One of the important lessons we learn from horror films is that children shouldn’t play with dead things.
In the new chiller out of Australia, “Talk To Me," a group of reckless adolescents have gotten hold of a white ceramic hand that is supposedly the severed embalmed hand of a dead medium.
The dare is that if you clasp the hand, and utter the phrase, “Talk to me," you will find yourself staring at some random, ghastly dead soul. If you then say, “I let you in” you’ll be full-on possessed, and your friends had better blow out the ceremonial candle after 90 seconds.
The kids treat it as a parlor game, an occult version of tripping out on peyote or LSD. It’s more serious for Mia (played by Sophie Wilde), who is still haunted by her mother’s overdose death two years before. Mia has practically become a foster member of the family with her best friend Jade and Jade’s younger brother Riley.
Inevitably, one session goes bad. Mia allows Riley to hold hands with the spirits, he stays under too long, psychotically maims himself, and winds up comatose in a hospital bed.
Unlike the other kids, Mia is still plagued by visions and voices, including her mom’s apparition, and becomes convinced she’s the only one who can rescue Riley.
But is she connecting with spirits who are guiding and warning her, or are they manipulating her closer to the abyss?
The film, directed by twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, includes some shocking, violent moments (and also, some struggles due to the Aussie accents.) But most of the time, the film creeps you out with dark visuals, an inventive use of sound, and some just-odd moments, like the anguish of a dying kangaroo on the highway, and ghostly toe-sucking. And while you may guess the twist ending, it’s still gonna leave a mark.
On the scale of things that go bump in the night, “Talk To Me” scores a four out of five.