Michael Philippou
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Connections, in both directions
The Philippou’s go all out here, with some genuinely hideous make-up effects, bringing to mind The Evil Dead , while scenes of the purgatory the possessed people wind up in bring to mind Event Horizon .
From the ghastly demon practical effects to its sharp-edge cinematography, Talk to Me evokes the visuals of Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981) and Drag Me to Hell .
It instantly brings Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead to mind, but it also introduces James Wan’s Insidious into the mix.
Michael and Danny Philippou’s “Talk to Me” contains splendid nasty scares, often feeling like Australia’s answer to Sam Raimi’s “The Evil Dead” (or Joel Schumacher’s “Flatliners”) for the modern generation, where teens summon ghostly spirits as a party trick or newly found drug.
Although Bring Her Back is in some ways a spiritual sequel to Talk to Me, with both films exploring the way grief can incite drastic change, it couldn’t be more different tonally.
But if Talk To Me was quite a traditional horror movie, Bring Her Back perhaps goes too far for even most hardened horror fans…
In their breakthrough debut horror feature “Talk to Me,” Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou employed a haunted hand that became a party game for teenagers as a way to understand the debilitating grip of depression.
Given the dominant themes at play, it’s not surprising that Bring Her Back was written around the same time as Talk to Me.
There are clear thematic echoes here with Talk to Me, especially in how the Philippous explore the destructive consequences of unresolved grief.
Talk to Me has several memorable ones, but Bring Her Back dials it up to eleven.
The concept of the film pays homage to the likes of Stir of Echoes and a horror short story written by W. W. Jacobs and originally published in 1902 called The Monkey’s Paw .
With a nod towards the famous tale of “The Monkey’s Paw” and Flatliners , the concept behind Talk to Me defies belief.
The concept of conjuring the dead and making yourself vulnerable to the dead taking over your body is one that is very similar to the concept of The Further from the Insidious movies.
Relevant and surprisingly poignant for a balls-out possession flick, Talk to Me takes that Pet Sematary level of grief and constructs an afterlife that’s eerily reminiscent of the nightmare fuel that is equal parts Hell in What Dreams May Come and “The Further” in Insidious.
It instantly brings Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead to mind, but it also introduces James Wan’s Insidious into the mix.
The self-confessed horror fans from Australia came to filmmaking via their wildly successful YouTube channel, RakkaRakka and along the way were part of the crew for their home country’s best-known horror, The Babadook.
The Australian filmmakers, who got their starts as crew on the cult smash “The Babadook,” infuse the movie with a spirited and youthful aurora.
Think of the creep-factor of Lake Mungo (2008) mixed with the violence of The Loved Ones (2009) and the emotion of The Babadook (2014) and Relic (2020).
The Philippou brothers (both direct, Danny also co-writes) worked in TV, YouTube videos and on the camera department for The Babadook before this first feature, and it’s a debut that shines with a confident vision.
A24 was smart to acquire what might turn out to be the most explosive Australian horror flick since The Babadook .
Creating ten years of YouTube content and working on such films as “The Babadook” have given the Philippous great experience as evinced by their craftsmanship here.
This sense of psychological turmoil, as physicalized by something like a demonic plague, recalls Smile and the films that influenced it, such as It Follows and the various versions of The Ring and the original Ringu .
And while the shocking prologue isn’t the only reminder you’ll get of similarly structured films such as The Ring or It Follows , Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou carve out a timely teen horror update that is often chilling and consistently engaging.
Horror has a special place at Sundance, in recent years debuting features such as The Witch and It Follows reminding us that there are plenty of innovative and fresh genre pieces at the festival.
The best two modern comparisons of Talk to Me would be Hereditary and It Follows .
The concept of the film pays homage to the likes of Stir of Echoes and a horror short story written by W. W. Jacobs and originally published in 1902 called The Monkey’s Paw .
Let’s look at it as “Flatliners” combined with some gruesome elements in Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead”, albeit rather colder and more distanced.
Counterbalanced against the high-energy stupidity of teen horror, what you get is a movie that aims to scare the fuck out of you with an abyss that feels a little too real and often ventures into Evil Dead levels of violence and shock (i.e.
From the ghastly demon practical effects to its sharp-edge cinematography, Talk to Me evokes the visuals of Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981) and Drag Me to Hell .
I’m reminded of The Night House (2020), Midsommar (2019), and, again, The Babadook (2014) – in which we see how grief throws our reality into a whirlwind and we need to clearly define what is real and what is the consequence of how we haven’t dealt yet with our deepest sorrows.
So, as I sat in a jam-packed screening last night at the Angelika in sweltering hot Dallas, I was overjoyed to discover a film that rivals Hereditary , Midsommar, and even Pearl .
Warum das erfolgreiche Produktionsteam A24 (“It comes at Night”, “Midsommar”, “Men”) an dieser Stelle nicht auf die Bremse getreten ist, bleibt unklar.
While the film’s prologue shows the promise of something ghastly and exciting, our expectations are tempered by plot movements cribbed from other similar “haunted object” films, specifically Mike Flanagan’s Oculus , in which its characters confront a cursed mirror that tricks them through unreliable visions.
Relevant and surprisingly poignant for a balls-out possession flick, Talk to Me takes that Pet Sematary level of grief and constructs an afterlife that’s eerily reminiscent of the nightmare fuel that is equal parts Hell in What Dreams May Come and “The Further” in Insidious.
The Philippou’s go all out here, with some genuinely hideous make-up effects, bringing to mind The Evil Dead , while scenes of the purgatory the possessed people wind up in bring to mind Event Horizon .
However, Joe Bird is best, with him perhaps delivering the best “possessed performance” since Linda Blair in The Exorcist .
Michael and Danny Philippou’s “Talk to Me” contains splendid nasty scares, often feeling like Australia’s answer to Sam Raimi’s “The Evil Dead” (or Joel Schumacher’s “Flatliners”) for the modern generation, where teens summon ghostly spirits as a party trick or newly found drug.
Think of the creep-factor of Lake Mungo (2008) mixed with the violence of The Loved Ones (2009) and the emotion of The Babadook (2014) and Relic (2020).
…the brutal horror of Talk to Me and Hereditary…
…the comedy-to-horror conveyor belt that gave us Get Out, Talk to Me, Barbarian, and Weapons.
Danny and Michael Philippou jumped on the train with “Talk to Me” and “Bring Her Back.”
The Monkey’s Paw has been adapted into TV series and films countless times over the years, but some notable ones include Tales From the Crypt (“Wish You Were Here”), Are You Afraid of the Dark (“The Tale of the Twisted Claw”), The Twilight Zone (“The Man in The Bottle”), The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Terror II , I am Weasel (“The Weasel’s Paw”), and Adventure Time (“Jake the Dog” from season 5).
Think of the creep-factor of Lake Mungo (2008) mixed with the violence of The Loved Ones (2009) and the emotion of The Babadook (2014) and Relic (2020).
However, that’s obviously with the huge exception of Miranda “I am no man” Otto (currently also starring in The Clearing miniseries).