History Film / TalkToMe

* JerkAss: Hayley is a crass and inconsiderate party animal who gets annoyed when anyone or anything is disrupting her from having a good time, but this is portrayed more as the immaturity that comes with teenage years than anything. [[spoiler:They are also concerned if Mia is OK when the time limit goes over, and is hesitant to disrupt when Mia is talking to her "mom" again through Riley.]]

* FamilyOfChoice: Jade and her family (mother Sue and brother Riley) are this for Mia. When both Jade and Sue tell Mia they don't want to see her after Riley's illness, this devastates Mia and sets in motion the rest of the film.]]

* FamilyOfChoice: Jade and her family (mother Sue and brother Riley) are this for Mia.

* HeadDesk: PlayedForHorror. While under the influence of the conjured spirit, [[spoiler:Riley]] smashes his face to a pulp on several tables.

** Mia and Riley come across a dying kangaroo on the road. Riley tells Mia to kill it to end its suffering, but she can't do it.
** Subverted. [[spoiler:The ghost imitating Rhea convinces Mia that killing Riley would release his soul from Limbo, but this is a trick and it would instead keep him there forever. Even with Mia unaware of this truth, she is simply unable to will herself to kill him when she has the chance.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:The plot of this movie would have gone differently if Max had told Mia about his wife's suicide note early on.]]
* NotThatKindOfMage: The boys argue over whether the hand belonged to a psychic, a medium or a Satanist.

* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: The teens in this movie feel the typical invulnerability and rebelliousness that come with the age, which is why they continue to mess with the spiritual realm despite it being clear that the results are unpredictable each time. Of course, inevitably, [[spoiler:one of the possessions turns deadly]].

* JerkAss: Hayley is a crass and inconsiderate party animal who gets annoyed when anyone or anything is disrupting her from having a good time, but this is portrayed more as the immaturity that comes with teenage years than anything. [[spoiler:She is also concerned if Mia is OK when the time limit goes over, and is hesitant to disrupt when Mia is talking to her "mom" again through Riley.]]

-> '''Hayley:''' Alright, somebody time it, as soon as she lets it in. It cannot go for more than 90 seconds. Am I clear?
->'''Mia:''' What happens after 90 seconds?
->'''Hayley:''' They'll want to stay.
-> '''Joss:''' And if you die while they're in you...they'll have you forever.

* AccompliceByInaction: [[spoiler: Riley becomes possessed by a spirit masquerading as Rhea. Eager to talk to her mother, Mia stops the others from blowing out the candle, despite clear warnings of the approaching 90-second mark. Riley pays immediate, horrific consequences.]]

* AmbiguousEnding: One key moment in the final 5 minutes is left open-ended. [[spoiler: After Mia steps away from the wheelchair when she realizes the spirits have been manipulating her to kill Riley, it is unclear if Mia throws herself into traffic or Jade pushes her into it to save her brother (the latter being more tragic, as Mia was just coming to her senses unbeknownst to Jade).]] Nevertheless, the end result is the same.

* BittersweetEnding: Leaning ''heavily'' on the bitter side. [[spoiler: Riley is able to make a full recovery, but Mia's entire journey to save him was entirely pointless as his possession was going to wear off over time. However, she manages to stop herself before accidentally playing into the spirits' scheme to claim Riley's soul forever at the cost of her own life and permanently being bound to the spirits instead. Even worse, Max has now lost both a wife ''and'' a daughter.]]

** In the opening, [[spoiler: Duckett]] stabs [[spoiler:himself]] in the eye after being possessed.

* {{Fingore}}: [[spoiler: Part of Mia's fatal injuries at the end is her fingers being broken.]]

* HeadDesk: PlayedForHorror. While under the influence of the conjured spirit, [[spoiler: Riley]] smashes his face to a pulp on several tables.

* HorrorHatesARuleBreaker: Instructions for the ritual clearly specify that the candle that "opens the door" must be blown out within 90 seconds, but the consequences are not made clear until we see it for ourselves. [[spoiler: The spirits become bound to you, and the strength of the bond can only fade over time, but if you die while the bond is still there, your soul will become the next spirit cursed to wander in darkness forever, only stopping to be conjured by the hand the next time someone uses it.]]

