004 - Talk to Me

This week I talk about one of my favorite recent horror flicks...Talk to Me!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome everybody to another episode of Beanwater Babbling. I just spent way too long trying to figure out how to get my microphone to work, only to realize that it wasn't plugged in. Off to a great start. But today we're talking about another horror film. So this one is I I I fell in love with these directors, their style. Um today we're talking about Talk to Me from uh the Philippo Brothers. Um, these guys I believe are Australian. If they're not Australian and I made a mistake, I'm probably gonna get crucified for that. But these guys made one of my favorite horror films. It's it's it's hard to describe exactly why this film works so well, but hopefully I'll kind of get into that as I kind of go into the story. Um, so yes, it's Danny and Michael Philippo. They are the writer and directors of this film. Um I've listened to interviews with them and they sound like just the greatest guys. They just sound so cool. Um them talking about not just the film itself, um, but just their life in general and kind of their upbringing. It really makes sense why they made the film the way that they did and how they managed to make all of this stuff work. It's a very interesting, you know, thing. If you if you can listen or watch any interviews with them, I highly recommend it because these guys are just they're just great. I love these guys. So without further ado, let's get into Talk to Me. So a quick little synopsis. So when a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. Very good. I do think this synopsis is pretty good. Um, it doesn't give too much away, it really just kind of lets you kind of know what the film is about and then just lets you decide for yourself whether you want to see it or not. I personally recommend this film highly. Um, it's got some comedic relief, um, but it's also very frightening. I think the the way that the horror in this film is done, it's not lazy in any way. I think they they did they went above and beyond to make these frightening experiences very immersive in ways. Um, the camera work, the writing, the pacing, the style of everything, um, the sound mixing and editing as well. I think that this is uh us uh also uh Bring Her Back, the other film that these guys have done. They manage to make the sounds just so like just gut-wrenching. The sounds in these films really just and there's a story with with Bring Her Back, which hopefully I'll get to bring her back on another episode. But just the sounds um and also the effects. I believe, if I remember correctly, this film uh rather than going for visual effects, they try to go for practical effects over everything. And some of the more traumatizing films that I've seen in terms of I guess you could say gore have been films where they incorporate practical effects over visual effects. You can probably do more with visual effects, but I can tell you from personal experience that watching something with practical effects makes it more real to me. Even if it's very over the top and it's not realistic, it's still real in a sense. And I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but to me, uh like two perfect examples Cannibal Holocaust. Um, I do not recommend anybody watch that movie. That one, that one is very that one's like just traumatizing. That one's really bad. Uh, and another one would be The Thing, John Carpenter's The Thing, which is one of the greatest horror films ever made. Practical effects, some of the things that happen in that film are not, I mean, it's not gonna happen, maybe. I don't know. I'm I don't know if it's happened before, but just the idea of them using practical effects over visual effects to make something like that happen, it just makes it more just like I just kind of like jump back in just sort of like disgust but intrigue at the same time. I don't know how to describe this, but it's that's that's really what it is. So okay, so yeah, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, but but yes, this this film, I think it incorporates all of that, um, you know, as well as also making it a very deep, meaningful story. Uh, that's something that I don't know if a lot of people have talked about. But when it comes to talk to me as well as bring her back, I am very fond of the the idea of, hey, let's make a very fun horror film, let's make this an experience. You know, people are gonna go to a theater, let's make this a very well-made work of art that's going to scare people. It's gonna have a couple of laughs here and there, but let's also tug on some heartstrings in a way. Let's make something that's just gut-wrenching emotionally as well. And I do think that they've accomplished that so well with this film, as well as bring her back. But without further ado, let's get into the story. I know I've said that several times already, but we're gonna do it, okay? So uh we open with a tracking shot of a man entering a party. He's leaving messages on another man's phone, and he's upset he's not answering. After hanging up, he asks numerous people if they've seen Ducket. Ducett is a name that we're gonna be hearing throughout the entire story. But um he's told that he's inside and that he's quote, out of his mind. So as the man's walking into the house, a woman tells the man, quote, get your brother under control. Ducitt is locked in a room, and the man decides to break down the door to get him out. This is this is a very quick opening scene. Um, it's not something that it takes no time to just immediately hit you with it. This is an opening scene. It has a it's the the tracking shot itself is very smooth, it's beautifully done, and it's it's sort of strange how it affected me. With uh, you know, uh it starts off with just a man, and you sort of hear like a light thumping, like booming of music as he's walking into this party. He's walking into the yard, the music gets louder, and as he gets into the house, it's almost like the music is uh uh affecting you in a way that it would probably affect, you know, this man. I believe is the character's name is Cole, in the same way, you know, he's trying to reach his brother, we find out, and this music is just blasting, and he's trying to get to his brother. Um, so as he breaks down the door, um we see