippou brothers films.
Talk to me originally made its theatrical debut in the 2023 Sundance Film Festival’s Midnight Selection, alongside other films such as In my mother’s skin And Polite society. It would later air one more time on South By Southwest following its takeover by A24.