TALK TO ME Review

The "show me what you're capable of" opening to horror movies is a staple for a reason. Proof of concept to the audience, it's a chance to encapsulate where we're going and the methods filmmakers plan to get there. The Philippou brothers answer said call with a style worthy of this film's buzz. Tracking in, increasing stakes, providing story payoffs, and — as you'd want in this genre — providing thrills. Pace continued as this launches into our characters¹ and the central plot/boogeyman. The brothers showing visual acumen in everything from prop², to framing, to playing with visual planes. Add in the set-up social media aspects and revealing of buried secrets behind a mask, and this is barreling along. A killer premise that doesn't fall away when cameras and people complicate vision.

...and then we really push into act 2. Where freshness turns to reproduction, while themes are juggled and underbaked. Apparently the Philippous made their initial mark with YouTube mini movies dealing heavily with IP. That showing up in the bar portion of this story's barbell, both length³ and bootleg-wise⁴, and revealing their home-movie skills were honed mostly into the practicals and technicals⁵. Possibly a victim of expectation⁶, this is still quite good and hopefully a career proof of concept for these two, but I hope their next effort is more focused. Or interested in answering Why's and following the rules/logic they set up at opening.

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¹ Wilde and Terakes the standouts. ² The hand. Fantastic in conception and execution. ³ Again, premise great, but this has your standard Act 2 problems. ⁴ It Follows being the standout analog. If Monroe had contracted and was fleeing her STD-monster, but also had to deal with some brand of past trauma (in a wedged-in-there, non-subtextual sorta way). ⁵ Both of which shine and show serious promise, stock-wise. ⁶ Which is on me, as projection was high for this one. So much so that, while it's probably a 3-star film, I'm bumping to 3.5.

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The above was taken from my Letterboxd review. I also reviewed this film on re-watch.