Danny and Michael Philippou on their supernatural horror flick Talk to Me
The Australian YouTubers-turned-filmmakers speak to Q guest host Talia Schlanger about their directorial debut
Imagine you're a teenager at a house party with your friends. You're all sitting together facing a mysterious disembodied hand perched upon a small table.
The game you're playing is simple: volunteer to hold the hand, say "talk to me" and get possessed by a spirit — for a limited time. The one rule? The connection must be cut before reaching 90 seconds or the demon may take permanent residence in your body.
That's the premise of the new A24 horror movie Talk to Me, co-directed by Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou. While Talk to Me is their first feature film, audiences may already be familiar with the duo as the creators behind the wildly popular YouTube channel RackaRacka, where they post videos that include stunts, fights, special effects and horror plotlines.
In an interview with Q guest host Talia Schlanger, the brothers say the idea for the film came to them after watching a video of a neighbour having a negative reaction to his first drug experience. The other kids in the room filmed him and laughed at him instead of helping him.
"There was a short film by a guy named Daley Pearson that he sent to me to direct, which is about kids having fun with possession, and the two things just felt like they existed in the same universe," says Philippou.
"What would kids be doing with an ancient relic like that now? I feel like that's exactly what would be happening: everyone would be filming it, and sharing it, and posting it, and intriguing others to come and try it. If you look up hashtag 'possession' or 'ouija board' online, you'll see so many different people around the world trying and wanting something to happen like that. We've got an obsession with the paranormal and the macabre."
WATCH | Official trailer for Talk to Me:
Talk To Me had its world premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival where it created a lot of buzz, and it's now hit theatres across Canada. The film has not only received praise from fans of horror, but masters of the horror genre as well, including Stephen King, Jordan Peele and Ari Aster.
"[Ari] was there for the premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Sundance, and we're just sitting at the back," Philippou recalls. "He walked over to us and he's like, 'That was so special.' And I was like, 'What, really?' And then he just got our numbers and he's been texting us. So that's been crazy. And then you had Jordan Peele FaceTiming me, so I'm like, yeah, unreal."
As terrifying as the film is, the brothers say Talk To Me has a somewhat tender message at its heart.
"It's about connection," they say. "It's about embracing genuine connection, [and] how scary life can be if you are rejecting those natural connections, and you're left isolated and alone, and you've got no one to help pull you out of those dark holes that you can fall into.
"And escaping through vices, whether it's alcohol, or drugs, or sex or social media. If you're using those sorts of things as crutches, it could dig you into a deeper hole. And so I know I was expressing those fears on the screen."
The full interview with Danny and Michael Philippou is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Danny and Michael Philippou produced by Lise Hosein.