The old adage of some film legend I can’t at this very moment remember the name of, nor want to seem ingenuine in my knowledge and google the name of, was that for a film to be great you simply need a great opening, a great ending and a few good scenes in between. Talk to Me certainly has that and for my money its ending is the exact sort of unrelenting knockout that our horror has been missing in this recent wave of what many have referred to as “hug me horror”, where everything must conclude in a wholly positive manner despite the f*cked up nature of much of what has come before. These endings for me always often ring false, fortunately Talk to Me has a phenomenal ending and a centrepiece sequence that is astounding in its playfulness and then after that its unrelenting horror. However… Talk to Me in-between these moments never truly wowed me to the level it has many critics I have read or listened to.
The feature
film debut of the Youtube sensation Philippou brothers is a supernatural take
on Flatliners for the modern age, with a series of Aussie kids playing
with for viral sensation possibilities a supposed embalmed hand of a psychic,
naturally things go too far and the horror goes from there. The films greatest
strengths lie with the direction of the Philippou’s who bring to this film a
distinct visual flare for terror without pulling any punches on its viscerally
conducted sequences or its depth of horror. Overall however for me, despite a
great ending and a great middle act sequence, a series of plot contrivances and
a distant lack of clarity on the rules and logic of this supposed hand and its
powers led to a lot of tedium as we dragged through the film in-between these high
moments of quality. The film does boast a great amount of terror when it is in that mode and
will frequently suggest or sneak in subtle terrors here and there, however it
is without doubt that the film is at it’s most shocking and unsettling when it’s
movements are at there most bold and extreme. The same debate can be held here
with any horror film that doesn’t focus on the logic of its beast on whether personally
that breaks or doesn’t bother you, for me, in this case it does, as the film
continues on its path without noting or building the stakes of what is occurring.
This Phillippou pairing for me clearly falls into a mould we have seen many times
before where personally I would like to see them direct somebody else’s
screenplay. There is indeed a great sense of fun however that creeps into the
film from time to time, not only in its playfulness with the concept in the
prologue of sorts to the films terrifying mid-act shift, however this fun can
also be found in Miranda Otto’s wonderfully drawn and performed single mother
figure who breathes great comedy and truth into the proceedings. Sophie Wilde too
is a sensational lead at the heart of the film who does great work. However the
strengths of the film for me simply could not overpower it’s overall lack of
cohesion when it was at its weakest.
A very solid 6/10 debut for the Philippou brothers with a knockout ending and a middle act sequence that really does unnerve and although this is one of the stronger of the lesser movies of recent where grief is the only thing horror can discuss, it is nowhere near the top even if it is nowhere near the bottom. Sophie Wilde is a game and terrific actress at the centre of the piece, more than willing and capable to be thrown into the variety of emotional extremes this film demands, however overall on this one unfortunately Talk to Me just didn’t exactly live up to the hype around it. Talk to Me for me was solid, and just that I’m afraid.
P.S. It Follows is a lot better than this and more consistent for me throughout, however it is the most clear parallel I could think of when it came to how this film has immense strengths but then falters with a lack of logic and unclear rules, and in this films case just an overall dragging nature in-between its major sequences.
- - Thomas Carruthers
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