Shake Hands with First Trailer for Creepy New A24 Horror Film Talk to Me

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A group of teenage friends gather around a magical object to conduct a creepy ritual and communicate with the Other Side. The lights flicker, the hair rises on their necks, and they end up getting far more than they bargained for. Sounds pretty familiar, and it forms the core of the premise in upcoming A24 horror flick Talk to Me, which released its first trailer today.

At the same time, though, Talk to Me also appears to be somewhat more than meets the eye. The Australian horror flick, the feature film debut of directors Danny and Michael Philippou–brothers better known as YouTube channel RackaRacka–doesn’t have its gaggle of Gen Z teens huddled around a dusty old Ouija board, for one. Rather, they somehow have access to an incredible creepy embalmed hand, which they grip to form a symbolic bond with the dead. Oh, and get this–these kids have been successfully communicating with the dead for a while now, when we join the action. They have normalized speaking with actual ghosts, and turned it into a mundane party activity to be posted on a Facebook wall. Of course, that still doesn’t stop things from spiraling out of control when it’s Mia’s (Sophie Wilde) turn speak with the spirits. What follows looks to be a classic haunted house thrill ride, one that generated extremely strong reviews following its U.S. premiere at Sundance in 2023. It’s little wonder that A24 then swooped in to grab the North American distribution rights.

Critics have called Talk to Me genuinely terrifying, though I don’t know if that necessarily comes through in the trailer below, which looks more on the “competent but not specifically remarkable” side, notable mostly for the novelty of seeing Gen Z characters through the lens of everyday Australian life. We’ll see if the film can live up to its early festival buzz when it drops in U.S. theaters July 28, 2023. In the meantime, check out the trailer below.