Movies
The Ending of ‘Talk To Me’ Explained
A24’s Talk To Me chronicles the story of 17-year-old Mia, played by Sophie Wilde, whose desperation for genuine connection makes her a dangerous candidate for possession. The possession is voluntary and happens to anyone who grabs the movie’s signature embalmed Hand before a lit candle and recites two incantations. The first is “Talk to me,” which summons a spirit for the person holding the Hand to see. Lastly, “I let you in” grants the spirit permission to enter the person’s body for 90 seconds. Any longer, and the spirit may become too attached: a lesson Mia unfortunately learns in the worst way possible. Spoiler’s ahead.
According to the kids in the movie, the mysterious hand once belonged to a medium, who had their hand severed and then embalmed. It’s now used to conjure spirits.
The Talk To Me Game Explained
The film opens with a party going off the rails when a disturbed young man stabs his brother and himself (in the face) in front of everyone. Before learning their place in the story, we meet Mia and the people in her life, including her best friend’s younger brother Riley (Joe Bird), a good kid. While Mia’s driving Riley down a country road late at night, the two encounter a severely injured kangaroo on the road. Mia’s left with the decision to either put the kangaroo out of its misery or leave it to suffer. She cannot kill it, so she chooses option two.
Mia’s best friend and Riley’s older sister, Jade (Alexandra Jensen), go to a party. Mia’s been struggling to cope with losing her mother, Rhea (Alexandria Steffensen), so she jumps at the first chance for a cheap thrill at the party: the Hand. Whatever spirit possessed Mia wantingly fixated on Riley, likely because it could control younger vessels more easily.
Letting go of the Hand and blowing out the candle ends the possession, but everyone around Mia fails to do that within the 90-second window. Despite this, she loved the experience and didn’t seem possessed after they removed the spirit from her. At this point, the film’s message of codependency and maladaptive coping mechanisms for grief becomes clear. The possession via supernatural spirits is not unlike the experience of drinking liquor (also referred to as spirits) or taking other substances. The camera angle when the teenagers are lighting the candle is reminiscent of “lighting up” certain other substances, as another example.
Riley’s Overdose
Everyone continues playing with the Hand night after night, and Mia loses herself in the good times until the night of Riley’s first possession. Riley’s not taking well to being possessed, but Mia prolongs it because she believes the spirit is Rhea’s. Mia’s grief has been so unbearable that she’s risking her friend’s well-being just for a chance to talk to her mother again.
Whatever Riley lets in nearly kills him by throwing his body around the room. The scene seems to be a gruesome reminder of the bodily, mental, and spiritual harm overdosing poses to anyone using mind-altering substances and those around them.
Riley’s family casts Mia out because they blame her for what happened to him, inadvertently contributing to her downward spiral. Even worse, she’s stolen the Hand and continues using it mostly privately. She believes the ghost she’s connecting to is her mother, despite clues seemingly pointing to the contrary.
Desperate for connection, Mia uses the Hand alone for a chance to see her deceased mother one more time.
Why Did the Struck Kangaroo Return?
What appears to be Rhea’s ghost convinces Mia that Riley’s soul is being tortured in limbo and instructs her to free the boy by killing him. The spirit tricks Mia into stabbing her father in the neck with scissors before she heads to the hospital.
While Mia’s working up the courage at Riley’s bedside to do the evil deed, she sees the kangaroo they saw on the road earlier in the film. The vision reads like an eerie goading from beyond their physical world to put the boy out of his misery.
Mia puts Riley in a wheelchair and kidnaps him from the hospital, taking him to the side of a busy highway. She intends to push him into oncoming traffic until she realizes Rhea’s ghost is a spirit posing as her mother. It possesses Mia, and she ends up severely injured on the road like the kangaroo. However, Mia’s death isn’t the end of her misery.
Mia’s Nightmare Becomes Reality
Mia’s a ghost but doesn’t realize it, so she tries without success in the hospital to talk to those around her. How did she end up here? I imagine Mia was still alive after getting struck on the highway, and she died while the medical support team fought to save her.
Mia can’t see her reflection in a mirror, which is her recurring nightmare made real. Next, Mia finds herself in complete darkness until a faint light appears. A new group of kids is playing with the Hand and Mia’s become part of the game.
Some questions remain, but a Talk To Me sequel is in the works, so we’ll likely understand more about the creepy Hand and its obscure origins soon.
