A low-budget Australian horror flick is scaring audiences into unconsciousness. Here's why "Talk To Me" is one of the scariest films of the year.
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00:00 A low-budget Australian horror flick is scaring audiences into unconsciousness. Here's why
00:05 Talk to Me is one of the scariest films of the year.
00:08 2023 has certainly given all those aspiring filmmakers on YouTube a good reason to keep
00:13 chasing their dreams. First, there was the underground success of Skinnemer Inc., an
00:18 avant-garde horror film that was conceived by writer and director Kyle Edward Ball, back
00:22 when he was operating his YouTube channel, Bite Size Nightmares. Now, Danny and Michael
00:27 Gilipo, the Australian brothers who have amassed millions of subscribers thanks to their horror
00:31 comedy shorts on their YouTube channel, Rocka Rocka, are riding a wave of critical accolades
00:36 thanks to their feature directing debut, Talk to Me.
00:39 The film centers on a group of Australian teenagers who decide to mess with a supernatural
00:43 artifact in the shape of an embalmed hand, only to learn the hard way what happens when
00:48 you recklessly meddle with these sorts of things.
00:51 Chris Evangelista reviewed Talk to Me for Slashfilm at the Sundance Film Festival, calling
00:55 it quote, "a wonderfully nasty little Australian horror flick, full of icky, gory violence
01:01 and terror that recalls Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films." In fact, it's that same bloody mayhem
01:06 that supposedly left certain audience members queasy at early screenings of the film ahead
01:11 of its theatrical release.
01:13 In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, the Gilipo brothers recall what happened at
01:16 a showing in Australia. Danny alleged,
01:19 "People were fainting. It's happened in some of the screenings. One of the scenes is a bit
01:24 intense, so people have been reacting, fainting."
01:27 Is that true? Maybe. But at the very least, it's a great way of hyping Talk to Me for
01:32 gorehounds who fancy themselves a challenge.
01:38 It's possible that part of the reason Talk to Me is having such a visceral effect on
01:42 people is that it starts out as a real slice-of-life story about teenagers dealing with ordinary
01:46 problems before taking a turn for the bizarre and grotesque.
01:51 When Jacob Hall interviewed the Gilipo brothers for Slashfilm, they admitted part of their
01:54 goal was to paint a truly genuine portrait of what suburban Australian teens are like,
01:59 based on their own lived experience. Danny said,
02:02 "I just looked at the characters and just tried to capture Australian youth a little
02:06 bit and sort of put them on screen. I think we've seen a lot of amazing outback films
02:10 or beachside Australian films, but I hadn't seen Australian suburbia or teenagers that
02:15 felt and spoke authentically on screen. It seemed to be a rare thing."
02:20 To do that, the Gilipo brothers worked closely with the film's young and lesser-known lead
02:24 actors to help them really nail down how they would naturally deliver their lines and behave
02:28 as their characters. The relative newcomers also had the advantage of not carrying any
02:32 baggage with them from previous roles, which makes it easier for viewers to buy into their
02:37 characters and really feel for them once their lives take a turn for the nightmarish.
02:44 Talk to Me is arriving just a few months after the release of the latest Evil Dead film,
02:48 Evil Dead Rise, which was also full to the brim with nasty, malevolent specters and splattery
02:53 kills. In that case, however, the gleefully gruesome carnage was rooted in a story about
02:58 a relatable family fighting to make it out alive. As blood-soaked as the proceedings
03:02 get in Evil Dead Rise, the most unsettling moments only hit as hard as they do because
03:07 they're rooted in the characters and their struggles.
03:10 This is also what the Gilipo brothers see as the key to Talk to Me, and its efforts
03:14 to sustain a pervading atmosphere of dread and discomfort once the bodies start hitting
03:18 the floor. Michael Filippo said in his interview with Slashfilm,
03:22 "All those jump scares, it's not relying on external sources that are not tied to the
03:26 character in some way. I think the scares maybe work a bit more because you understand
03:30 the consequences of what's happening to their friends and the world around them."
03:34 Does Talk to Me actually live up to the hype? Everyone can decide for themselves by checking
03:39 out the film, which is currently playing in theaters.
03:41 [music]