Once It Takes Hold, It Refuses To Let Go

July 27, 2023

Aussie Horror TALK TO ME Opens Tomorrow in Theaters from A24, Score by Cornel Wilczek

Directed by Australian twins/YouTube sensations Danny and Michael Philippou, and starring Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, and more, TALK TO ME is the “best horror surprise of 2023,” writes Laura Bradley in The Daily Beast. “The film feels like a culmination of years of practice with laughs and scares—a carefully calibrated journey that soothes its viewers with humor just in time to snap them back into hell with a single horrific blow.”

The film: When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far – spending more than 90 seconds playing host, the legend goes, and the ghostly guest becomes permanent, unleashing terrifying supernatural forces on them all.

The film score is by Cornel Wilczek, an award winning Australian screen composer and music producer. He is driven by experimentation and the desire to find something new in music. Working with color and contrast, he combines lush, acoustic sources with home-made electronics to take listeners to new places and help create unique worlds for his projects. Cornel runs and owns Electric Dreams Studio in Melbourne, Australia. It is a high-end, acoustically designed space that facilitates creative development, composition and mixing, surround for TV and film, as well as music production. The studio houses producers, composers, sound-designers and engineers.

“Filmmaking brothers Danny and Michael Philippou made Talk to Me their film debut. They have a popular YouTube channel under the name RakkaRakka, home to their live-action shorts, many of which fall in the horror genre,” writes Sharina Black in Collider. “The movie got rave reviews when it screened at the 2023 Sundance Festival critics this year for its originality and ghastliness. With its success at Sundance 2023, A24 picked the film up for distribution and slated the film for a summer release. According to the critics, the movie goes over the top with its possession scenes, the bread, and butter of the film. Some are comparing it to the cult classic 1981 film THE EVIL DEAD, and all who have seen Talk to Me are praising Sophie Wilde for her groundbreaking performance in the lead role. There have already been a number of showstopping horror movies to kick the year off, but TALK TO ME looks like it might be the new crowd favorite. Without further ado, here’s everything we know so far about TALK TO ME.”

TALK TO ME had its preview screening at the 2022 Adelaide Film Festival, followed by its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2023. It was theatrically released in Australia on July 27, 2023 and will open now in theaters everywhere on July 28 – “This date will put the film up against Disney’s star-studded HAUNTED MANSION reboot and the psychological horror film SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, starring Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman, so this should make for one spooky weekend at the movies.” – Collider.

Watch the TALK TO ME trailer: