A horror film; contains violence, psychological terror, jump scares and evil characters.

The new film, “Talk to Me”, was released in July of 2023. It is listed as a rated R horror movie and is similar to any other basic Ouija, or spirit-related movie, but without the actual fear or horror. It follows events through the main character Mia, as the supposed horror film turns into an unwanted sorrowful adventure between a girl grieving her mother’s death, and an injured teenage boy stuck in the hospital.  

Throughout the beginning, a group of teenagers are playing with a possessed hand that releases evil spirits inside of them. Boring rushed scenes of the teenagers partying and playing with this haunted hand continues until the youngest boy Riley cannot get the evil spirit out. While Riley ends up possessed, the character Mia also has the spirits following her. 

Mia’s spirits are different as it is frequently her mother who passed away from drugs. And to make the movie any more sorrowful, it takes place around the anniversary of her mother’s death. The change to quiet and slow-paced scenes of Mia and her mother make you feel sad for what she has gone through.

The lack of horror throughout the movie comes from the overwhelming and powerful factors and scenes that can make it appear as something more like a drama. 

An underlying and repetitive subject to the movie that took away from the horror was grief and addiction. As Mia’s mother had passed away, there were many scenes where you felt sympathetic for her. Mia was grieving her mothers’ death and found herself stuck in an addiction with this hand. She was just a teenager who missed her mother. That is something upsetting that many other people can relate to and feel which does not involve feeling scared. 

I did enjoy the visual displays that were dark and felt close to the characters, where you felt like you were in the room with them even through the dull scenes. But, some scenes felt too rushed by going back and forth between locations too quickly or ended up in random places with no in between context. 

Instead of feeling suspense and waiting to be scared, it became dragged out with minimal jumpscares and events that do not classify as horror to some. 

Although the movie itself was not bad, it let down expectations and changed my view on it for being classified as a rated-R horror film.