to stream on Peacock — burst onto the horror landscape just as exceptionally crafted low-budget fright films often do. Out of the blue, without any notable star, from two fledgling filmmakers previously unknown, but with an incredible high-concept that not only attracted Gen Z’s interest but also motivated nearly every horror veteran to tune in and discover what the excitement was all about.
As we now understand — since “Talk to Me” swiftly morphed into a contemporary classic — the excitement revolved around a severed, preserved hand that a group of Australian teenagers found had the power to connect them with deceased spirits whenever they urged it to “talk to me,” and even take possession of them for a brief time when they proclaimed “I let you in.”
At first glance, the Phillipou brothers’ debut feature might’ve appeared to be just another straightforward possession-horror, but due to their unique directorial perspective, the duo approached the reinvention of the genre — or at the very least, revitalized it in a manner we haven’t witnessed in a long time. Undeniably unsettling, dark as midnight, and saturated with primal dread, “Talk to Me” secured a position among the most exhilarating and horrifying horrors of the past decade.