'Talk to Me', the horror film by two youtubers that topped the box office

Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou are just two 30-year-olds from the web. Their short films, uploaded on the RackaRacka YouTube channel, have garnered extraordinary numbers over the years, winning several category awards. Talk To Me is their feature film directorial debut. It is a small horror film shot in Australia, costing around $4.5 million. To give you an idea - and still remaining in the youtubers' sphere - the film Me Contro Te: Vacation in Transylvania due for release on 19 October has a budget of 4.68 million euros. According to Box Office Mojo, Talk To Me has grossed over 87 million dollars to date, proving to be a resounding commercial success. The film arrived in Italy on 28 September, becoming the most viewed title of the weekend, before the absurd and belated sting of the ban on under-18s arrived, on which a separate chapter should be opened. In addition to the commercial success, a positive response from the critics also arrived: on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film currently has 95% positive reviews. In general, the atmosphere around Talk To Me is that of a small cult film and the reasons behind this success story are varied and very specific.

The plot of Talk to Me

The first and inescapable reason for this unexpected success is that it is a very good film. Not a miracle, not a masterpiece, but definitely a great work that is able to reach a wide audience. Talk To Me is about the story of Mia, an Australian girl who has been orphaned for a couple of years and who has never been able to get over the loss of her mother, something that has in turn completely ruined the relationship with her father. Her only source of affection and security comes from her relationship with her best friend Jade and the latter's brother Riley. One evening the three of them, intrigued by some reels, decide to attend a party at a friend's house. At the party, through the mummified hand of a medium sealed in pottery, the boys organise a series of séances in which anyone who wants can decide to have the spirit of a dead person enter them for about a minute. Everyone else films it in amazement and general hilarity, while the possessed undergoes strong stimuli, both psychic and physical. But Talk To Me, what might have seemed at first glance to be yet another possession film, soon becomes a story of addiction and trauma within a group of teenagers. A metaphor dressed up in a fine horror suit. Above all, however, a film capable of speaking with intelligence and respect, both to the new generations and to the more seasoned fans of the genre.

Why Talk to Me is a cinematic success

In Talk To Me we see a group of young people with whom one can empathise, who behave as such and not as a collection of insufferable macchiettes. But the ability to talk about and with the younger generation is not surprising given the background of the filmmakers. Perhaps more surprising, because of the classic stereotypes that content creators carry with them, is the technical side. Talk To Me is shot like the best art films. The composition of the individual shots is crystal clear, as is the narrative and emotional scansion of the various passages. The editing is clean, at times rhythmic (and this probably stems from experience with material shot for the web). All this with a low budget, which is by no means taken for granted in a year in which blockbusters with inflated budgets, such as Disney's, fail at the box office precisely because their initial cost is so high as to prevent them from reaching a break even point even in the face of a good theatrical success. But then again, the many years spent working on short films on YouTube, with limited means and possibilities, must have helped in no small part, as did the 2014 period spent on the set of The Babadook, perhaps the most iconic horror film of the entire decade. A case reminiscent of the success achieved by David F. Sandberg with his short film Lights Out, released on YouTube and considered the scariest horror short ever, which later became a successful horror film that launched the film career of its creator.

An original way of writing Possession Movies

The other reason is genre-related. Because it had been decades since horror, at least commercially, was doing as well as it is now. M3GAN (released between 2022 and 2023), The House - The Evil Awakening, Scream VI, Influencer, Insidious - The Red Door, No One Will Save You. All commercial successes, in anticipation of Saw X, already considered among the best films of the decade-long saga. It seems that at a time when genre films are generally rewarded by the public, horror has an even more pronounced ability to draw people into the theatres. Add to this the fact that making a horror film generally has low costs, which is no bad thing in a production model, such as the film industry, that shows discrete cracks. But Talk To Me also stands out in this respect. Not only is it the only one, along with M3GAN, among those mentioned to be an original story untethered from any kind of franchise, it is also the best of the lot. And this is again thanks to the Philippou brothers, who were able to craft a horror film capable of reinventing the rules of the possession movie. Without, among other things, relying on the abused trick of jumpscare, playing everything on atmosphere, timing and the craftsmanship of all the details, including prosthetic tricks. And in the end we could simplify by saying that the secret behind Talk To Me's success is only one: talent.