Film Review : "Talk to Me"

 The only aspect of critical reactions to this movie that I agree with regarding "Talk to Me" is that it holds little common ground with the other A24 films. In fact A24 has nothing to do with the film except the fact that they acquired the rights to distribute it. This does not mean that there is much originality in the premise of the movie or the elements that cut and paste from other horror movies. The premise is the same as any of the "Ouija" films, they just replaced the Ouija board with a mummified hand. Stylistically "It Follows" is a fair point of reference, people who don't want to see are not going , as rather than a weird sex curse they are passing along the mummified hand. You can also see where they drew inspiration from movies like "Jacobs Ladder" and "Flatliners" , though at the end of the day it's the same kind of high school dramatics that fueled the "Final Destination" franchise. 

Is the problem the young actors , the directing or both? None of the characters are likeable. The supposed protagonist, is supposedly dealing with the loss of their mother, but come off as just being entitled as she endangers those around her. The misadventures that follow dabbling with the mummified hand, as a sequence of  bad ideas, that are almost like every "Don't go in the basement" type of horror retardation that has already killed off tons of stupid teenagers. The only manner it succeeds as a horror movie is the collection of bad ideas the characters follow to their demise, is the kind of discomfort horror movies, should generate, though if it was coupled with better writing and played less off preexisting tropes to the point of leaving you feeling you have already seen this movie before. 

I do prefer horror movies without happy endings, so this works in that regard. It's a similar brand of sinking feelings that cast a depressive sense of unease over the viewer, much like It Follows, in that regard, however it ignores who things work in the real world , like cops would have never let Mia go free the first time one of her friends went to the hospital, nor would she be able to come within fifty feet of said friend after the fact, kind of a big plot hole to fall through. After the film's trip to Cannes, I am sure the A24 marketing team was quick to promote the diverse cast, which still finds it's box office lagging behind "Cocaine Bear" , but outselling "Terrifier 2" to give you an idea of the films success, not that box office is a fair indication of a good movies, look at the Fast and Furious movies for an example in that regard. While I do want original horror instead of remakes, this movie almost a remake of several movies that it cobbles together as a celluloid Frankenstein's monster, and turns into into a mess plot wise, and just another teen horror movie marketed like a hip art house film, when it would be better left to Netflix,