** [[spoiler: Mia goes over 90 seconds, but seems to be OK at first...then she gets visits from her dead "mom" urging her to kill Riley, swearing it will save his soul when in reality, it's exactly what the spirits need to keep him.]] Overall, the motives of the spirits are not spelled out, but what '''is''' spelled out is that breaking 90 seconds is indeed deadly.

** Subverted. [[spoiler: The ghost imitating Rhea convinces Mia that killing Riley would release his soul from Limbo, but this is a trick and it would instead keep him there forever. Even with Mia unaware of this truth, she is simply unable to will herself to kill him when she has the chance.]]

* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: The teens in this movie feel the typical invulnerability and rebelliousness that come with the age, which is why they continue to mess with the spiritual realm despite it being clear that the results are unpredictable each time. Of course, inevitably, [[spoiler: one of the possessions turns deadly]].

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: All of the spirits we see are heavily disfigured and actively malevolent, the only one we see that is helpful is a little girl who looks perfectly normal.

* BlackEyesOfEvil: Full possession of a ritual participant is visibly signified by their eyes turning completely black. We see this happen in real time when Mia first tries it, with her pupils slowly dilating until the darkness in her irises fully fills her eyes.

** Mia and friends get freaked out when trying the possession hand the first time, but then get really into it. Things go south ''fast'' when [[spoiler:the youngest member of the group tries to get involved]]. The allusions to a bad drug trip are not exactly subtle.

* HeadDesk: PlayedForHorror. While under the influence of the conjured spirit, [[spoiler: Riley]] smashes his face to a pulp.

* HorrorHatesARuleBreaker: Instructions for the ritual clearly specify that the candle must be blown out within 90 seconds, but the consequences are not made clear until we see it for ourselves. [[spoiler: The spirits become bound to you, and the strength of the bond can only fade over time, but if you die while the bond is still there, your soul will become the next spirit cursed to wander in darkness forever, only stopping to be conjured by the hand the next time someone uses it.]]
** And it gets worse: [[spoiler: if you are a soul the spirits want, and you cross the time limit, you will stay possessed and it will attempt to make you commit suicide at the first moment it gets (Riley begins banging his head into the desk down to the skull, mere moments after his 90-second breach); the only way to prevent it is to be physically restrained until the spirit's grip weakens and fades away. This is also the fate of Duckett in the intro.]]

Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a 17-year-old girl coping with the second anniversary of her mother Rhea's death by suicide and a distant relationship with her father. She finds refuge in her best friend Jade and her family (Alexandra Jensen), mother Sue (Creator/MirandaOtto) and little brother Riley. One day, Mia, Jade and Riley sneak off to a party with their friends. For fun, the group plays a game involving an embalmed hand that is said to belong to a medium. A ritual allows the participant to conjure a spirit by saying "Talk to me", after which the spirit proceeds to possess the participant. They must be careful not to let the possession exceed 90 seconds.

* WillingChanneler: For the ritual to work, a candle must be lit, and the participant must grab the embalmed hand and say "Talk to me." After the conjured spirit shows up, the participant must then say "I let you in," indicating they consent for the spirit to take control of their body.

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: After Mia steps away from the wheelchair when she realizes the spirits have been manipulating her to kill Riley, it is unclear if Mia throws herself into traffic or Jade pushes her into it to save her brother (the latter being more tragic, as Mia was just coming to her senses unbeknownst to Jade).]] Nevertheless, the end result is the same.

* DemonicPossession: The whole point of the ritual is to conjure a spirit and consenting to be possessed. When the "do not exceed the 90 seconds" rule is broken, [[spoiler:an evil entity is unleashed and Riley proceeds to hurt himself to the point that he needs to go to the hospital]].

** Mia and friends get freaked out when trying the possession hand the first time, but then get really into it. Things go south ''fast'' when the youngest member of the group tries to get involved. The allusions to a bad drug trip are not exactly subtle.

* JerkAss: Hayley is a crass and inconsiderate party animal who gets annoyed when anyone or anything is disrupting her from having a good time, but this is portrayed more as the immaturity that comes with teenage years than anything. [[spoiler: She is also concerned if Mia is OK when the time limit goes over, and is hesitant to disrupt when Mia is talking to her "Mom" again through Riley.]]

* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: The teens in this movie feel the typical invulnerability and rebelliousness that come with the age, which is why they continue to mess with the spiritual realm despite it being clear that the results are unpredictable each time. Of course, inevitably, [[spoiler: one of the possessions turns deadly]].

* HorrorHatesARuleBreaker: Instructions for the ritual clearly specify that the candle must be blown out within 90 seconds, but the consequences are not made clear until we see it for ourselves. [[spoiler: The spirits become bound to you, and the strength of the bond can only fade over time, but if you die while the bond is still there, you will become the next spirit cursed to wander in darkness forever, only stopping to be conjured by the hand the next time someone uses it.]]
** And it gets worse: [[spoiler: if you are a soul the spirits want, you will stay possessed and it will attempt to make you commit suicide at the first moment it gets (Riley begins banging his head into the desk down to the skull, mere moments after his 90-second breach); the only way to prevent it is to be physically restrained until the spirit's grip weakens and fades away. This is also the fate of Duckett in the intro.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. [[spoiler:the two teens who possess the hand suffer no true consequences for parading it around, but one death and one near-death associated with it clearly leaves them worse off in the end.]]

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:The spirits conjured by the hand take the form of old people with distended and[=/=]or mutilated bodies.]]

Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a 17-year-old coping with the second anniversary of her mother Rhea's death by suicide and a distant relationship with her father. She finds refuge in her best friend Jade and her family (Alexandra Jensen), mother Sue (Creator/MirandaOtto) and little brother Riley. One day, Mia, Jade and Riley sneak off to a party at their friends. For fun, the group plays a game involving an embalmed hand that is said to belong to a medium. A ritual allows the participant to conjure a spirit by saying "Talk to me", after which the spirit proceeds to possess the participant. They must be careful not to let the possession exceed 90 seconds.

* AccidentalSuicide: Rhea's spirit tells her daughter Mia that her death was an accident and that she did not intend to kill herself. [[spoiler:Subverted when Mia's father shows her Rhea's suicide note.]]

** [[spoiler:The spirits want to kill Riley so his soul will be stuck with them forever. One way they attempt this is to show Mia a vision of Riley in limbo and being tortured non-stop by the spirits there, and convincing her she must kill his body to free him.]] However, the latter may have been a façade to [[spoiler:push Mia into thinking she needed to take action]].
** [[spoiler:Mia, after realizing she died trying to save Riley, is now trapped on the other side of the hand while others play the game.]]

* BlackEyesOfEvil: Full possession of a ritual participant is visibly signified by their eyes turning completely black.

* HiddenAgendaVillain: The spirits develop an immediate, inexplicable obsession with Riley and claiming his soul to join their ranks, but it's not explained why. A possessed Mia simply turns to Riley unprompted and says "They '''like''' you..." and that's all the info we are given.

** [[spoiler: The ghost imitating Rhea convinces Mia that killing Riley would release his soul from Limbo, but this is a trick and it would instead keep him there forever.]]

!!Tropes present in this work
* AccidentalSuicide: Rhea's spirit tells her daughter that her death was an accident and that she did not intend to kill herself. [[spoiler:Subverted when Mia's father shows her Rhea's suicide note.]]
* AccompliceByInaction: [[spoiler: Riley becomes possessed by a spirit masquerading as Rhea's spirit. Eager to talk to her mother, Mia stops the others from blowing out the candle, despite clear warnings of the approaching 90 second mark. Riley pays the immediate consequences]].
* AndIMustScream:
** [[spoiler:The spirits want to kill Riley so his soul will be stuck with them forever. One way they attempt this is to show Mia a vision of Riley in limbo and being tortured non-stop by the spirits there, and convincing her she must kill his body to free him.]] However, the latter may have been a façade to push Mia into thinking she needed to take action.
** [[spoiler:Mia, after realizing she died trying to save Riley, is now trapped on the other side of the hand while others play the game]].
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Mia spends the film fighting to figure out how to prevent the spirits from claiming Riley's soul into their ranks, [[spoiler: and at the end of the film, Mia herself is killed and becomes a spirit bound to the hand.]]
* ArtifactOfDoom: The embalmed hand allows the ritual participant to be possessed, but the ritual must end within 90 seconds. When [[spoiler:the rule is broken, the possessed Riley injures himself seriously.]]

