Out of the current group of psychological + supernatural horror films, perhaps none has as successfully combined grief, trauma, and shame as competently as Talk to Me (and I say that having loved the Babadook and Barbarian).

Mia's choices are bad. But the film sets up reasons why Mia (and her peers) make the self-destructive decisions, with an obvious but not brow-beating comparison to drug usage and addiction.

One thing this film does better in comparison to other films focusing on teenagers is the relationships with the parents. Miranda Otto is strikingly believable as an exhausted, overly-harsh mother with both a cruel and a kind streak. Mia's father is both distant and loving, lost in his own kind of impenetrable adult grief.

The script doesn't try too hard to lean into teen-speak and allows the teenage characters to actually use acting skills to relay the relationships between them, instead of throwing a lot of corny exposition at us. The actor portraying Riley is entirely suited to a young teenager seeking approval from his cooler, older friends. The only slight negative is that the plot point with Mia's mother is a little overtread by other films, but Talk to Me is otherwise an incredible film that should stand out among 2023 offerings, even beyond the horror genre.