Saturday, October 7, 2023

October Horror Challenge 2023 #27: "Talk To Me"

I didn't hear much about this movie while it was in theaters. it just kind of snuck right by me and I usually try to keep up on the latest horror movies when they're released. My friend Ed just recently gave me this movie and it's funny but I just hung out with someone today who told me that this movie was really creepy and she mentioned that this movie has something to do with a creepy hand. Ed said he bought a replica of the hand that appears in this movie, so now I know that it has something to do with a hand, but I don't know anything else, AND I DON'T WANT TO KNOW UNTIL I WATCH IT, which will be in about thirty seconds. As always, I'll let you know what I think after I watch the movie. Here we go!

So this movie is about a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits by using an embalmed hand (because that sounds like a great idea and not something at all dangerous and deadly) so they keep doing it (because they've never watched a horror movie before so they don't know any better) and eventually, one of them screws up and ends up unleashing some evil spirits. Where are Sam and Dean WInchester when you need them? The friends find themselves in a battle with the supernatural, and they must try to find a way to stop the unholy supernatural presence before it destroys them. Now there wouldn't BE a supernatural presence to destroy if they hadn't muddled in dark arts and released the stupid thing in the first place, but that's neither here nor there. Just remember, kids, playing around and summoning evil spirits is a BAD idea and you should NOT try it.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

In the first five minutes of this movie there's a wild party interrupted by a topless person who walks up and stabs some guy a bunch of times before taking the knife outside and stabbing themselves in the face. I mention this both because it's a really cool way to open a horror movie and because it was totally unexpected. Normally I don't like to spoil movies for people (unlike movie trailers these days, which like to spoil the entire movie from beginning to end) but I kinda had to spoil this scene, I'm sorry. What a way to end a party! And these parties aren't like any I have ever attended because no one I know ever brought a severed, embalmed hand to a party and then used it to try and summon spirits. I must have been to some boring parties (no one ever stabbed anyone at any of my parties either).

I don't mean to sound judgmental here, but WTF is wrong with the characters in this movie? I won't even play with an Ouija board, and here they are using a severed hand as a conduit for summoning supernatural beings at a party repeatedly as a joke, and they're all laughing about it while their friends get possessed. I thought we were stupid for trying to conjure Bloody Mary when I was a teenager (why would you chant in the dark in front of a mirror until a dead woman appears behind you?) but at least we weren't using severed body parts to summon ghosts and laughing about it while it actually happens in front of us.I kept trying to make myself like these characters, but I just can't relate to that level of stupidity. I did end up caring about the main two characters enough that I didn't want them to die, so that helped. This movie has good special effects and good acting from the actors (despite how stupidly they acted, I BELIEVED in their performances). The idea is original too. I have seen a lot of horror movies and I've never seen one where people are using a severed hand to summon ghosts. That's a new one for me. And I keep going on about how idiotic the main characters are, but I did genuinely feel for them by the end of the movie and want them to succeed in their ghostbusting mission. I highly recommend this movie (as strongly as I caution you to NEVER try anything the characters try in this movie).

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