Talk to Me | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | |
Written by |
|
Based on | Concept by Daley Pearson |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Aaron McLisky |
Edited by | Geoff Lamb |
Music by | Cornel Wilczek |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 95 minutes [1] |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | $4.5 million |
Box office | $92.2 million |
Talk to Me is a 2022 Australian supernatural horror film directed by Danny and Michael Philippou in their feature directorial debuts, written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman, and based on a concept by Daley Pearson. It stars Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, and Zoe Terakes. The film follows a group of teenagers who discover they are able to contact spirits using a mysterious severed and embalmed hand.
Talk to Me premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival on 30 October 2022, and was released by Maslow Entertainment, Umbrella Entertainment, and Ahi Films in Australia on 27 July 2023. The film received acclaim from critics, who praised its story, direction, horror sequences, practical effects, sound design and performances, with Wilde and Bird receiving particular praise. It was a box office success, grossing approximately $92.2 million [2] [3] worldwide against a $4.5 million budget, [4] [5] becoming American distributor A24's highest-grossing horror film and third highest-grossing film overall. [6] A sequel is currently in development.
At a house party in Adelaide, Cole searches for his brother Duckett. When he finds Duckett and attempts to bring him home, Duckett stabs Cole and kills himself.
Sometime later, 17-year-old Mia is struggling with the second anniversary of her mother Rhea's death by an accidental sleeping pill overdose and her distant relationship with her father, Max. Mia, her best friend Jade, and Jade's little brother Riley sneak out to a gathering hosted by Hayley and Joss, where the main attraction is a severed and embalmed hand. Holding the hand and saying "Talk to me" enables someone to communicate with a deceased person's spirit, while saying "I let you in" allows the spirit to possess them. To prevent spirits from binding themselves to that person, someone else must end the possession before 90 seconds by pulling away the embalmed hand and blowing out a candle to cut the connection. Mia volunteers to go first and is possessed by a spirit that displays a menacing focus on Riley. Joss and Hayley struggle to break the connection, and the time limit is slightly exceeded.
Ecstatic over the experience, Mia joins Hayley, Joss, and Jade's boyfriend Daniel, at Jade's house the next night. Everyone except Riley and his friend James takes several turns being possessed, invoking different spirits each time. Jade refuses to let Riley participate, but all of the others indulge. When Jade leaves the room, Riley insists, and Mia lets him take a turn for 50 seconds. Riley appears to be possessed by the spirit of Rhea, who attempts to reconcile with Mia. Stunned, Mia stops the group from ending the possession in time to keep talking to her mother. The spirits overtake Riley's body, and they make him violently attempt suicide; he is hospitalized in critical condition.
Mia, now haunted by visions of Rhea, is blamed for Riley's injuries and shunned by Jade and her mother, Sue. Having secretly taken the embalmed hand, Mia offers Daniel to stay at her father's house for the night. Whilst platonically sharing a bed with Daniel, she witnesses a spirit appear and suck on Daniel's feet. When he wakes up, he instead sees Mia sucking his feet in a trance and leaves. Mia uses the hand to contact Rhea, who insists that her death was accidental and that she needs to help Riley, who is still possessed and attempts suicide every time he returns to consciousness. Mia leaves the connection open and begins seeing her mother without the hand, losing her grasp on reality.
The friends track down Cole, who explains that a living body naturally expels invading spirits. Mia, fearing that Riley may not have time, attempts to contact him in the hospital by using the hand but is instead shown a vision of Riley being tortured by spirits in limbo. At home, Max reveals that Rhea's death was not an accident and reads her suicide note to Mia, apologizing for hiding the truth from her. Rhea's spirit tells Mia that Max is lying, and Mia hallucinates that she is being violently attacked by Max, causing her to stab the real Max inadvertently. Rhea tells Mia that Riley needs to die in order to be set free from his possession. Mia kidnaps Riley from the hospital, and Jade sees Mia pushing Riley in a wheelchair toward the highway. Rhea attempts to convince Mia to push Riley into oncoming traffic, but instead, Mia jumps into the oncoming traffic and dies.
Mia finds herself in the hospital, where she sees a fully recovered Riley talking to Jade and Sue while Max leaves in an elevator. Nobody responds to her; she has no reflection in the mirror, and her hands are disfigured. After becoming engulfed in darkness, she sees a hand extended over a candle in the distance. She grabs it and is suddenly summoned to a house party in Greece, where a partygoer holding her hand is urged to speak and tells Mia, "I let you in".
