“Talk to Me” is a little but impressive Australian horror flick which handles its familiar horror materials better than expected. As a seasoned moviegoer, I surely knew what I would get from it from the very beginning, but I still could enjoy how it skillfully pushes its story and characters toward its expected ending, and the overall result is much more effective and enjoyable than “The Exorcise: Believer” (2023).

After the disturbing prologue scene presented via a nice long take shot, the movie quickly establishes the moody personal circumstance of an adolescent girl named Mia (Sophie Wilde). Since her mother’s unexpected death, she has been coping a lot with her following grief during last two years, and one particular shot succinctly conveys to us how she has been emotionally distant to her father despite his sincere efforts for reaching to her more.

Mia has actually leaned and depended more on her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), and we soon see them going to a little evening gathering along with Jade’s younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) and Jade’s current boyfriend Daniel (Otis Dhanji). Daniel was incidentally Mia’s ex-boyfriend, but both Mia and Jade do not mind hanging around with Daniel together, and Daniel also does not feel that uncomfortable about being with them either.

Anyway, the main point of that little evening gathering attended by them and several other boys and girls in their neighborhood is a sort of amateur séance held by Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio), who recently happened to acquire a certain mysterious object to be used for their evening event. On the surface, this object in question is just a a severed and embalmed hand, but Hayely and Joss eagerly tell others that this is actually a supernatural medium to the spirits of dead people out there. All one has to do is holding the severed hand in handsake position and then saying “Talk to me” for contacting with whatever one can summon, and, if one really wants to experience spiritual possession after that point, one should simply say “I let you in”.

Mia and many others are not so serious about this stuff at first, but, what do you know, the situation becomes quite serious for Mia once she holds the severed hand. She immediately sees a rather disturbing figure right in front of her, and then everyone is quite surprised (and entertained) after she says “I let you in” as expected.

As several others including Daniel subsequently go for each own experience of spiritual possession, Mia becomes less scared of the severed hand, and then she begins to wonder about how she can contact with her mother’s spirit via the severed hand. She does not know how to do that at all, but she is still tempted by that slight possibility nonetheless.

She and Jade later hold another gathering in Jade’s house, and then, what do you know, there comes a rather unlikely chance for Mia. She is certainly eager to talk more with her mother’s spirit, but, not so surprisingly, she soon comes to face the dire consequence of her unwise choice, which deeply affects not only her but also several others around her.

This is surely your typical cautionary horror tale, and directors Danny and Michael Philippou, who have mainly been known for their horror comedy YouTube channel RackaRacka, keep us engaged as gradually dialing up the level of suspense and dread along the plot. While the movie throws several genuinely spooky moments, the sense of doom begins to hover around Mia, and we come to fear more for what may happen next to her and some other main characters in the story.

In addition, the screenplay by David Philippou and Bill Hinzman, which was developed from the concept by Daley Pearson, takes its time for story and character development. Mia’s inner turmoil along the story is depicted with enough emotional details, and we come to understand how she lets herself driven into more despair and madness later in the film. Compared to Mia, the other main characters in the movie are under-developed in comparison, but they are also presented as believable human figures at least, and that is the main reason why several key scenes in the film feel not only just shocking but also quite devastating.

The main cast members of the movie are all solid in their convincing performance. While Sophie Wilde diligently holds the emotional center of the film, Alexandra Jensen and Joe Bird occupy each own place well around Wilde, and Otis Dhanji, Zoe Terakes, and Chirs Alosio are well-cast in their respective supporting parts. In case of Miranda Otto, whom you may remember for her substantial supporting turn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film series, she is mostly stuck with a rather thankless role, but she has her own little moment when her character happens to have a little private conversation with Mia at one point later in the story.

Overall, “Talk to Me” is a well-made genre piece to be appreciated for a number of good reasons, and it also demonstrates that Danny and Michael Philippou are competent filmmakers who really know how to interest and then engage audiences. They indeed made a promising start for their burgeoning filmmaking career, and it will be surely interesting to see what may come from them next.