that Ducket is on the floor and he mutters, Can you see them? They're in here. And these are these are very subtle details. There's so much that happens in every single scene in this film. This film is like an hour 30, and there's so much that goes on. I feel like this is probably gonna be one of my longest episodes. Uh, even though I talk very quickly, there's just so much to unpack with each one of these scenes. So that line right there, um, can you see them? They're in here. Just remember that because that's something that becomes a central theme throughout this whole thing. So the man helps his brother out. Um, we realize this man is Cole later on, uh, and see that people are recording on their phones and it ups uh and is upsetting them. Uh he's telling them all to put their phones away. And as he's doing this, uh Ducket grabs a kitchen knife. So that's that's another little subtle thing that I noticed. So as Cole is walking into the house and this person tells him, you know, get your brother under control. There's a there's a very slight second where you hear just a shhing of like a blade, a knife, just like I don't know if they're cutting fruit or something, I don't know what's going on, but you hear that for a second, and that's a little bit of foreshadowing. I'm sure they did that on purpose. Maybe they did it by accident, and it's a happy accident, but that's something that I noticed. So as they're walking out, Cole is telling all these people, hey, get your phones down. What are you doing? Like, you know, have some respect. And as he's doing this, Ducket grabs the knife and you hear that shing again. And as he's pushing people away, he turns around and Ducat just plunges the knife into his brother's chest. So uh, so we see that his brother falls on the floor. Uh, he walks out of the door, and as people scatter, uh, we see this shot where the camera's in the kitchen looking out of these sliding doors, and we see that Ducett's out there in uh like the pool area, I guess you could say. Uh, and he just plunges the knife into his face. And the screen cuts to black, and we get our opening title. That is the opening sequence of Talk to Me. Now, this the when I saw this movie, I don't know if I went to see this with anybody. I'm pretty sure I just saw this by myself in a theater. But I remember specifically just seeing the poster and saying, I'm not going to watch the trailer. I'm going to watch this blind. I'm going into this blind. And that was one of the, I think I want to say the start of me just not watching trailers because I do feel like there are certain things that trailers sort of uh I guess they sometimes trailers sort of spoil things for the sake of getting you to want to watch this film instead of just letting you experience it on your own. And Talk to Me was one of those films that I didn't want to take that chance with. I saw the poster, I read the synopsis a little bit briefly, and I said, I'm going to watch that film, and I'm not going to, you know, watch a trailer. I'm not going to do anything. So, anyway, let's get back to the story. So, we're introduced to Mia. Uh, Mia is a young girl. It's not really specified whether she's in college or high school, but I believe she's a high school student. So it's vague as to where she is, but it appears to be some sort of funeral or remembrance. Uh, there's conversations with uh different people that appear vague. Uh, we don't really know where Mia's mother is at this point, and it seems that she has a complicated relationship with her father. So as Mia is washing dishes at this house, her dad tries talking to her, but she's not really comfortable opening up to him. Um, she gets a call from her friend's uh from her friend's brother Riley, who asks for a ride. Again, lots to unpack in these scenes. There's very subtle details that kind of hint to what's going on. I am very bad with noticing these subtle details. Um a perfect example. When I read Catcher in the Rye as a kid, I read that all in a very literal sense. I didn't understand any of the symbolism, any of the like, you know, any anything that like I didn't understand that all of that was like it wasn't meant to be taken literally, and that that's just who I am as a person. So a lot of these little details I didn't notice until after, you know, a couple of other viewings because I'm just I'm just not the brightest. So um, so Mia takes off. She goes to pick up Riley, uh, which is her friend's brother. Um, so as Mia and Riley are on their way home, uh, they see an injured animal in the middle of the road, and Riley suggests putting it out of its misery, but Mia can't bring herself to do it. At this point, it's very clear that Mia is going through she's still going through some trauma and a bit of grief after losing her mother. Um, it's something that's kind of brought forth later on in the story. There's more development in that story or in the story as the film progresses. Again, the pacing of this film is great. They give you little bits until right at the end, everything just all comes together and just makes sense at the end. So um they end up leaving the animal on the side of the road, and Riley's kind of upset because he thinks, you know, we we should really try to, you know, put this animal out of its misery, it's just gonna stay there. But anyway, uh they take off, and as right as they get to Riley's house, they berate Riley's sister Jade for ignoring his calls. Jade appears to be just in her room, uh, just kind of chilling, not really doing much. Um, so uh yeah, so we get to you know the house. Uh so as Mia and Jade lie in bed, Jade shows Mia a Snapchat video of a party. In the video, it looks as if someone is possessed, but we'll get to that a little bit later on. So just again, just a vague little hint. You see the video and you're just like, what is going on in this video? So after Mia asks Jade to take her to that party, Jade says she's not really in the mood. After this, uh there's a bit of an awkward silence, and then Mia tells Jade it was Mom's two anarch uh two years. So we get, you know, a little bit of development here. It appears that Mia's mother passed away two years ago, and it's very difficult for her to like mention this. I mean, obviously, anytime a friend or a loved one passes away, it's a very difficult situation, but there's there seems to be more to