IF YOU TALK TO THEM, THEY WILL ANSWER.

A group of Adelaide teenagers gather for a séance where they aim to communicate with the dead through a severed and embalmed hand.

An acclaimed and popular horror movie that became the feature film debut for twins who had cut their teeth making YouTube videos. The sessions where teens invite spirits into their world (and bodies) quickly take a very dark turn in a film that echoes the kind of pitch-black, relentless and mournful dread that Ari Aster has perfected; it becomes all the more heartbreaking because we get to know and like the characters.

Strains credulity at times, but ultimately delivers.

2022-Australia. 95 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou. Screenplay: Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman. Cast: Sophie Wilde (Mia), Alexandra Jensen (Jade), Joe Bird (Riley), Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes. 

Last word: “I was in this car accident when I was 16. I’d split my face open, and they thought I might have broken my spine. I was in the hospital, and I just couldn’t stop myself from shaking. And the doctors would come in, turn the heaters on, and give me extra blankets to try to warm me up, but they couldn’t get me warm. I just couldn’t stop shaking. And then, my sister sat next to me. She held my hand, and the shaking just stopped. The touch of someone I love brought me out of this state of shock that I was in. How hands relate to human connection was always such a strong idea in my mind. All the way through the script’s first draft, before we even found the [concept of the embalmed] hand, hands were such a big motif.” (Danny Philippou, RogerEbert.com)