Talk to Me is a co-production of Causeway Films, Bankside Films, and Talk to Me Holdings, and is a presentation of Screen Australia in association with the South Australian Film Corporation, Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund, Head Gear Films, and Metrol Technology. [7] [8] Directors Danny and Michael Philippou worked closely with producer Samantha Jennings, one of the co-founders of production company Causeway Films, who is familiar with Adelaide. They knew her from working with her on The Babadook (2014), another Causeway Films production, and credit her with keeping them grounded and helping to shape the film. [9]
Talk to Me sold to numerous international distributors at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. [10] It had its debut in a preview screening at the Adelaide Film Festival on 30 October 2022, the closing night of the festival. [11] [12]
The film had its international premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in its midnight lineup. [13] After the premiere spurred a bidding war with Universal Pictures and others, A24 won and acquired the rights to distribute the film in the United States. [14] [15] Maslow Entertainment, Umbrella Entertainment and Ahi Films were confirmed to be co-distributing the film in Australia and New Zealand. [16]
The film had its European premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival and also screened in the United States at South by Southwest (SXSW) that same year. [17] [18] [19] [20] The film also had its Canadian premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on 23 July 2023. [21] [22]
Talk to Me was theatrically released in Australia on 27 July 2023, [23] before releasing on the following day in the United States and Canada, [24] [25] [26] the United Kingdom and internationally. [27] [9] In Kuwait, however, the film was banned from the theatrical release, reportedly for featuring a transgender actor, Zoe Terakes. The reports came despite the fact that the film was screening in other parts of the conservative Gulf region. [28] [29] Terakes expressed their disappointment about the news on social media. [29] On 9 August, the Kuwaiti authority formally announced the ban of both Talk to Me and American comedy film Barbie (which has an underlying feminist theme, as well as a transgender actress), claiming that it was to protect "public ethics and social traditions". [30]
Talk to Me was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on 3 October 2023, [31] and in Australia on 25 October 2023.
Talk to Me grossed $48.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $43.9 million in other countries and territories, for a worldwide total of $92.2 million. [2] [3]
In the United States and Canada, Talk to Me was released alongside Haunted Mansion , and was originally projected to gross $4–5 million from 2,340 theaters in its opening weekend. [32] After making $4.2 million on its first day (including $1.3 million from Thursday night previews), weekend estimates were increased to $10 million. It ended up debuting to $10.4 million and finished in fifth, marking the best start for an A24 film since Midsommar in July 2019. [33] The film made $6.3 million in its second weekend (a drop of 40%, better than average for a horror film). [34] The film remained in the top 10 over its first six weeks, and on September 3 surpassed Hereditary as A24's highest-grossing horror film domestically with a running total of $44.5 million. [35]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 95% of 293 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10.The website's consensus reads: "With a gripping story and impressive practical effects, Talk to Me spins a terrifically creepy 21st-century horror yarn built on classic foundations." [36] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [37] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. [33]
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote, "Distinguished by wonderfully gooey practical effects and deeply distressing visual jolts (especially when young Riley falls under the hand's malignant influence), Talk to Me has a hurtling energy that's often violent but never purposefully cruel." She also applauded Wilde and Bird's performances, saying the film "owes much of its potency to Sophie Wilde's continually evolving lead performance" and "a remarkable Joe Bird." [38] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times also praised Bird and Wilde's performances, writing, "Joe Bird, in a superb and surprising performance," and, "But even when Talk to Me flirts with incoherence, Wilde pulls it back from the brink. More than just a great scream queen, she makes vivid sense of Mia's ravaged emotions, revealing her to be a captive less to the spirit realm than to her own inconsolable grief." [39]
Jake Wilson of The Sydney Morning Herald gave the film 3½ out of 4 stars, writing, "The grim prologue leaves little doubt that horrible things are going to happen to people we're asked to care about – and while the ending may not fully satisfy the emotional expectations that have been built up, better too few comforting explanations than too many." [40] Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave the film three out of four stars, saying the story had "shaky logic" but also "a rock-solid sense of instilling dread with a minimum of special effects and a sound design that turns the chill up to 11." [41] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, saying that it "deftly stitches its deepest fears around the idea that grief and trauma can be open invitations to predatory forces from the great beyond. It marks a welcome splash of new blood on the horror landscape." Rooney also applauded the performances, writing, "While the predominantly young cast is solid, especially Bird as Riley, talented newcomer Wilde does the heaviest dramatic lifting." [42]
