Talk To Me (2022)

 

**This post contains spoilers**

The Story- Mia (Sophie Wilde) struggles to move on after her mother, Rhea (Alexandria Steffensen) commits suicide. A strained relationship with Mia’s father, Max (Marcus Johnson) complicates things, but Mia finds comfort with her best friend, Jade (Alexandra  Jensen), Jade’s younger brother, Riley (Joe Bird),  Jade’s mother, Sue (Miranda Otto), and her ex boyfriend and Jade’s current boyfriend, Daniel (Otis Dhanji). 

In an attempt to fit in, Mia plays an unusual party game called Talk To Me, with Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio) filling the roles of the game masters. Powered by a pale severed hand, players have the ability to have direct contact with the spirit world, but refusal to break the connection after ninety seconds comes with severe consequences.

Riley seemingly makes contact with Rhea, but Riley is sucked into the spirit world after passing the time limit. Riley is possessed and controlled by the evil spirits, trapped in their realm as a prisoner, who’s constantly forced to injure himself. Can Mia save Riley before it’s too late?

My Thoughts- Her mother is dead. Outside of Jade and Riley, Mia struggles to make friends. She clings to Jade’s family for emotional support, and Mia’s relationship with Max is broken. That’s a lot of weight to carry around that’s capable of crushing anyone, let alone a teenager. 

Sophie Wilde truly delivers an incredible performance. It’s impressive how Wilde is capable of nailing the roller-coaster of emotions Mia endures throughout the movie. Wilde continuously takes everything to the next level, as the story progresses. You can see the pain and the agonizing heartbreak she’s experiencing. The desperation Mia has for companionship plays a big role in her descent into madness. She made a terrible mistake allowing Riley to play the game, and while it’s understandable she clearly regrets everything that happened, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Mia is responsible for Riley’s severe injuries.

Miranda Otto plays the fiery and stern mother, with a sharp sense of humor. Sue wants to be the mother figure Mia desperately needs, but she crossed a line by putting her son’s life in danger. Jade is the supportive best friend. The problem? The calamity with Riley is obvious, but it’s clear Mia still has feelings for Daniel. And the spirit revealing Daniel’s disparaging thoughts about Jade didn’t help matters. At some point, you have to draw that line in the sand with friendships.

The coming-of-age side of Talk To Me works, featuring some good realism. Mia is socially awkward. She wants to fit in, but she’s ignored at the party early on in the movie. Hayley, one of the cool kids at school, wants nothing to do her, because she believes Mia is a weirdo. When you stop and think about it, a lot of trouble could’ve been avoided, if Mia never decided to play the game. But Mia was desperate for validation and the chance to make new friends.

Riley is a good kid, who’s currently going through the usual growing pains. He wants to prove he’s ready to put on his big boy pants, but he’s still scared to the point, where he doesn’t want to sleep alone after witnessing the spooky side of the game. There’s also the expected sibling rivalry with Jade, with Riley scolding her for being the mean big sister.

You can easily draw a connection between Mia and Duckett (Sunny Johnson). Duckett, another victim of the game, commits suicide in the opening scene of the movie. Duckett and Mia were both awkward outcasts, two shining examples of  how far some kids might go for the chance to be accepted.

Why didn’t Mia follow through with the mercy killing for the kangaroo? Riley is urging her to put the injured kangaroo out of its misery, but she decides to stop at the last second. It’s an important scene, when you connect the dots. Mia, clearly distraught, obviously recognized similarities between the dying kangaroo and her mother. Putting an end to the kangaroo’s suffering might’ve been the best option, but it’s possibly a reminder of Rhea’s mindset before she took her own life, so Mia just couldn’t do it. 

If we’re talking about the evil spirits and the possessions, Talk To Me gets it right.  Far too often possession or demonic horror films have too many unintentionally funny moments, when characters are possessed, but that’s not the case here. There’s a highlight reel of sorts, where things look silly during gameplay, but the main idea was to showcase Mia finally having fun and being accepted into the group.

When things are serious, you really get to see just how dangerous the game is, a quick escalation of harmless fun to life threatening trouble, while the clock is ticking. The little details, including the bulging black pupils, the rotting flesh for the participants and the spirits, and the crazed personalities adds that necessary layer of creepiness. Daniel kissing the dog and dry humping floor, and quickly reverting to a state of shock, when the connection breaks is a good example of showing how the game takes complete control over the current player.

There’s two strong cases of tragic irony during the finale. Mia, believing she had to kill Riley to set him free before ultimately deciding to commit suicide by jumping into traffic on the freeway, is a genuine gut wrenching moment. Mentally Mia was just too far gone towards the end. The whirlwind of emotions for her mother and the guilt of dealing with what happened to Riley was just too much. It’s a sad ending for Mia, going the same route as her mother and choosing suicide. To make matters worse, Sue and Jade were clearly ready to forgive Mia. 

Throughout the movie, Mia noticeably shuns her father, ignoring his calls and choosing to spend more time with Jade and her family. Max reading Rhea’s suicide note to Mia and embracing her afterwards is the only moment the two share together here. Imagine how bad things are between a father and his daughter, when they have to bond over a suicide note?

Mia avoids Max for the majority of the movie, but the irony hits, when Mia frantically calls out to him after she’s dead. The final moments serve as a stark reminder that Mia is just a kid, who’s begging her father to protect or comfort her, because she’s scared. Mia finally realizing that she’s dead, before she has a chance to fully process what just happened, and that frightened gasp from Sophia Wilde right before the credits roll? That is a damn good ending and a cliffhanger. Mia didn’t want to hurt Riley. She shared a big sister/little brother relationship with him, but her actions had irreversible consequences. 

I understand Mia’s clarity is obstructed by her grief, but Rhea’s ghost is obviously an imposter or a deceiver. If you’ve watched enough horror films, it’s easy to know the usual trick with the evil spirit or a demon appearing as a beloved family member or a friend to puppeteer a protagonist’s emotions.

But there’s no denying Talk To Me is a superb horror film. Talk To Me is a bleak and emotional story about death, suicide, and facing the harsh realities of life at a young age. Death is a natural part of life, but it really stings for Mia, because someone she adored and loved deeply chose to end her life, leaving her without a mother. 

The brutal violence and gross-out scenes are good for a handful of squirmy reactions. Duckett jamming a knife into his skull sets the tone, while Riley’s scenes when he’s possessed consistently deliver the more hard to watch moments. The scene with Riley bashing his head against the wall, and licking up his own blood? Yikes!

The entire cast is excellent, with Miranda Otto providing the robust presence of a veteran actress. That scene in the car, where Jade tries to hold Sue’s hand, only for Sue to reject her is filled so many nuances. Jade betrayed Sue’s trust. As a parent, it was Sue’s way of basically telling Jade she’s in timeout until further notice. 

There’s a lot of potential for the sequel. Mia could return to warn others about the game. Unlike the other spirits, Mia was presumably still fully aware of who she was, possibly having the advantage of someone who knows all the fine details about the game. Going the route of a standalone sequel also works. Talk To Me has a solid premise. A lot of different avenues to explore, especially the origins of the hand and its dark history.

Rating- 9/10