it that you know they don't really talk about, which I do I do love that about films where there's there's this sort of like thing where to me it doesn't seem realistic. Maybe it has maybe it's a cultural thing, I'm not sure. But I I've never really understood how a lot of films have these moments where it's like I'm just not feeling good, and then another character says, Well, let's talk about it, and then they just completely open up about it. I do think that there is a bit more reality in the sense of like, well, is something wrong? And it's like, I don't really want to talk about it. Because that does seem to be a very common thing with a lot of people. A lot of people have trouble opening up about very touchy subjects, and I do think that with this, they sort of just kind of like it's Mia just sort of like shrugging it off, like, you know what, it's fine, we'll be all right, it's it's not a big deal. So, um, so after this, uh, Jade agrees to go to the party, I guess to kind of get Mia's mind off of it. And we meet Jade and Riley's mom, Sue. She apologizes to Mia for missing her mom's remembrance party. Mia hugs her and says she hates being around uh her dad because he's so depressing. So as Mia and Jade head out to the party, Riley tags along. Um there's a I mean, uh there's like little details here and there, but I do want you to watch the film because I do think it's a I just think it's a great watch. It's fun, it has everything for you. So when arriving at the party, Mia attempts to mingle and unwind, but everyone seems off and sort of ignores her. Jade checks in on her and tells her to loosen up. This scene sort of bothered me because I do feel like Mia was trying to real like she really was trying to just unwind. She was trying to be, you know, more apparent at the party. She was trying to be a good person and just try to like, hey, like, let me, you know, mingle a little bit, let me unwind, let me try to get to know some of these people, but they just weren't really into it. So at this point, we meet Daniel, who is Jade's boyfriend, but also Mia's ex-boyfriend. That's that's an interesting um dynamic, which uh comes into play a little bit later. Um, so they kind of have a laugh about that, they kind of bring it up. Um, it's one of those things where it's like it's awkward to not talk about it, so they talk about it a lot to sort of offer some levity. So um, so yeah, so Haley uh is another character in this. Uh, it appears that Haley and another character, Jos, um are the ones that are like running this party. They're the ones that have this quote unquote embalmed hand, and they're the ones that run this, you know, this sort of thing. They do like parties. It's almost like it's it's almost like they're they're like part like promoters for like parties. They they they they do this, like it's like they do this for a living or something like that. It's weird. But at this point, Haley talks to Jade, um, and she asks why Jade brought Mia. Uh Haley says Mia is depressing and clingy, and she doesn't really like her. So uh Haley and another character named Joss, which I mentioned earlier, tell everyone it's time to start. This is where it gets, you know, pretty scary. So Joss and Haley talk about who's going first, and Joss mentions uh mentions that they got the hand that uh yeah, that they got the hand from Ducket, um, who we met at the start of the film. So that's where this all kind of starts to intertwine. So Duckett, the guy at the very beginning, um, the one that plunged the knife into his face, had the hand, and he ended up giving it to Joss and Haley. Uh, presumably he gave it to Jos, and I guess Haley was just kind of there. But Haley and Josh, uh Haley and Joss, sorry, ask for a volunteer, and Mia very quickly volunteers. She seems up for it, and Haley and Joss are quite surprised, but they're just like, all right, cool, let's do this. So Mia is tied up, and Riley asks Jade what's going on. Jay's Jade just tells him it's all fake and that Haley has tricked everyone. So at this point, Haley and Joss are very con they're they're very like, they're ready to just prove everybody wrong. But at this point, it's it's very easy to tell that Riley is a little bit uneasy about this, but Jade is just kind of like whatever, you know. So um, Mia is tied up, and yeah, so we already talked about that. So Haley lays down some of the ground rules. So there are several rules that they must follow. Uh, presumably they got these rules from previous owners. Maybe it was Ducket or his brother Cole. I'm not sure where they got these rules, but I guess they just, you know, hand it down, you know, from whoever gets the hand next. So uh Mia can only let it in for 90 seconds. No longer. Mia asks what happens after 90 seconds. Haley smiles and says, They'll want to stay. Josh chimes in with, and if you die while they're in you, they'll have you forever. This is a quote that comes up later on in the in the film as well. These it's it's weird because they're such simple sentences, but like I have chills just thinking about it. They'll want to stay. And if you die while they're in you, they'll have you forever. So another, you know, another couple of quotes that uh tend to come back later on in the film. Uh so Haley lights a candle and says, uh, as she like as the candle is lit, she says, open the uh candle to open the door and blow it out to close it. So there's a candle that goes in conjunction with this hand that opens the door. The hand is sort of like the vessel, I guess you could say. Uh, and then you blow out the candle to close that door. So they lay the hand in front of Mia. Mia grabs the hand and Haley tells her to say, Talk to me. She does this thinking nothing will happen, and as soon as she turns to look forward, she finds that a ghost is staring right at her. She's visibly frightened and everybody laughs. Now, one thing to remember with this story is the person that is using the hand is the person that can see what's going on in front of them. This is not something that everybody in the room can see. So a lot of times you're sitting there and you just see somebody grab a hand, they say, talk to me, and as soon as they look forward, they're just distraught because they're seeing something that's very traumatic to them, but everybody else just sees them look up and just act as if they're freaked