A24
The demons and devils may change but the grief stays the same—a horror cinema fact borne out by Talk to Me (in theaters July 28), Australian twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou’s superb import about a group of teenagers who find a unique way to commune with the dead. A clever thriller that puts a distinctive 21st-century spin on familiar material, it proves the vitality of both its scare-tactic tropes and its belief in loss and sorrow as catalysts for misguided decisions and unholy terror.
The film knows that you’ve seen this all before and yet nonetheless pitches its tune in a bracingly modern key. In doing so, it demonstrates that no emotion is more powerful, or potentially dangerous, than inconsolable heartache.
Anguish has often been the engine for horror, dating back to at least 1973’s Don’t Look Now, Nicolas Roeg’s disquieting saga about a couple (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) who are beset by bizarre phenomena in Venice after being told that their recently deceased young daughter is attempting to contact them from beyond the grave.