Just in time for Halloween, Netflix is about to release the best horror film of the year.
The recently released movie will be made available for home viewing for users of the UK edition of the streaming service.
Talk to Me is the Australian horror movie in question. It became a legitimate break at the box office due to enthusiastic word-of-mouth and excellent festival buzz.
Talk to Me, which was directed by twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, is currently the second-biggest film for distributor A24, following 2023 Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, having made $90 million worldwide on a mere $4.5 million budget.
The story revolves around a group of people who became obsessed with utilising an embalmed hand to call spirits.
After just one séance, one of them—a young woman played by Sophie Wilde—ends up unleashing terrifying powers.
The movie also stars Joe Bird, Marcus Johnson, Alexandria Steffensen, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, and Alexandra Jensen.
Talk to Me received high marks from film critics Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent and Damon Wise of Deadline Hollywood for their “attempts to do something new with an old idea” in their four-star reviews of the “neat and nasty” movie.
Chris Bumbray of Joblo likened it to The Exorcist, stating that Bird’s portrayal of a character who is “possessed” is the most outstanding one since Linda Blair in William Friedkin’s 1973 movie.
The film’s main achievement, according to Chuck Bowen of Slant Magazine, is “how it manages to ground possession in the reality of modern teenage life.”
“My favourite horror film of 2023 so far,” Evolution of Horror presenter Mike Muncer wrote on the movie-focused social media platform Letterboxd. “When you know where it’s going, it’s horrifically, soul-destroyingly bleak,” Andrew Pope added. The kind of movie that will make you want to stay up late watching it.
The climax was described by Pope as “an all-timer horror movie ending.”
Netflix UK will start streaming Talk to Me on Thursday, October 26.