Talk to Me (2023)

At a glance

Talk to Me 2023 is an Australian supernatural horror film from the Philippou brothers about a party game with an embalmed hand.

Directors	Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou
Release year	2023
Runtime	95 minutes
Genre	Supernatural horror
Starring	Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji

Plot

Mia is still inside the grief of her mother’s death. Her friends have a new party game: an embalmed hand, a candle, and a rule about how long you let the dead in. You hold the hand, say “talk to me,” and a spirit takes the chair. Ninety seconds is the limit. Mia stays longer. The thing that comes through does not leave when the candle goes out.

The possession moves to the people around her, including a younger boy who should not have been in the room. Mia starts to see her mother in the contacts. The film is about a dare, and about a girl who would rather talk to the dead than sit with the living version of the story.

Production

Danny and Michael Philippou, known for the RackaRacka YouTube channel, directed it as their first feature. It was shot in Adelaide. Sophie Wilde plays Mia. A24 bought it after the Sundance premiere in 2023 and released it in the United States that July. The budget was about $4.5 million. The worldwide gross passed $90 million.

The hand is a prop with a story inside the film: a medium’s severed hand, ceramic and embalmed. The possession scenes were played by the cast, not swapped out for a creature suit. A sequel, Talk 2 Me, has been discussed. The brothers’ next released feature was Bring Her Back. The film’s party-camera energy comes from their online work. The grief plot is what keeps it from being only a dare.

Cast

Sophie Wilde as Mia
Alexandra Jensen as Jade
Joe Bird as Riley
Otis Dhanji as Daniel
Miranda Otto as Sue
Zoe Terakes as Hayley
Chris Alosio as Joss

Trivia

The directors made their name with YouTube stunts. This is their first feature.
The ninety-second rule is the film’s only safety. Mia breaks it.
Wilde plays Mia as someone who wants the contact, not only someone who suffers it.
The hand’s origin is told inside the story. The film does not treat it as a brand.
A24 released it in the summer, the same window it has used for other elevated horror.
Riley’s possession is the point where the dare stops being a party.