Talk to Me directors built a TikTok trend right into their horror movie

For anyone who’s terminally online, it’s just about impossible to watch Danny and Michael Philippou’s debut horror movie You can talk to meYou can’t think of anything else. It’s a thousand memes making. The Philippous — the Australian twins behind the billion-view RackaRacka channel on YouTube — themed their graphically bloody, thrill-focused A24 horror movie around the idea of possession as a party game, a source for nervy dares and exciting online videos. Give Talk to Me’s “scariest movie of 2023” reputation and that party-game structure, it seems inevitable that it’s going to spark a trend of YouTubers and TikTokers posting their own gleeful spins on the movie’s story.

The directors have no problem with it. Speaking with Polygon, they both light up when presented with the possibility of fans making “I tried the You can talk to me trick and got possessed” TikToks in the spirit of the Grimace Shake.

“Oh my God, I would Love to see that!” Danny says. “I think that that’s so fun, to run with a film, doing your own versions, and wanting to reenact a horror sequence and being creative — I’d be excited to see that!”

The following are some of the ways to get in touch with us You can talk to meA group of Australian teenagers obtains a cast plaster hand that is covered in graffiti and which contains what they believe to be a preserved medium’s hand. By lighting a candle, grasping the hand, and saying “Talk to me,” a participant makes contact with a supernatural force. If they follow up by saying “I let you in,” that force seizes control of their body until the candle is blown out.

Photo: A24

The process works every time — the movie never dodges the question of whether the supernatural is real. It becomes a game where everyone takes turns playing the role of the possessed person while laughing, commenting, and capturing it on their phone. Two of the most important themes in this film are the peer-pressure to take part and the disturbing aspects of social networking, like the desire to be noticed online.

“It was just sitting down and expressing the things that were scaring me at the time,” Danny says. “Things that were frightening to me and would bother me. It was just putting that stuff on the page and trying to find a genre way to express it, really.”

“Danny couldn’t afford a therapist,” Michael adds.

The idea of a movie centered around extreme online stunts that have gained a large fan base is an interesting one for those who are fans of these hilarious, outrageous acts. They acknowledge that the film is ironic, but they say that their experience with this world has helped them to conceive. You can talk to me.

“We know that whole world inside out,” Danny says. “[And we’ve seen]How trends are blown out of proportion and when people take it to the extreme. Things that people do to gain attention can turn out dangerous. We’ve done stuff that is dangerous as well.”

Michael says that their work is always grounded in cinematic experience. “That’s what we’re always trying to make — something that has to do with filmmaking. So it’s kind of different from trendsetting stuff.”

Essentially, You can talk to me is about bringing that cinematic experience to the fascination with the occult and the “playing with fire for fun” attitude that the Philippous were already seeing in online videos.

“We were mainly just trying to do something current — if possession was a real thing now, I feel like this is what would be happening,” Michael says. “We’d be doing it too.”

Photo: A24

“If you look up [occult] hashtags on TikTok, and you look at #possessions or people trying Ouija boards, you’ll find examples [of this kind of video] — people are fascinated by the idea of the afterlife and of ghosts,” Danny says. “There’s a morbid curiosity and obsession with serial killers and the darker things of life and the supernatural. So it makes complete sense to me that possession would be used as a little party trick.”

“Back in the day, you don’t walk into the dark forest,” Michael says. “Whereas now you do it and you film it.”

Fans mounting social media spins is a process that the Philippous says. You can talk to me The campaign has begun. “We’ve been tagged in a few things from around the world, and from different screenings, people having fun with it,” Michael says. “It’s heartwarming to be like, We made something people like and want to do their own version or have fun with..”

“It feels awesome to see people showing up to screenings with their own [plaster possession] hands,” Danny says. “It’s so surreal. It’s so cool. you wouldn’t expect it. If there were kids jumping off roofs because of us, then I’d feel really bad. But if they’re, like, faking a possession — I think that’s quite fun.”

You can talk to meOn July 28 it will open in a limited release at the cinemas, followed by a wider rollout.