out. It's it's a weird dynamic. But yeah, so she does this thinking nothing's gonna happen, and she finds that ghost in front of her. So Jade tells Mia to stop, but Mia says, I'm I'm proving it. So Haley tells her uh to say, I let you in. So after you say I talk uh talk to me, you have to say I let you in. And that's when it goes from you seeing a ghost to that ghost possessing you. So when she says, uh, I let you in, she does that. And as soon as the words leave her mouth, her head cocks back. And the camera work for this shot is just amazing. This is something that I I brought up a little bit earlier in the episode, but when it comes to the camera work on this film and the Possession scenes, particularly, I do feel like there's just no amount of credit that I can give to these guys, this entire film crew, for what they've done with these scenes. Because there's I and I don't know the technical term for it, but when this person's head cocks back, the camera sort of cocks to the side and sort of follows that person's head. So you see kind of a sideways view that kind of goes in conjunction with the head. So it looks as if the head is still and everything else is kind of moving aside from that. It is amazing. It's it's I don't know how to describe it, it's just great. It's a very like shocking thing that kind of catches you off guard because you expect it to just be, you know, like your average possession with just like a steady cam rig or maybe a little bit of slight work. But it's almost as if the the camera tilting so abruptly and you know in a jerky motion really just brings out the the the scene in general, like it just it just kind of puts you in that same seat as well. It says, This is no longer fun, this person is possessed, this is going to get rough. So Mia is now possessed. So Joss snaps his fingers and he makes sure someone is timing it. Timing is very important. So as Mia is possessed, her voice is a bit distorted, and she points to Riley and she says, They like you. And then she looks at Daniel, which is Jade's boyfriend, and she sort of growls or like barks at him in a way. So Joss kind of chimes in and he says, They don't like you though. Uh, and they all laugh. So a door opens and slams shut, and they all cheer. This is uh this is sort of I guess going on with the ghost. Maybe the ghost itself is doing it, the spirit. I'm gonna go back and forth between ghost and spirit because I truthfully don't know what you would call this. I'm not an expert on things like this. But anyway, um, as the door slams shut, Mia says, He's behind you now. So at this point, Riley is frightened and he turns around. Um, Mia continues by saying, He'll split you, pretty boy. He'll split ya. So Haley tells Jos the time is up and asks Jos uh as Josh uh Wow, I cannot speak. As Joss reaches for the hand, Mia pulls back. Joss is in uh Josh is unable to pull the hand away, and Mia continues saying, Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. Uh Riley is clearly frightened by this. This is something that like he's I I do also want to commend that actor um as well, because as much as there's like very little dialogue for him, just the looks that he has throughout this entire film, like it's it's truly frightening. So uh the timing goes past 90 seconds and the lights begin to flicker. So Riley begins to cry, but it's not the kind of crying where he's weeping, it's just him sitting still, stunned, with just a blank face, just unable to move, and just tears running down his face. Again, excellent performance. So uh Haley shouts at Joss to take the hand. So they all collectively yank the hand away, and Haley asks if Mia is alright. Mia says it was amazing, and they all cheer, but Riley is not okay. Everybody else seems to be okay after this. Uh, as soon as Mia says that she had a fun time and that she loved it, it just seems like they all just ignored the fact that Riley is just clearly distraught in this point. So Mia stays with Riley and Jade after the party. Uh Riley asks if she can sleep with Mia. Sorry, Riley asks if he can sleep with Mia after his sister kicks him out of her room. Yeah, he basically goes to her room and is just like, hey, like, what are you up to? And she basically just tells him, like, you're not sleeping in my room, you're not five years old, go somewhere else. So uh he goes to Mia, who's on the couch, and Mia's like, yeah, dude, chill, like, hang out here. So Mia asks, uh, if the hand thing scared him. He says yes. Mia tells Riley that she gets nightmares too. Um, a recurring uh reoccurring nightmare uh where she looks into a mirror and her reflection is gone, quote, like I don't exist. And again, this is a little bit of foreshadowing for something that happens later on in the film, but just the way that all of this stuff is done, it's it's not it's this isn't a scene that's meant to be frightening. It's it's something that's more sad than anything. Like the idea of just going into you know, going in front of a mirror and then just not seeing a reflection and just thinking to yourself, like, wow, I'm I just don't exist. It's it's it's quite frightening. So Riley asks how the hand felt, and Mia says it felt amazing. Uh it felt like she was glowing. Uh, she could uh she could feel, see, and hear everything. After this, Riley asks how uh Mia's mom died. She says he knows, but he says not all of it. So he's not really sure, I guess, with details. So Mia says that she took too many sleeping pills by accident and was locked in her room. Mia's father tried to open the door, but it was locked. Her mother was found with wood under her nails and scratches on the door. She was trying to get help. And this is very heartbreaking. I mean, you've gone through this traumatic experience. Your mother had an untimely death, and your father is also not okay. And, you know, who knows what she's feeling in this moment? It could be um a bit of regret for not having known her mother as long as she would have liked. It could be a bit of disappointment that her father couldn't break down the door sooner and save his mom. I mean, it could be a lot of things, but this uh is a very touchy subject. So Riley tells Mia she doesn't have to feel alone because she has him in Jade. She tells him she doesn't feel alone anymore because she knows that she has Jade and she has Riley. And I do think that this is a very, a