31 Days of Halloween: Talk to Me

2022, Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou (RackaRacka) -- download

The Old Man Yelling at Clouds in me doesn't know how to feel about the directorial premiere by a pair of Australian YouTube stars. Apparently they became popular and, well rich, doing the kind of videos that literally have me acknowledging, despite all previous claims, that I am an adult who just doesn't get this shit.

But whatever, I can just hand wave it away, and watch the fucking movie, which actually has had some good buzz to it. Which I did.

I notice something that horror movies often do better than other genre movies, and that is the establishment of the life around the people supporting the movie. The setup of the small group of Australian high school kids: the recent trauma of Mia, her tight connection with her best friend Jade and Jade's brother Riley, and the strained connection to Jade's new boyfriend Daniel who happens to be Mia's adolescent ex is tightly told, all revealing and actually compelling. I realized quickly that the enjoyment I get from a stock horror movie (is this the seance/ouija sub-genre?) is how it does its setup. If its handled carelessly or without much fervour, then the rest of the movie will be as well.

So, kudos to these YouTube kids?

Then there is the horror setup. This one is legit disturbing. A mummified hand, encased in porcelain, covered in the graffiti one would expect from an arm cast. And a party trick. Two kids have a system: tie the person to a chair, light the candle, set the timer, grasp the hand, say the words, "talk to me", and if you are really brave, "I let you in". With the first incantation, you see the face of a dead person, suffering the decay of the afterlife. If you say the second incantation, they inhabit your body and speak through you, until the candle is blown out. Pure fucking terror, but repeatable, and because high schoolers are invincible, the best possible time.

Except Mia experiences the spirit of her late mother. And she becomes obsessed. She pushes her friends to do it again, to extend it, to go beyond the limits. And, because of course, the worst results happen. Riley is sorely injured, and worse, his spirit is now trapped in whatever limbo these spirits inhabit, doomed to be forever tortured until death.

The movie amps up the chaos caused but retains its internal logic and doesn't dispense with its rules for petty jump scares. There are consequences, and they probably established the rules the kids were following when they ended up with the hand. And one can only assume someone always breaks the rules because the hand ... travels. Mia and Riley are its current victims and death is the only way out. In many ways the movie might be considered less than scary because it is staying true to its mythology, but for me, that extended my interest.

Good watch.