In a more mixed review, Dennis Harvey of Variety called the film "A somewhat mixed bag, as the script doesn’t fully ballast the serious tenor, this is nonetheless a confidently crafted effort with enough intriguing elements to keep viewers involved, if not particularly scared." [43] More critically, Matthew Mongale of The Austin Chronicle stated, "Trauma has become a catch-all shorthand for many horror filmmakers, and as much as the Philippous prove their worth as horror directors, as writers the relationship between two families bonded by trauma proves too complex for them to bring home." [44]
Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards | 10 December 2023 | Best Youth Performance | Joe Bird | Nominated | [45] |
Las Vegas Film Critics Society | 13 December 2023 | Best Horror/Sci-FI Movie | Talk to Me | Nominated | [46] |
St. Louis Film Critics Association | 17 December 2023 | Best Horror Film | Won | [47] | |
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | 19 December 2023 | Best First Feature | Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou | Nominated | [48] |
Best Youth Performance | Joe Bird | Nominated | |||
Phoenix Critics Circle Awards | 23 December 2023 | Best Horror Film | Talk to Me | Won | [49] |
Astra Film and Creative Arts Awards | 6 January 2024 | Best Horror Feature | Nominated | [50] | |
Golden Tomato Awards | 10 January 2024 | Best-Reviewed International Movie of 2023 | Won | [51] | |
Austin Film Critics Association Awards | 10 January 2024 | Best First Film | Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou | Nominated | [52] |
Denver Film Critics Society | 12 January 2024 | Best Sci-Fi/Horror | Talk to Me | Nominated | [53] |
Black Reel Awards | 16 January 2024 | Outstanding Lead Performance | Sophie Wilde | Nominated | [54] |
Saturn Awards | 4 February 2024 | Best Horror Film | Talk to Me | Won | [55] |
Best Film Direction | Danny and Michael Philippou | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress in a Film | Sophie Wilde | Nominated | |||
AACTA Awards | 10 February 2024 | Best Film | Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton | Won | [56] |
Best Direction | Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou | Won | |||
Best Screenplay in Film | Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman | Won | |||
Best Lead Actress | Sophie Wilde | Won | |||
Best Supporting Actor | Zoe Terakes | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Alex Jensen | Nominated | |||
Best Cinematography | Aaron McLisky | Nominated | |||
Best Editing | Geoff Lamb | Won | |||
Best Original Music Score | Cornel Wilczek | Won | |||
Best Sound | Emma Bortignon, Pete Smith, Nick Steele | Won | |||
Best Hair and Makeup | Rebecca Buratto, Paul Katte, Nick Nicolaou | Won | |||
Australian Film Critics Association Awards | 26 March 2024 | Best Film | Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton | Nominated | [57] |
Best Director | Danny and Michael Philippou | Nominated | |||
Best Actress | Sophie Wilde | Won | |||
Best Supporting Actor | Joe Bird | Nominated | |||
Best Supporting Actress | Miranda Otto | Nominated | |||
Best Screenplay | Danny Philippou & Bill Hinzman | Nominated | |||
Best Cinematography | Aaron McLisky | Nominated | |||
Critics' Choice Super Awards | 4 April 2024 | Best Horror Movie | Talk to Me | Won | [58] |
Best Actress in a Horror Movie | Sophie Wilde | Won | |||
In August 2023, Danny and Michael Philippou revealed that they had already completed principal photography on a prequel short film, with the story exploring Duckett's backstory which leads into the character's introduction in the original movie. Production was completed consecutively, from the perspective of screenlife storytelling through mobile phones and social media. Sunny Johnson features as Duckett. The filmmakers stated that they intend to release this project in the future. [59] [60] Later that month, the filmmakers revealed that sequences from the project were released by anonymously uploading them online as a means of marketing for Talk to Me. These sequences were removed from the internet due to complaints and concerns, about their content. The sequences will be officially released at a future date. [61] [62]
In August 2023, the Philippous confirmed plans to develop a sequel, stating that they had already written sequences for the project. [59] [60] Later that month, A24 announced that a sequel titled Talk 2 Me was in development; with the studio releasing the sequel's official logo at that same time. [63] Danny and Michael Philippou will return as co-directors, from a script written by returning writers Danny and Bill Hinzman. [64] [63]
Mawson Lakes is a railway station and bus interchange in the Adelaide suburb of Mawson Lakes. It is located on the Gawler line, 14.3 kilometres (8.9 mi) north of Adelaide station. To the west of the station lies the Australian Rail Track Corporation standard gauge line to Crystal Brook. The northern ends of the platforms are under the Elder Smith Road bridge with elevators and stairs from the footpath down to the platforms.
Deborah Rhea Seehorn is an American actress and director. She is best known for playing Kim Wexler in AMC's legal crime drama series Better Call Saul (2015–2022), for which she was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 74th and 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. She also received another Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for her performance in Cooper's Bar.
A24 Films LLC, commonly referred to as A24, is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. The company is based in Manhattan.
Mia Gypsy Mello da Silva Goth is a British actress. After modelling as a teenager, Goth made her acting debut in the erotic art film Nymphomaniac (2013). She earned recognition with the films The Survivalist (2015), High Life (2018), Suspiria (2018), and Emma (2020). She achieved a career breakthrough for playing Maxine Minx and Pearl in the X film series (2022–2024), which established her as a scream queen.