very nice moment uh where two characters sort of uh have an open conversation about something that's very difficult, and it's it sort of warms your heart after something that was just that, you know, like traumatic scene. So I really do, you know, love that. So as Riley is sleeping with his uh, we see a hand take the phone and airpods out of his ears. Um, and after this, we see a disfigured hand appear touching his face. Again, it's very subtle, and if you're not really paying attention, you might even miss it. But you know, you see just normal hands taking his phone and stuff like that, so he can fall asleep, and then just this disfigured hand just going and reaching for it. It's just it's subtle fear. I love it. So at school the next day, Jade asks Haley uh if Daniel can try the hand. Remember, Daniel is Jade's boyfriend and Mia's ex-boyfriend. They agree to meet that night. So Daniel arrives at Jade's house and her mom is upset that they are having a party, even though they all say that there will not be a party. Haley arrives and says uh Jade's dog cookie is ugly, which I think was pretty rude, kind of uncalled for, but hey, whatever. So uh they quickly get down to business. So uh Mia asks what the hand is. This is where we get a bit of a you know backstory, but kind of not really. So Joss tells her that the hand is from a medium that was cut off and embalmed. Uh Danny is skeptical, but they're uh but they assure him it's a real hand. Haley thinks it's the hand of a Satanist. So, regardless of what it is, there's clearly some supernatural power within this hand. So they strap Daniel in, and Riley's friend is quick to say that he doesn't believe it. So Riley has one of his friends there. He's kind of a side character. We don't really need to go too much into him because he's not really a big player in this story. But anyway, Daniel says the words and his head cocks back. Um, now at this point, he appears to be choking, but after a few seconds, he snaps and the ghost takes hold. Daniel, possessed, looks at Jade and says, He hates it when you touch him. The possessed Daniel looks at Mia and things get incredibly awkward. Now, I'm not really going to go into too much detail because it's it's a bit gross, but it's it's basically the ghost inside his mind. This is another thing that kind of isn't really talked about, but it's something that happens, I guess, when you are possessed by these spirits, demons, ghosts, whatever you want to call them, but they clearly know what he's thinking. So this is sort of a strange dynamic. You know, you have your boyfriend sitting here. Um, your best friend, who is also his ex-girlfriend, is here, and the ghost is in his head and clearly says that your boyfriend doesn't like you. And then he looks at his ex-girlfriend and is very clearly more into her. So uh the group takes the hand away and unties Daniel. Uh, he is embarrassed and asks them to delete the video and storms out. I there's some I definitely softened that up a lot because there's other things that happen in that scene that are you really just gotta watch it. It's pretty bad. Uh, not bad in a sense of like gory, but just bad in the sense of just it's just uncomfortable. So uh after they have a laugh, Mia asks to do it again. Uh the group all have a go, and the mood appears to be changing. They're having fun. So at this point, it's just kind of going back and forth. Everybody's having a good time, they're all trying it out, you know. So at this point, Riley wants to try, but Jade refuses. After an argument, Jade storms out, and Mia, taking the form of a caretaker for Riley, agrees to let him try it. But um there are some rules. I believe she says, like, okay, like you can uh we'll only let you do it for like 30 seconds or whatever. So after saying talk to me, Riley's mood immediately changes. So he looks at Mia as if he's seen something he shouldn't. Mia assures him and he says, Let me in. So this goes back to what I mentioned before with like subtle foreshadowing. There, it's uh it's weird because um I'm not good at noticing small details, but it's this this actor's work with this role. Uh as soon as he says talk to me, he looks and he looks at Mia, and you know it's it's not it's never confirmed. I mean, it kind of is confirmed. I don't know. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But he looks directly at Mia, and you know that the person he sees is most likely her mom. And it's weird because you as a viewer can probably tell just by looking at it, but Mia can't tell. I I assume maybe it's just that Mia thinks, you know what, you're you're a little bit scared, but just trust me, it's great. You're gonna you're gonna enjoy this. So after he says, let me in, his head cocks back, and Riley as a possessed person speaks. He looks at Mia and he says, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'd never want to hurt you. I miss you so, so much, Mia. I don't want you to hate me. So at this point, we know for sure Riley is possessed by Mia's mom. At this point, Haley says the time is up, but Mia, desperate to have even just a few moments with her mom, begs for them to go a little longer. At this point, Mia uh Haley and Joss are just like, I guess, I mean, whatever. So, Mia's mom tells her how proud of her she is before Riley begins choking again, then slams his face into the table. He begins bleeding everywhere. As Mia begins to panic, Riley's hand reaches for his eye and begins trying to gouge it out. The group tries to take the hand away, but Riley's body flies towards a wall and breaks a window. The spirit begins causing Riley to smash his face into the corner of a table. This is probably one of the most traumatic scenes I've seen in a horror film. The the the level of violence and the mixture of like the sound editing and mixing is it's brutal. Like it is just wow. It is it's bad. Jade runs uh back into the room after hearing the screams and puts her hand between Riley and the table as Riley smashes his face into the corner once more. So at this point, he not only smashes his face, but his sister's hand in the process. So as the group try to help Riley, Joss and Haley argue about ditching. Haley mentions that they were already being looked at, uh looked into, sorry, uh, because of what happened to Duckett. So there's clearly some sort of connection to what happened to Duckett, which