Demonic possession is so much more of a pain these days. Not only are you getting flambéed by the spirits beyond and puking pea soup by the bucket, it’s now almost guaranteed the whole thing will end up on TikTok. It’s a concept that must have come naturally to Australian YouTubers-turned-filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou, whose neat and nasty debut Talk to Me should hopefully dispel the Boomer notion that everybody on the internet is a talentless hack.
Much of the film is grounded in the realities of the modern internet: if, for example, someone began passing around a medium’s sawn-off, embalmed hand and claimed you could commune with the dead by touching it, it would instantly become a viral trend. That’s how Mia (Sophie Wilde) first learns of its existence. She’s an introverted teen with a dead mum, who feels increasingly distant from her best friend and surrogate sister, Jade (Alexandra Jensen). Spurred on by some combination of morbid curiosity and a desperation to stand out, she volunteers to take a crack at the whole “cursed object” thing.
