The buzziest horror film of 2023 was easily Talk to Me. It turned out to be a surprise summer hit for A24, earning $92 million with a $4.5 million budget.

It is also the brainchild of former Australian YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou, twin brothers whose RackaRacka channel over the years grew them a sizable following, particularly after the release of a video in 2014 called “Harry Potter VS Star Wars”. 

Now, I won’t lie, I am not a fan of most RackaRacka content. There are too many testosterone infused uploads involving wrestling fanboying and a degenerate Ronald McDonald- but their channel does demonstrate that even at an early age, the twins had passion for media, a innate understanding of what audiences want, an ability to infuse visual effects into their videos and a willingness to make their ideas a reality. 

Interestingly enough, the Philippou brothers worked as part of the crew of The Babadook while making content for RackaRacka and this seems to have helped spark an interest in horror filmmaking. RackaRacka began to diversify by creating horror comedy shorts. For a shorter sample of their work, check out their video “BANNED Cooking Show!” 

So the eventual turn towards horror filmmaking shouldn’t come as a big surprise- though legal troubles and RackaRacka’s eventual demonetization from YouTube probably helped push the transition. Still, I’m sure some RackaRacka fans have probably found the shift from chaotic, fast-paced YouTube shorts to mature slow-burn horror jarring and I personally am impressed that the brothers found success so quickly in both mediums.

Talk to Me begins at the kind of massive house party I’d never get invited to. In fact, the unrealistic size of the house party is my only real criticism of the movie…and honestly, that’s a pretty minor one. Truthfully, the only part of the party that seemed recognizable to me was the weird guy who locked himself in a room. (For the record, I’ve never been that weird guy.) His worried brother breaks through the door and…woo…we soon get a quick, spectacular death that instantly indicates this is an elevated horror.

Talk to Me. You have my attention.

Cut to Mia (Sophia Wilde), a teen grieving during the second anniversary of her mother’s suicide. To cheer up, Mia convinces her friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and Jade’s younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) to come with her to a house party to see if a video local teens have been circulating about an embalmed hand that lets people talk with the dead is real.

Turns out, the powers of the embalmed hand are very real and its young owners have increased their popularity by using it as part of a party game. 

What could possibly go wrong?

Talk to Me‘s premise is simple enough, but believe me when I say that the film is a whole lot less predictable than it sounds. Talk to Me is NOT a film where an evil entity is now going to pick off the teens at the party one by one. Instead, it’s a cleverly written paranormal psychological horror with a powerful subtext about the nightmare suicide causes for the ones that are left behind. 

But what equally makes this film special is its incredibly well-thought out worldbuilding- you know, the kind that doesn’t feel the need to explain everything, but explains enough to paint a complete and satisfying picture. The embalmed hand has a whole set of rules that need to be followed to make it “safe” and trouble only starts when those rules are played with- though who’s really at fault for your going overtime if the hand just won’t let go. And after watching the hand work one way ten times, why would anybody expect something to go wrong on the eleventh try. In a weird way, you can’t fault Mia and the other teens for breaking the rules.

And those spirits on the other side have the kind of incalculable nastiness to them that is always welcome. 

But the Philippou brothers know that a lot of young people also have a reckless cruelty within them (which sums up so much of RackaRacka content) and there is no doubt that some of the teens they put in the room might have wanted to see the rules broken just to see what might happen. So when things escalate a second time, it really isn’t a surprise.

Nor is it a surprise that characters are shown filming all of their mini-seances no matter how embarrassing, or horrifying, they get. This is, after all, a horror where most of the main characters belong to Generation Z, so the importance of the cell phone is rightfully front and center, especially in the film’s first Act. As in the real world, the phones distract the characters from common sense and often prevents real conversations from happening. Like It Follows the decade prior, this horror seems to have a pulse on the young people of this era.   

Talk to Me is another example of an intelligent horror brought to us by Aussies. It kept me guessing about where it was going right up until its remarkably well-crafted ending. (I was so in awe after seeing the film I had trouble sleeping at night.) And the complexities of Mia’s relationship with Jade, Riley, Daniel and, of course, her father are all well thought out, creating the feeling that you are watching people with lived histories. The writing team, which includes Danny Philippou, deserve a lot of credit here. 

My only concern is that a sequel to Talk to Me has already been greenlit, but if I was advising the Philippou brothers, I’d suggest they put a little distance between them and this one. (Maybe produce, but don’t direct.) As a single film, Talk to Me tells a complete story. I’ve no doubt that the Philippou brothers can make magic strike twice, but messing around with an already realized masterpiece in horror filmmaking might not be the best way to do it.

But hey…they were able to make “Harry Potter VS Star Wars 2” worthwhile…so what do I know?

(By the way, that was good use of a tie-fighter.)