1. A foreign film: Talk to Me (2022)

List Progress: 10/12

Grief can make you do desperate things. The main character of the Australian 2022 horror movie Talk to Me, Mia, lost her mother two years before the events of the film. While it seems like she has found a bit of peace in that time, as soon as there is any hint that she might be able to contact the dead, she leaps at it despite all warning signs. There is nothing she wouldn’t do to get some sort of contact with her mother, and this burning, desperate desire can only lead to disaster, which Talk to Me is only too happy to mete out step by horrible step.

The real inciter of Talk to Me is a creepy embalmed hand, passed from thrill-seeking teenager to teenager. When a certain ritual is performed, the hand causes euphoria-inducing fits and spiritual possessions, but if maintained too long, the spirits may refuse to leave. The teenagers in this movie feel very realistic and you understand why each of them would want to do this, with all of their unique motivations. The school bully wants the cache of having the hand, Mia’s religious friend wants to show he’s not a prude, and her friend’s younger brother wants to be one of the cool older kids. Everyone’s decisions make perfect sense, even as they are terrible choices, and this makes it very easy to fall in love with these characters. Mia has done nothing to deserve what happens to her, but the world doesn’t care about who deserves what and neither does this hand.

Talk to Me is an incredibly tight and efficient movie, with nary a scare or a character wasted. The writing, the performances, even things like the makeup design of the teens’ possessed forms are nuanced and polished to a shine. The plot of the movie is clearly sign-posted from the beginning, but every step of the journey is laid out with painful artistry and grace. Talk to Me is absolutely a conversation worth having.

Would I Recommend It: Absolutely. This is honestly a rare horror movie that I do not have any criticisms of.