Talk to Me: Australia’s freshest and most-frightening horror in a decade has arrived

Talk to Me (R16, 95mins) Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou ****½

Having freaked out festival audiences in Adelaide and Berlin and at Sundance and SXSW, one of the freshest and most frightening horrors to emerge out of Australia in the past decade is now ready to unnerve Kiwi cinemagoers.

Not since 2014’s The Babadook has an Ocker Shocker sustained such suspense and tension over the course of its running time.

The brainchild and feature debut of Philippou brothers Danny and Michael (whose RackaRacka YouTube channel has more than 6.7m subscribers), Talk to Me successfully transports their brand of intense thrills and bloody spills to the big screen.

Offering up a mix of old-school horror tropes with a modern verve that should appeal to the Insta-generation, it’s the story of Mia (The Portable Door and Tom Jones’ Sophie Wilde).

Still haunted and traumatised by her mother’s death two years ago, the teen is struggling to find her place in the world. Desperate to someone to “fix her”, she’s assured that she’s not actually broken.

Still, when rumours reach her of a new séance craze that’s got many of her peers in a tizzy, Mia is eager to bear witness. Once at the gathering though, she can’t resist volunteering, even as skin-crawling as what she’s required to do may seem.

Some say, the ceramically-encased severed hand she’s about to hold has come from a medium, others are convinced it’s a satanist’s. Whatever its provenance though–- there are rules. A candle needs to be lit “to open the door” to the “other side” and the phrase “talk to me” uttered to establish the link.

However, a session should be ended by blowing out the candle after no more than 90 seconds, “any longer and you won’t want to leave”, the in-the-know Hayley (Zoe Terakes) sternly advises.

But, as Mia experiences visions and doors slam – much to alarm of those assembled – they struggle to break the connection as the time rapidly elapses.

“That was amazing, the best one yet,” pronounces Hayley. Others though are worried about the consequences of those extra seconds Mia was under, especially as she starts having recurring nightmares and is convinced she no longer has a reflection.

A potent cocktail of W. W. Jacobs’ 1902 literary horror classic The Monkey’s Paw and more modern cinematic tales like Flatliners, Ghost and It Follows, Talk to Me builds towards an unbearably tense last act, thanks to pitch-perfect pacing and some impressive performances (especially from Wilde and Miranda Otto as one of the coolest “movie mums” of the decade so far).

Those dastardly Philippous deliver some genuine “jumps”, while the overall tone is one of both disorientation and dread, as you’re sucked into the séance experience and desperate to know what is really lurking on the other side.

If the tired and tepid latest chapter of Insidious is able to scare-up a decent global box-office, then, if there’s any justice, this should be a runaway smash. If you’re a horror lover, welcome to your new favourite film of 2023.

Talk to Me opens in select cinemas nationwide tomorrow (Thursday, July 27).