You can watch Talk To Me on VOD or purchase the Blu-ray starting October 3rd, 2023.
When you hear the phrase “Corey Haim horror movie,” your mind, it’s safe to assume, jumps to The Lost Boys. That’s only natural. Hell, that’s probably the title that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Corey Haim movie” in general. Unless you’re a die-hard fan of License to Drive, that is. There are a lot of completely valid reasons for the love that The Lost Boys receives. It’s a great movie. Certainly one of the best vampire movies of the 1980s. But Corey Haim was also in one of the best werewolf movies of the 1980s. That would be the 1985 Stephen King adaptation Silver Bullet, which deserves to have the same level of voracious fandom.
Why Silver Bullet Deserves More Love Than The Lost Boys
I can guess why Silver Bullet hasn’t had the same impact as The Lost Boys. Corey Haim wasn’t as big of a star in 1985. Silver Bullet director Dan Attias went on to a long television career, while Schumacher went on to direct Batman movies. Any 1980s werewolf movie has to exist in the shadow of the masterpiece, An American Werewolf in London. Silver Bullet doesn’t have Kiefer Sutherland psychosexually manipulating Jason Patric. I get it. But Silver Bullet’s stats are lagging.
The Lost Boys is Corey Haim’s #1 most popular movie and his #1 highest-rated on Letterboxd. Silver Bullet is #4 and #12. The Lost Boys is his #1 movie on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and #2 on the Popcornmeter. Silver Bullet is #5 and #9. Silver Bullet is Corey Haim’s fifth highest-rated movie on IMDb and The Lost Boys is – you guessed it – #1. Silver Bullet also lagged behind at the box office, earning $12.4 million compared to The Lost Boys’ $32.5 million.
October 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Silver Bullet. It’s high time to raise the profile of this damn movie, even if I have to build the winch myself.
Silver Bullet is a Blast and a Half
Silver Bullet, which was written by Stephen King, adapting his own novella Cycle of the Werewolf, is a doozy. It’s set in a small town that is being besieged by regular werewolf attacks, and nobody can identify the culprit. But never fear, an absolute weirdo is in town!
That would be Gary Busey as Uncle Red, a deeply unsettling fireball of charisma. His nephew is Marty (Corey Haim), who has paraplegia. Naturally, Red builds him a tricked-out motorcycle wheelchair that he can go rocketing through town in. Gary Busey is something of a punchline these days. But let’s never forget that the man became famous in the first place because he was a goddamn movie star. He makes nonstop strange choices that are electromagnetically compelling. Corey Haim was perhaps the only 1980s child actor who could hold his own against that cinematic force of nature. Thankfully, he was cast, and the characters’ relationship is as rich as it is strange. That’s the sweet spot for any King adaptation.
A Stellar Cast of 1980s Character Actors
That dynamic alone could have been enough to sustain a movie. However, Silver Bullet has also assembled a murderer’s row of 1980s character actors around Busey and Haim. This includes Lawrence Tierney, Terry O’Quinn, and perhaps never better Everett McGill. Not to mention the fact that the story is randomly narrated by Broadway legend Tovah Feldshuh.
Thanks to the talented cast, the movie survives the fact that it features a somewhat goofy-looking werewolf. They bring a sense of grit and reality to their small-town characters. What results is an explosion of intensity that plays startlingly well against the uncut 1980s goofiness of its genre elements. This movie’s confident enough to contain both a thrillingly tense covered bridge setpiece and a werewolf swiping off somebody’s head. And if that’s not the vibe you desperately want from an ‘80s shocker, I don’t know what to tell you.
Silver Bullet Lacks Some of The Lost Boys’ More Obvious Flaws
I am certainly not trying to use this article to cast The Lost Boys into the muck. I think both movies can stand together on the Mount Rushmore of Corey Haim’s career. Nevertheless, it is true that Silver Bullet lacks the two biggest flaws of The Lost Boys. It’s got its own flaws, sure, but none quite so glaring as Lost Boys hugely losing steam in Act 3. Once the identity of the werewolf has become known in Silver Bullet, the story actually gets even more tense. That’s because the danger still stems from children being at the mercy of adults, rather than the werewolf mystery itself.
The Lost Boys is also somewhat scattershot, juggling too many characters, storylines, and tones simultaneously. While Silver Bullet does have a deep bench of characters, its storytelling is much more focused. It’s primarily centered on the relationship between a young boy and his family, and how it’s complicated by werewolf attacks. Standard stuff!