* DemonicPossession: The whole point of the ritual is to conjure a spirit and consenting to be possessed. When the "do not exceed the 90-seconds" rule is broken, [[spoiler:an evil entity is unleashed and Riley]] proceeds to hurt himself to the point that he needs to go to the hospital.

** Mia and friends get freaked out when trying the possession hand the first time, but then get really into it. Things go south ''fast'' when the youngest member of the group tries to get involved. The allusions to a [[MushroomSamba bad drug trip]] are not exactly subtle.

** The opening: [[spoiler: Duckett]] stabs [[spoiler:himself]] in the eye after being possessed.
** [[spoiler:Riley]], while possessed smashes his face to a pulp and also tries to pluck out his own eye.

* FatalFlaw: Mia cannot properly face death head on, hinted at with the kangaroo but brought to full light with how she handles her mother's death. [[spoiler: Her mother committed suicide, but Mia wants to believe it was an accident. This is made deadly when the spirits masquerade as her mother reaching out through Riley to tell Mia she didn't kill herself, and Mia makes the group keep the hand on Riley so she can keep talking to "her" past the 90-second mark, and the results are nearly cost Riley his life. She continues to talk to the façade of her Mom after this incident who continues to feed her lies, and the situation spirals until it eventually takes her life.]]
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: It's not enough that Mia is dead, now she's another spirit the hand can channel with.]]

* GlamourFailure: [[spoiler: Rhea, at least the spirit that looks like Rhea, slowly suffers this between each appearance. At first she just looks distant and blurry. Up close, her lips and eyes are heavily discolored and her eyes are white. By the end, her skin is decaying and her face is covered in vomit.]]
* HeadDesk: PlayedForHorror. While under the influence of the conjured spirit [[spoiler: Riley]] smashes his face to a pulp.
* HereWeGoAgain: [[spoiler: Mia's spirit is summoned by another group who has come into possession of the hand.]]

* HorrorHatesARuleBreaker: Instructions for the ritual clearly specify that the candle must be blown out within 90 seconds, but the consequences are not made clear until we see it for ourselves.[[spoiler: The spirits become bound to you, and the strength of the bond can only fade over time, but if you die while the bond is still there, you will become the next spirit cursed to wander in darkness forever, only stopping to be conjured by the hand the next time someone uses it.]]
** And it gets worse: [[spoiler: if you are a soul the spirits want, you will stay possessed and it will attempt to make you commit suicide at the first moment it gets (Riley begins banging his head into the desk down to the skull, mere moments after his 90 second breach); the only way to prevent it is to be physically restrained until the spirit's grip weakens and fades away. This is also the fate of Duckett in the intro.]]
** [[spoiler: Mia goes over 90 seconds, but seems to be OK at first...then she gets visits from her dead "Mom" urging her to kill Riley, swearing it will save his soul when in reality it's exactly what they need to keep him.]] Overall, the motives of the spirits are not spelled out, but what '''is''' spelled out is that breaking 90 seconds is indeed deadly.

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed; the two teens who possess the hand suffer no true consequences for parading it around, but one death and one near-death associated with it clearly leaves them worse off in the end.

** Mia and Riley come across a dying kangaroo and Riley tells Mia to kill it to end its suffering but she can't do it.
** [[spoiler: The ghost imitating Rhea convinces Mia that killing Riley would release his soul from Limbo but this is a trick and it would instead keep him there forever.]]

* WillingChanneler: For the ritual to work, the participant lights a candle, grabs the embalmed hand, says "Talk to me". After the conjured spirit shows up, the participant says "I let you in," indicating they consent for the spirit to take control of their body.
* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: The teens in this movie feel the typical invulnerability and rebelliousness that come with the age, which is why they continue to mess with the spiritual realm despite it being clear that the results are unpredictable each time. Of course, inevitably, [[spoiler: one of the possessions turns deadly.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/talktome.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:]]

-> '''Hayley:''' All right, somebody time it, as soon as she lets it in. It cannot go for more than 90 seconds, am I clear?

