"Talk to Me" is a debut from the Phillipou brothers under A24 that takes the oft-visited possession horror subgenre into some new territory whilst setting and consistently maintaining an eerie and disturbing tone. The depiction of modern Australian teenage culture felt a bit too "down with the kids" and drawn out at times, but generally came across well with its application of slang and contemporary cultural references that very much brought the setting into the present day. There is a blend of psychological horror, jump scares, shock horror, and gore. Meaning most dimensions of human fear are attended to, creating a robust horror ensemble. The only problem is it doesn't entirely sustain these strengths into its second half. You could say it had me in the first half.

Subtle use of sound and camera work felt very much borrowed from the same vein as "Hereditary" which is never a bad thing. Downright bizarre and inconceivable scenes regularly caught the audience off-guard and an unforgiving atmosphere of the unexpected and uneasy meant nothing felt "off the table". Characters setting a sense of control and predictability were soon overturned in horrifying fashion.

As said before, about halfway through the film the novelty of the "hand" concept wore thin, and the film ran out of momentum. This was later redeemed with a great, thought-provoking ending that leads the viewer's imagination beyond the film. You could call this, in some sense, the "Inception" of horror films; once you watch it you'll understand why it could be described as such.

7.5/10.