Film Talk: Latest Movie Releases – A summer slice of supernatural horror with Talk To Me
A buzz has been thriving all week thanks to the arrival of last Friday’s big hitters.
The most unlikely double bill treat ever to grace the silver screen, ‘Barbenheimer’ (you guessed it folks – Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer) has sent film fans into the biggest furore of the year.
With the takings rolling in, it’s been great to see crowds excited for the flicks in a way they haven’t been since last year’s release of Top Gun: Maverick. Even Tom Cruise’s latest effort, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, didn’t create the hype to match Nolan’s stunning biopic drama or Gerwig’s celebration of fantastic plastic. With the simultaneous release of Oppenheimer and Barbie, a bizarre marriage was made for movie goers who wanted to get their fill with two party-sized flicks in one week. And now of course, we can have fun speculating as to what the next unlikely slice of cinematic double trouble might be.
‘Thorvatar’ could be a winning combo for fans of dripping SFX if Marvel Studios and our boy Jimmy Cameron can make the stars align. And if Cameron and Ridley Scott can book a date in the diary, who wouldn’t enjoy a piece of ‘Gladiaterminator’? Personally, I can’t wait for ‘10 Things I Hate About The Expendables’, though I’m sure that somewhere, by someone, this has been done.
For now we must be content with this week’s offerings, spearheaded by a summer slice of supernatural horror in the form of Talk To Me. This directorial debut from the Philippou brothers is hoping to chill spines across the land – but does it hit hair-raising heights, or only go bump in the night as it falls through the floor?
It’s time to cross over...
TALK TO ME (15, 95 mins)
Released: July 28 (UK & Ireland)
Fans of horror cinema know that it’s never prudent to prize open a doorway between the human and spirit worlds because ghosts that accept the invitation to cross through are seldom as friendly as Casper.
Poltergeist, Flatliners and the Insidious saga make compelling cases for caution when it comes to dabbling with the supernatural.
Youthful curiosity overrides common sense in Talk To Me directed by Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who have amassed an ardent following with their RackaRacka channel of horror comedy videos.
Opening with a car accident that results in a kangaroo lying half dead in the road, the filmmaking twins’ stylish genre piece invents a folkloric alternative to a Ouija board – an embalmed hand reportedly severed from a psychic – as the totem that will allow spirits to take temporary possession of a foolhardy character’s body.
The script co-written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman relies heavily on cinematographer Aaron McLisky to conjure a mood of grim foreboding, dissipating pent-up tension with brutal explosions of violence that elicit bloodcurdling pleas for help.
Directorial brio, including an ambitious tracking shot through a crowded party, distracts attention from the film’s familiar narrative trajectory.
Seventeen-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) is haunted by the suicide of her mother (Alexandria Steffensen), who allegedly “took too many sleeping pills… by accident”, and the infuriating reluctance of her father Max (Marcus Johnson) to discuss the chain of events leading to her passing.
On the anniversary of her mother’s death, Mia persuades best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and her boyfriend Daniel (Otis Dhanji) to accompany her to a seance involving an embalmed hand, which reportedly allows participants to connect with the departed.
Jade’s 14-year-old brother Riley (Joe Bird) tags along, intrigued by viral videos of the hand.
Joss (Chris Alosio) and Hayley (Zoe Terakes) preside over the ritual at a house party and lay down the strict ground rules: light a candle to start the ceremony, hold the hand and utter the words “Talk to me”, invite a spirit (if you dare) into your body and blow out the candle within 90 seconds to close the connection.
Mia takes part, desperate to reconnect with her mother, but her insatiable hunger for answers makes her vulnerable to predatory forces that languish in the dark.
Talk To Me is a steady slow-burn of suspense, which avoids jump scares as characters become hooked on the adrenaline rush of interacting with the hand while fellow revellers capture their convulsions as social media clickbait.
Practical make-up effects embolden possession sequences and keep the Philippou brothers’ picture grounded in queasy reality.
Wilde is a sympathetic victim of trauma, consumed by grief, while Jensen and Bird offer solid support as siblings who learn that it’s not always good to talk.
MAVKA: THE FOREST SONG (PG, 99 mins)
Released: July 28 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Forbidden romance tests humankind’s relationship with the natural world in an animated fantasy based on Ukrainian folklore, which is directed by Oleh Malamuzh and Oleksandra Ruban.
Kind-hearted village artist Lucas (voiced by Artem Pivovarov) accepts a mission from scheming Kylina (Elena Kravets) to travel deep into the enchanted forest behind a dark mountain and locate a tree that bears a special insignia.
In this realm of magic and wonder, Lucas locks eyes with inquisitive nymph Mavka (Nataliya Denisenko), who yearns to rebuild bridges between the human and spirit worlds.
Love blossoms and Mavka bravely ventures into his village to witness the daily rituals of humans, who are supposed to be her sworn enemies.
The nymph is blissfully unaware that Kylina and her henchmen desire her otherworldly powers.
Mavka: The Forest Song is released in the UK and Ireland in the original Ukrainian version with subtitles and as an English language dubbed version featuring the vocal talents of Laurie Hymes, Eddy Lee and Sarah Natochenny.
THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (15, 97 mins)
Released: July 28 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
A 4K restoration of Sofia Coppola’s poetic feature directorial debut, based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, casts a spell over selected cinemas.
Four young men, on the cusp of sexual awakening in mid-1970s American suburbia, are shocked when the five sisters they desire suddenly and inexplicably commit suicide.
In flashback, the boys recall their first encounters with the Lisbon girls – Bonnie (Chelse Swain), Cecilia (Hanna R Hall), Lux (Kirsten Dunst), Mary (AJ Cook) and Therese (Leslie Hayman) – whose lives were always shaped by their overbearing mother (Kathleen Turner) and lackadaisical father (James Woods).
Reviewing fragments of evidence, the lads try to understand why five charming and devastatingly beautiful creatures would decide to end it all.
REINVENTING ELVIS: THE ’68 COMEBACK (12A, 120 mins)
Released: July 30 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
In Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-winning biographical drama Elvis, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F Kennedy in the space of six months in 1968 unsettled preparations for a televised Christmas special that was billed as Elvis Presley’s big comeback.
Director John Scheinfeld’s feature-length documentary explores the behind-the-scenes drama of the NBC programme, which Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker had conceived to propel his prized asset back into people’s homes and hearts.
Instead of feelgood festive fare, Presley collaborated with TV director Steve Binder to create an intimate concert that would resonate with a younger audience and reflect the mood of the country.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM (PG, 100 mins)
Released: July 31 (UK & Ireland)
Cowabunga! The four plucky reptiles created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in the 1980s somersault back onto the big screen in an irreverent animated adventure directed by Jeff Rowe and co-directed by Kyler Spears.
Turtle brothers Donatello (voiced by Micah Abbey), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr) and Raphael (Brady Noon) have been raised in the sewers of New York by their mentor Splinter (Jackie Chan).
The bodacious siblings are easily distinguished by their coloured bandanas – Donatello (purple), Leonardo (blue), Michelangelo (orange) and Raphael (red) – and weapons of choice, which Splinter has taught them to wield with pride during his ninjitsu lessons.
The wise rat has sheltered his four wards from the cruelty of the human world but the brothers yearn to be accepted as normal teenagers by New Yorkers.
They hope to win human hearts by performing selfless, heroic deeds with the help of their new friend April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri).
Alas, an army of mutant creatures including warthog Bebop (Seth Rogen), rhinoceros Rocksteady (John Cena), alligator Leatherhead (Rose Byrne) and Genghis Frog (Hannibal Buress) emerges from the shadows to wreak havoc.