at this point I'm sure most viewers already knew, but I'm not very good at noticing these little details, so I didn't really notice it until like a couple of viewings after. But while all of this is happening, Mia is slowly walking out. She's in a daze, shocked at what she has just witnessed and experienced, which I do think is more realistic in terms of like what would happen in a situation like this, because you do see things like this in a horror film where you know that there's something where somebody just like shouts out screaming because it's happening, or you know, somebody like runs up and like saves the day. But in a lot of situations like this, I truly feel like your first reaction is just stiffness, you're just caught like a deer in the headlights, and you really just have no idea what to do. But uh, as Mia walks out of the room, she sees a silhouette of someone in the window and hears scratching on the door. The police are called, and Jade notifies her mother. Now, that little moment where Mia sees the silhouette on the door, it's very clear after you know everything that's just happened that it is the spirit of her mother. You hear the scratching on the door. Given the fact that Mia went a little bit over the time, she's most likely now stuck in that sort of purgatory or you know, limbo realm, I think they mentioned later on, between the living and the dead. And so now she is constantly bombarded with these visions of spirits just kind of walking around. So Mia is back with her father, and he asks if they could please talk about it. She accuses her father of not telling her the full story about what happened with her mom, and he stays quiet. As Mia makes her way up to her bedroom, we see that she has the hand. I'm not sure how she ended up in possession of the hand. Um, but uh I assume that Haley and Joss were just like, we can't be caught with this. Let's give this to Mia. No one's gonna be looking at her. So Mia makes her way to the hospital and asks if Riley is okay, and Jade and her mom say that she's not welcome. Uh, as Mia is walking away, she sees a reflection in a window of her mom and hears her call. Mia follows. As she walks into the restroom, she sees that a stall door slams shut and she begins hearing scratching and her mother's voice asking for help. She pushes the stall door open and nothing is there. So her world is slowly collapsing around her. Um, this is very difficult to kind of separate fact from fiction, uh, reality from you know the other world, I guess you would say. So yeah, so it's it's uh it's sort of a slow buildup to just I guess peak insanity, uh some would say, which obviously it's not insanity. She's very clearly going through something, but that's what other people would probably say it as. So Mia is very visibly distraught. She's crying. Daniel sees that Mia is crying in the hallway and decides to drive her home. Daniel says he can't go home because his parents would be suspicious. Since he is technically an adult, uh, the police didn't notify his parents that he was there where all of this stuff happened with Riley. So he's kind of off the hook. But he does say that if he goes home, his parents are going to be suspicious, so that can't happen. So Mia offers her place, and Daniel says that it wouldn't uh that it wouldn't be right because he's dating Jade. Very true. I don't think it would be right. But uh Mia tells him that she doesn't want to be alone, so he stays with her. Again, does not make it right, still would not do that, but hey, that's where the story goes. So at Mia's house, she tells Daniel that she can't believe she really talked to her mom. Daniel says he's not sure it really was her mom. And of course, um, they do mention this subtle like uh a couple of times earlier in the film, but Daniel is a religious person and he truly does not believe that this is what's really happening, even though he has also experienced something like this. He I mean he went and did the thing with the hand anyway, so he should be a little bit more understanding, but of course he's not. So uh Mia tries to convince Daniel to try the hand again, but he refuses. After Daniel does, uh sorry, after Daniel goes to bed, Mia looks at an old video of Riley and Jade and then one of her mother. Mia scoots closer to Daniel and begins falling asleep. Mia has a dream about Daniel. They kiss and embrace while scratching and banging noises play in the background. Mia sees that her father pulling her. Mia sees her father pulling her mother out of the room. She looks at her hands and she sees wood under her nails. So I didn't really write this down very eloquently, but it's it's a very it's a very beautifully shot scene. You know, the the lighting in this as well, um, it's it sort of starts out as something that's a little bit like heartwarming, you know, like you have a moment where these two people embrace and they kiss, and then it quickly turns into something more sinister. You know, we see her going through this traumatic experience again, which she probably saw, you know, two years prior. And while she is witnessing this, there's a shot where it's Mia facing towards the camera, presumably looking at her father, pulling his mom out of the room. And then Daniel is in the background facing the other direction with his back to the camera. And I do feel like the way that this is all shot, it's very dreamlike without having to put a lot of effects into it. It's just very well thought out. I love that they did that with the scene. So uh as she wakes up from her dream, uh, she hears noises in the corner of the room and sees a ghost or spirit crawling towards her. Very, very scary. The ghost begins to assault Daniel, and as he wakes up, he sees that it's not the ghost that's doing this, but it's Mia. Now I'm not gonna tell you how this ghost is assaulting Daniel. Um you you're gonna you're just gonna have to watch it. Um but yeah, so uh she wakes up and uh he wakes up and he sees that it's actually Mia doing this and not the ghost. So at this point, she's still hearing things. She begins slapping herself. Uh so well, actually before this, uh before this, Daniel um he wakes up and he's sort of you know surprised by what's going on, and he just decides, you know what, this isn't this isn't right, this is wrong, I'm leaving. Um, that's that's really messed up that she would