Talk To Me

We all have someone we love who have passed away. Doesn´t matter if it´s an aunt, cousin perhaps a sister or a brother or even your parents. It´s ok to miss them no matter how many years go by, and it´s ok to cry whenever you feel like it. Next year in February it will be 2 years since my beloved grandfather Ingvar passed away and i can cry just looking at a picture of him. He was always there as my real father when my dad wasn´t around. And we had some really good times all the way from my childhood to my adult life. I can not tell you how many Swedish Midsummer celebrations i had with him and my grandmother Elsa but they were many times. We always had a tradition to drink the very strong alcohol O.P. Andersson Aquavit, reminds you of a very strong brandy and very spicy. So, sometimes i pick up a bottle and cheers to my grandfather and remember the good days. Speaking of missing someone, have you ever wished you could talk to someone you miss from the other side? There are those who say that you can who say they can connect with the spirit of someone who passed away. Personally i would never try this myself, simply because i wouldn´t know how to handle a situation like that or know exactly what to do. In the cinema world of horror there have been quite many horror films taking on the subject of contacting the dead. One of the best films in my opinion to bring up the subject of contacting the dead is the horror film Hereditary from director Ari Ester. The story surrounds a family where big brother Peter Graham ( Alex Wolff ) takes his odd little sister Charlie Graham ( Milly Shapiro ) to a party. Not knowing that his sister taste some chocolate cake, she have severe nut allergy and goes into anaphylactic shock. As Charlie drives Charlie to the hospital, Charlie open the window and stick her head out to get air, while Peter swerves to avoid a dead deet lying in the road. Charlie is decapitated by a sigil telephone pole. In shock, Peter drives home and leave Charlie´s headless body in the car. The mother Annie Graham ( Toni Collette ) discover the body in the car the next morning. Following the death of Charlie, Annie becomes resetful towards Peter while her husband Steve Graham ( Gabriel Byrne ) tries to keep it together. Annie meets a support group member named Joan ( Ann Dowd ), who also lost her child. Joan tells Annie that she have been able to communicate with her dead child, and suggest Annie should do the same to her daughter Charlie. At first she isn´t sure but decide to try. She does seem to get in contact with Charlie and tries to show this to the rest of the family. But something is quite not right after her latest seance. Hereditary is not only a very intelligent horror film but also very well made on a budget of 10 million dollars. I highly recommend that you watch this film no matter if it´s on streaming or on a phyiscal copy. For quite some time i have heard a lot of buzz this year about an Australian horror film called Talk To Me. I did hear some movie critics praising this film for actually beeing really good compare to a lot of American horror films so of course i had to check this film out. Is Talk To Me just as good as many people say or is the hype surrounding this film way too positive and is actually not that great?

When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

Those who really know me personally they know how much i love the Australian horror film The Babadook from 2014. I own this film in 3 different versions on different physical releases and i do have the Babadook book with the paper figures that i can look in. Talk To Me is a completely different kind of horror film than The Babadook, since Talk To Me is more about contacting spirits on the other side while The Babadook is more of a psychological horror film. So how do i feel about Talk To Me in general? Let´s begin with what i enjoyed most about this film. First of all i feel that all the young actors in this film did a brilliant job with their acting performances. They really seem to have taken their characters seriously and wanted to make sure they would work with the plot of this film. Even if i could probably talk about several characters and how good they are let´s get into a few of them. Let us begin with the party animal known as Hayley, played by actor Zoe Terakes. What makes Haley fit so well into this environment of young people is that she clearly loves to party and is not afraid to push others into crossing limits. Zoe give a performance that you can easily connect with, especially since you get a feeling that if Zoe continue this path she might head into trouble in her adulthood, the way she keeps pushing limits. Actress Sophie Wilde as the character Mia is a character who is a perfect example of someone who is having a hard time dealing with her loss of her mother. You could say that her story becomes a very important part of Talk To Me as she get in contact with her mother. I have to mention actress Miranda Otto ( who is brilliant in The Lord Of The Rings sequels ) as the character Sue. I just love how easily Miranda manage to make any character she does so natural and effective. What about the special hand that they use to contact the spirit? It is a very cool design and a really good idea to do something different in this horror genre. What about the horror influences in this film, are they surprisingly good? I would say yes, especially when the film really becomes much more brutal and bloody as everything is getting out of control. Talk To Me is definetely one of the better horror films i have seen this year, and even if i enjoy The Babadook a bit more for different reasons i would highly recommend this film for true fans of horror. Directors Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou deliver a horror filmt that does not only give possession horror a well needed different approach than we have seen before, they clearly knew that we need more brutality back in modern horror movies as well. Talk To Me will definetely inspire you to look forward to a lovely Christmas Dinner this year. 

Rating: DDDD