Silver Bullet Deserves a Spot Next to The Lost Boys
Look, here’s the bottom line. The Lost Boys is a fun, great movie. Silver Bullet is a fun, great movie. This town (Hollywood) is definitely big enough for the two of them. That’s all I’m saying. It’s simply unfair that Silver Bullet has taken up B-tier status behind The Lost Boys. Watchers has more than enough B-movie energy to take up that slot all by itself, thank you very much.
PS: I look forward to Horror Press hosting somebody’s impassioned defense of Watchers, but it ain’t gonna be mine.
Shudder has officially entered the Halloween chat this year, so the other streamers can hang it up. The app is adding the entire Rec franchise and a nice chunk of Alfred Hitchcock’s work. Fans can watch Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, and Rear Window on the same streamer this Halloween season. However, my eye is on this year’s Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. It is always a night that brings all my favorite horror people together because most of us watch it live and post about it in real-time. It is what I assume people do at other award shows, where horror is often overlooked. I do not care enough to prove that theory by watching awards where people don’t win chainsaws, though. Anyways, here are five movies I’m excited to get cozy with this October.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
V/H/S/Halloween (2025)
The popular franchise is unleashing a collection of Halloween-themed wicked tales this time. No matter how you feel about found footage or this series, it’s hard to not get excited every time a new installment drops. Who among us can resist the pull of six frightening stories shoved into an unsettling anthology? It also gives us the chance to speed date a handful of filmmakers who want to terrify us. So, it makes sense that it is becoming a yearly tradition. This Shudder Original is also coming hot and fresh from Fantastic Fest. So, if you missed the festival, you can still partake in some of the nightmare fuel at home.
You can watch V/H/S/Halloween on October 3rd.
When A Stranger Calls (1979)
A man terrorizes a babysitter and decides to further traumatize her seven years later. I watched a lot of horror movies as a kid, but this was the one that made me realize scary movies are supposed to be scary. The first act of this film is stressful. It is also probably the reason my phone is always on do not disturb. Carol Kane is an amazing final girl who becomes the final woman in this unsettling story. It also has amazing performances from the late Charles Durning and Tony Beckley, who tragically died way too young. I dare you to watch the first act while you’re alone with the lights off.
You can watch When A Stranger Calls on October 6th.
Invader (2024)
A woman suspects foul play when her cousin goes missing in Chicago. However, her investigation leads to something beyond her wildest imagination. I need answers to all the questions this movie’s premise is throwing at me. Because it’s about 70 minutes long, I cannot be too mad at whatever this turns out to be. I would have given up way more time to see why what looks like a home invasion seems so mysterious. So, if you are trying to watch a bunch of horror movies this season, this is a quick one coming to an app near you. Everybody, tell Shudder thank you!
You can watch Invader on October 6th.
OTHER (2025)
A woman returns to her childhood home after her mother’s death to find the house has extensive surveillance and an evil presence. I want to know how the sinister vibes and technology are connected because I am nosy. I also love horror movies that promise family secrets are getting uncovered. After all, nothing is scarier than families. More importantly, this movie got past me, so I did not hear anything about it until making this streaming guide. So, I need to fix that the second it lands on Shudder. It also looks good, so I’m stepping into this movie feeling like it’s going to be a great time.
You can watch Other on October 17th.
Hell House LLC: Lineage (2025)
Vanessa Shepard finds herself haunted after surviving unspeakable horrors at the Abaddon Hotel years earlier. She soon realizes that her nightmares and visions are trying to tell her something she could have never imagined. When this franchise is good, it’s very, very good. Which is why it earned five movies and is one of the franchises we think about when we think of Shudder. While I do not like this fifth and final film, I am sad it was not in theaters long enough to give Hell House LLC fans closure and to allow them to finally see a chapter on the big screen. So, I’m happy this Shudder Original is arriving on Halloween Eve. I also look forward to the discourse once it has more eyes on it because I’m messy.
You can watch Hell House LLC: Lineage on October 30th.
So, that’s why my TV will be parked on Shudder this month. There are plenty of titles that give me an excuse to stay home and mind my own business. Y’all have fun out there because I don’t need to go outside with a lineup like this.
Let us know what scary shenanigans you are planning to get into on the app this October. Also, Happy Halloween from the alleged lady always telling you what to watch!
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