do that. So after he leaves, um Mia starts hearing things again, and she's really beating herself up over it. Um, like genuinely, she's slapping herself, and she just decides, you know what, I'm gonna try the hand again. Uh she sees her mom and asks her if she killed herself. She says she didn't do it on purpose and that she would never really uh that she would never want to leave her. Her mom tells her that Riley needs help. So we get to the hospital. So Jade is helping bathe her brother while her mom takes a call from their father. As she bathes him, she asks him to say something. Anything. As she gets closer, he bites her injured hand and falls forward off of his bath chair. As Jade calls for her mom, Riley begins bashing the back of his head into the wall and repeating what Jade is saying. So seeing the blood in the bathroom floor, he begins licking it. The nurse and his mother help Riley get back up. Again, all of this stuff is just it's just incredibly brutal. And it's it's it's weird because it's it's not something like it's not like somebody getting their head bashed in with like a baseball bat, but it's something that could possibly happen. Like I could trip and hit my face on the corner of a table, and I feel like the thought that that is possible, or that's more plausible, I guess, than getting my head bashed in with a baseball bat, it makes it worse, I think. I don't know. I don't know how I don't know if that's how my brain works, but yeah. So as Jade calls for her mom, um, oh yeah, we already got we already went over that, so yeah. So the group that was at the house when Riley used the hand decide to meet up. Someone showed the police the video, and they suspect it was Riley's friend James. Mia asks how Riley is, and she tells Mia that it's not good. Draw says that the spirit wants to stay. The guy that gave Ducket the hand told him that if a person dies when they're in you, you uh they have you forever. Again, I told I mentioned this before that this was gonna come up again. If you die while they're in you, they have you forever. So essentially the people that use this hand are, I guess, potential potential homes for these spirits. If a spirit ends up in this person's body and you know that person dies, they have you forever. I'm not sure if that's how it works. Maybe it's that the spirit possesses the body, and once this person dies, the spirit of the person that died ends up being theirs. I'm not sure exactly how it goes. I'm sure somebody can message me, email me, something, I don't know, and let me know. But that's what I thought. So Mia asks if they've all been seeing things since they've done it, and they all collectively say no. She is very much the only person that is seeing things, and when she mentions this, they're all sort of kind of confused and not sure what to say because um at this point Joss and Haley can't avoid talking about Ducket anymore. So while vague, uh Josh Jos tells them uh that he met Ducket at a party, and he gave Joss the hand because he was seeing them without it. That's a quote. He said, I don't need the hand anymore because I'm seeing them without it, which is what's happening to Mia. So we can carefully assume that Ducat probably went a little bit longer than he should have, and he ended up in the same situation as Mia. So Haley talks about uh Ducett's untimely death, and they seek his brother. Uh Ducat's brother Cole essentially tells him he's not interested in helping them. Mia gets on the bus with him and tries talking to Cole. Cole tells Jade that they're uh that they get weaker over time and that they'll leave in time. Uh Jade storms off the bus and Mia goes after her. So that's very important to remember. Uh Cole says that they they do get weaker over time. You just have to wait it out, and eventually things will get better. So Jade scolds Mia for uh letting Riley try the hand, and as Mia says that they all agreed, Haley tells her that it was her who wanted him to do it. It wasn't everybody else. And while I do think that's kind of a messed up move, it's kind of true. It was very much uh Mia. So uh Jade goes on to blame her um for that and for sleeping with her boyfriend. And while Daniel says it's not like that, Jade scolds him too. It's very true. I mean, no matter what the situation is, it was wrong for him to do that anyway, in my opinion, even though he had no intention of doing anything. You're sleeping at your ex-girlfriend's house. That's not good. So Mia asks if they blew out the candles because if they didn't, then the door is still open. Mia suggests that they get Riley to give the hand another go, and Jade is furious. Obviously, your brother's in this situation specifically because you all use the hand, and now you want him to do it again. It's a bit of a jerk move. But anyway, uh Joss hands Mia the hand and wishes them good luck, telling her to burn it after they're done. They want nothing to do with this hand at all. So at the hospital, Mia ignores a call from her dad as they go into the room with Riley. They quickly realize it's not working, so Mia suggests that she go under and look for Riley. Um now, one thing that I didn't mention before, uh we we get like a brief view when Mia talks to her mother about uh like she she talks to her mother and she sees that Riley is in pain. And it is it's hard to describe, but it looks as if Riley is being pulled apart by numerous different spirits, people, whatever you want to call it. And it looks just intense, it looks very frightening. And so Mia can clearly see that in her head, and she wants to help. Jaden Daniel tell her that it's a bad idea, but she tries anyway. As she tries, the spirit of a little girl lets Mia in, and she witnesses the other side. She sees Riley being tortured and pulled on by other spirits. So at this point, uh Mia, you know, she she decides, you know what, I'm gonna go home, and her father decides he wants to come clean with her. Her father says that Mia's mother left something, and he reads her a note. It's a suicide note. Mia is in denial about it. After her father tells her that it's real, Mia sees her mother's reflection and hears her tell Mia that it is not true. Her mother says that the spirits are imitating her father. So her mother says the only way for uh the only way is for Riley to be saved. Uh, sorry, the only way for Riley to be saved is for