20th Century Women is a 2016 American coming-of-age comedy drama film written and directed by Mike Mills and starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann, and Billy Crudup. It is set in 1979 in Southern California and partly inspired by Mills's childhood.
Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou, known together online as RackaRacka, are Australian twin filmmakers, YouTubers, and stunt performers. They are known for their horror comedy YouTube videos. They won numerous awards, including the Best International Channel Streamy Award, Best Overall at the Online Video Awards, and the AACTA Award for the Best Web Show.
Jenna Marie Ortega is an American actress. She began her career as a child and received recognition for her role as young Jane in The CW comedy-drama series Jane the Virgin (2014–2019). From 2016 to 2018, Ortega had a leading role as Harley Diaz in the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle; she won an Imagen Award for the part. She played Ellie Alves in the second season of the thriller series You in 2019 and starred in the family film Yes Day in 2021, both for Netflix.
Hereditary is a 2018 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Ari Aster in his feature directorial debut. Starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne, the film follows a grieving family tormented by a demonic entity after the death of their secretive grandmother.
The Lodge is a 2019 psychological horror film directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, written by Franz, Fiala, and Sergio Casci, and starring Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Alicia Silverstone, and Richard Armitage. Its plot follows a soon-to-be stepmother who, alone with her fiancé's two children, becomes stranded at their rural lodge during Christmas. There, she and the children experience a number of unexplained events that seem to be connected to her past.
Ari Aster is an American filmmaker. Having garnered some initial recognition for the short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011), he became best known for writing and directing Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), and Beau Is Afraid (2023), all of which were released by A24. His films have been noted for their unsettling combination of horror, dark comedy, and depictions of graphic violence. In 2018, he co-founded the production company Square Peg with Danish producer Lars Knudsen.
Zola is a 2020 American black comedy crime film directed by Janicza Bravo and co-written by Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris. It is based on a viral Twitter thread from 2015 by A'Ziah "Zola" King and the resulting Rolling Stone article "Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Stripper Saga Ever Tweeted" by David Kushner. Starring Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, and Colman Domingo, the film follows a part-time stripper who is convinced by her new friend to go on a road trip to Tampa, Florida to earn money dancing, only to get in over her head.
Saint Maud is a 2019 British psychological horror film written and directed by Rose Glass in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Morfydd Clark as a religious private carer who becomes dangerously fixated with saving the soul of her patient, Jennifer Ehle. Lily Frazer, Lily Knight, Marcus Hutton, Turlough Convery and Rosie Sansom appear in supporting roles.
X is a 2022 American slasher film written, directed, produced and edited by Ti West. It stars Mia Goth in dual roles: a young woman named Maxine, and an elderly woman named Pearl. The film also stars Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, and Scott Mescudi. Set in 1979, the film follows a cast and crew who gather to make a pornographic film on an elderly couple's rural Texas property, but find themselves threatened by the homicidal couple.
Men is a 2022 British folk horror film written and directed by Alex Garland. It stars Jessie Buckley as a widowed woman who travels on holiday to a countryside village but becomes disturbed and tormented by the strange men in the village, all portrayed by Rory Kinnear. The film was released in the United States on 20 May 2022 by A24 and in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2022 by Entertainment Film Distributors. It received generally positive reviews, though its narrative approach received some criticism.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a 2022 American comedy horror film directed by Halina Reijn. Its screenplay is written by Sarah DeLappe from a story by Kristen Roupenian. It stars Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, and Pete Davidson. At a house party, a friend group plays a murder in the dark-style game called Bodies Bodies Bodies, which quickly turns dark.
Pearl is a 2022 American psychological horror film directed, produced and edited by Ti West, co-written by West and Mia Goth, who reprises her role as the title character, and featuring David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, and Emma Jenkins-Purro in supporting roles. A prequel to X (2022) and the second installment in the X film series, it serves as an origin story for the title villain, whose fervent aspiration to become a movie star led to her committing violent acts on her family's Texas homestead in 1918.
MaXXXine is a 2024 American slasher film written, directed, produced, and edited by Ti West. It is the third installment in West's X film series and a direct sequel to X (2022). The film stars Mia Goth, who reprises her role as Maxine Minx, alongside Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon. In the film, Maxine sets out for fame and success in 1980s Hollywood while being targeted by a mysterious killer.
Sophie Wilde is an Australian actress. A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Wilde gained early attention for her roles in the Stan series Eden and the BBC One drama You Don't Know Me. Her performance in the horror film Talk to Me (2022) brought her further recognition, winning the AACTA Award for Best Actress. She also received a nomination for the BAFTA Rising Star Award and was honoured with the Trophée Chopard.
Bring Her Back is an upcoming Australian-American horror film written and directed by Danny and Michael Philippou. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Stephen Phillips, Sora Wong and Liam Damons.
This article is republished from InReview under a Creative Commons licence.