''Talk to Me'' is the directorial film debut of [[WebVideo/RackaRacka Danny and Michael Philippou]]. It had its preview screening at the 2022 Adelaide Film Festival, followed by its January 22, 2023 premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and its theatrical release in Australia on July 27 of that year.

Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a 17-year-old coping with the second anniversary of her mother Rhea's death by suicide and a distant relationship with her father. She finds refuge in her best friend Jade and her family (Alexandra Jensen), mother Sue (Creator/MirandaOtto) and little brother Riley. One day, Mia, Jade and Riley sneak off to a party at their friends. For fun, the group plays a game involving an embalmed hand that used to belong to a medium. A ritual allows the participant to conjure a spirit by saying a few words. The spirit then proceeds to possess the participant. They must be careful not to let it exceed 90 seconds.

* BittersweetEnding: Leaning ''heavily'' on the bitter side. [[spoiler: Riley is able to make a full recovery, but Mia's entire journey to save him was entirely pointless as his possession was going to wear off over time. However, she manages to stop herself before accidentally playing into the spirits' scheme to claim Riley's soul forever at the cost of her own life and permanently being bound to the spirits instead. Even worse, Max has now lost both a wife ''and'' and daughter.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Leaning ''heavily'' on the bitter side. [[spoiler: Riley is able to make a full recovery, but Mia's entire journey to save him was entirely pointless as his possession was going to wear off over time. However, she manages to stop herself before accidentally playing into the spirits' scheme to claim Riley's soul forever at the cost of her own life and permanently being bound to the spirits instead. Even worse, Max has now lost both a wife ''and'' and daughter.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The entire journey Mia takes to save Riley's soul by killing his body is her being tricked by the spirits so they can keep Riley forever, their grip on him was simply going to fade with time. She comes to her senses for a brief moment right before she succeed and kills herself, but instead of dying, she is now trapped in the spirit realm forever, cursed to be part of the hand's game, and leaving her Dad without a daughter ''or'' a wife.]]
** The one bright spot is that [[spoiler: Riley makes a full recovery. However, there is a cruel irony in knowing that Mia didn't have to do anything to save him but let the possession wear off on it's own. Everything she did was of no use and it cost her her soul.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Mia and friends get freaked out when trying the possession hand the first time, but then get really into it. Things go south ''fast'' when the youngest member of the group tries to get involved. The allusions to a [[MushroomSamba bad drug trip]] are not exactly subtle.

** [[spoiler: Mia makes for a special case that we follow through the film, she goes past 90 seconds but remains unpossessed after the hand is removed, but once Riley is critically injured, she begins to see visions of her dead Mom who urge her to kill Riley to save his soul, when in reality, they need someone to kill the restrained Riley so they can claim him]]. Ultimately, it seems the spirits remain unpredictable with what they do with each person, but always related to [[spoiler: killing or compelling someone to kill.]]

* FatalFlaw: Mia cannot properly face death head on, hinted at with the kangaroo but brought to full light with how she handles her mother's death. [[spoiler: This is made deadly when the spirits masquerade as her mother reaching out through Riley, she makes the group keep the hand on Riley so she can keep talking to "her" past the 90-second mark, and the results are nearly cost Riley his life. She continues to do so after this incident and the situation spirals until it eventually takes her life.]]

* HorrorHatesARuleBreaker: Instructions for the ritual clearly specify that the candle must be blown out within 90 seconds. [[spoiler: Riley becomes possessed (or appears to) by Rhea's spirit. Eager to talk to her mother, Mia stops the others from blowing out the candle. Riley pays the immediate consequences]].

** [[spoiler:The spirits want to kill Riley so his soul will be stuck with them forever. One way they attempt this is to show Mia a vision of Riley in limbo and being tortured non-stop by the spirits there, and convincing her she must kill his body to free him.]] However, the latter is strongly hinted as being a façade.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Emphasis on the ''bitter''. Mia manages to save Riley from the hand's curse...at the cost of her life and having her soul bound to the hand. On the plus side, Max, Riley and Jade all manage to survive the ordeal.]]