them to pull him out of his uh to put him out of his misery. So, in essence, Mia must kill Riley. So as this is going on, the spirits uh disguised as her father break through the door uh and try to kill Mia. So we at this point we see that Mia is being choked out by her father, or at least that's what she is seeing. That is what her her mind is telling her, that is what these spirits are doing to her. So we then see her father banging on the door, on the locked door, that is, as Mia is being choked by the spirits, mimicking the fate of her mother. So at this point, I I took it as her mom didn't really die of an overdose from that. It was mostly just that she might have been possessed by some spirits or something, and she ended up dying like that, and her father is reliving that same situation through his daughter now. Or it could just be that poetically she ended up having a similar fate to her mother. But as Mia's father breaks through the door, she grabs a pair of scissors and stabs her father in the neck by mistake, killing him. The next morning, Mia calls Jade and asks her to come to her house to help save Riley. Jade agrees and drives off, and we see Mia is actually waiting in the parking lot of the hospital. So she decides to get Jade out of the way so she can take care of Riley, quote unquote. So as Jade drives off, uh Mia makes her way into the room and sees Riley's mom. She apologizes to Mia for blaming her because the blood work came back and they found out that there were no drugs in Riley's system, which Jade's mom thought was the case. So um she gives Mia some alone time with Riley. So we see Jade uh honking outside of Mia's house at this point, and she decides to walk in. So this kind of this scene goes like back and forth between Mia and Jade's point of view. So at this point, Mia is in front of Riley and she sees him change into the spirit that's possessing him. It's telling her she can't take him. Mia says she's ending this. Mia pulls the scissors out of her pocket and shouts and begins to sob. She hesitates. While this is going on, Jade uh finds Mia's father dead and immediately calls her mom. When Jade gets back to the hospital, she sees Mia wheeling Riley out into traffic. Now, going back to this, uh, we mentioned this earlier in the film, where we Riley and Mia were in the car and she just couldn't put this animal out of its misery. And this is just kind of going back to that same thing where she sees Riley, who's clearly suffering, but she just can't bring herself to put him out of her misery. So when Jade gets back to the hospital, she sees Mia wheeling Riley out into traffic. She shouts to get Mia's uh attention, um, but Mia hears nothing. I think at this point, um, Mia is kind of suffering from different realms. She doesn't understand what's real and what's not, and it's very difficult for her to focus on one particular set of reality. So when she gets to kind of the edge of the roadway, uh, Mia feels her mom's hand on her shoulder and hears a whisper of, I'm so proud of you. She tells Mia she's doing the right thing. So rather than push Riley, Mia jumps to the road and cars crash. So Mia is scraped up uh but gets up to find people checking on her. She walks over to see Jade and Riley, and then it cuts to Mia inside the hospital. Mia says Riley's name, and we see Riley, Jade, and their mother walking out. Mia sees her father walking away, and as she walks by a mirror, she sees no reflection of herself. She sees her fingers bent and runs towards her dad, and as she cries, all the lights go out. And it just cuts to black. At this point, we hear a match strike. Mia sees the faint light and walks towards it. She sees a candle and a loned hand reaching out. As Mia reaches for the hand, she sees that she is now dead. And on the other end of the hand. The man that sees her says, I let you in. And the screen cuts to black. And we get the end of the film. Which I think is a fascinating ending to the film. Again, everything about this film just like blew me away when I first saw it. I sat in the theater for several minutes afterwards, just in complete shock at what I had just seen. I I I love this film for everything. Like it is just I I truly think it's a perfect horror film. I really think it has everything. Um, my wife refuses to watch it just because it's it's a subject matter that she's just not very much into. But I highly recommend this. If you're a fan of horror, if you want to see something that is going to kind of frighten you, it's gonna gross you out in some parts, um, it's gonna give you a good laugh. And it's also going to be a very heartfelt story. I highly recommend watching this movie. Um, also watching Bring Her Back, which Bring Her Back, I'll probably talk about in another episode. But this was one that I definitely wanted to just talk about as soon as I started this podcast. Was this one of the films that I was talking about or thinking about in terms of just, you know, talking about films that I love. This is definitely on that list of them. And I'm so glad that I was able to finally do an episode on it. Um, so again, if you know who I am and you want to send me a message telling me, you know, a film or even an album, a book, something TV show that you want me to check out, let me know. Um, I am very much open to suggestions. I do have a couple of them lined up um that I got from my Instagram account. Uh, some friends told me about some films that they wanted me to cover or talk about. So I'm very much happy about that. I'm very happy to talk about other films. I'm really excited to learn about new films as well, uh, as TV shows, music, books, all of that stuff. So yeah, uh again, thank you so much for listening. Um I truly cannot believe the the reception that I've gotten from the first few episodes. Um, if you have any helpful tips, I'd be happy to hear about those as well. Um, make sure to uh you know subscribe to this podcast, uh, whether it be on Apple Music or Spotify or you know, Google Play, whatever it is, uh, because that really would help me out. Um, these numbers really do matter to me. But again, I'm also just doing this for fun. So if you're just listening for fun, thank you again for that as well. But um, yeah, uh that should be pretty much it for this episode. So thank you all so much for listening, and I will see you guys in the next one.