Blog

Aug 31, 2023

Talk to Me Has One Major Common Point With Hereditary

As Mia fights demons in Australia, A24's Talk to Me shares a key thread with another film that made the studio famous in Ari Aster's Hereditary. The following contains spoilers for Talk to Me, now

As Mia fights demons in Australia, A24's Talk to Me shares a key thread with another film that made the studio famous in Ari Aster's Hereditary.

The following contains spoilers for Talk to Me, now playing in theaters. The article also has a mention of suicide.

In A24's Talk to Me, it's tricky to decipher what's happening as a group of Australian teens keep using a demonic relic. This embalmed ceramic hand results in them becoming temporarily possessed, giving the kids a high unlike any other. However, as the horror unravels, it becomes clear something's manipulating them.

In time, Sophie Wilde's Mia finds the line between fiction and reality blurred. It results in Talk to Me taking wild, unpredictable twists and turns. By the time the film wraps, it's evident it draws significant influence from Hereditary, especially from one key angle.

RELATED: Director Richard Kelly Is 'Revisiting' the World of Donnie Darko

Ari Aster's Hereditary in 2018 leaned hard into grief. Annie's family didn't know they were cogs in a cult run by Paimon, one of Hell's kings. All the deaths in Annie's family, including her daughter, Charlie, were engineered so Paimon could end up in the son, Peter. Whether it be Annie's mom, Ellen, or Charlie, Paimon moved them around like chess pieces, using heartache to take over a guilty, vulnerable Peter. It culminated in Peter -- broken he accidentally led to Charlie's death -- jumping out a window. He thought he was saving himself from a life of pain, only to give himself up as a vessel.

Talk to Me follows a similar path, with Mia being tricked by a demon. It pretends to be her dead mom, Rhea, scheming as Paimon did with Annie and Peter. Like them, Mia walks a bloody path, killing and trying to hurt herself. She feels guilt over Rhea's suicide, but all Mia's doing is giving her mortal frame to a demon the hand conjured up. It concludes with Mia jumping off a freeway and dying, like Peter. However, while she's not possessed anymore, the spirit traps her in the demon world, with other teens summoning her in Talk to Me's ending. It shows the price of irresponsibility, and dark karma for Peter and Mia being careless.

RELATED: Maggie Gyllenhaal to Helm Bride of Frankenstein Remake Starring Christian Bale

In Peter's case, he didn't look after Charlie at a party, which resulted in her getting sick from an allergy. The ride home saw him swerve and get the girl decapitated. In Mia's case, she messed around jokingly and got a demon stuck in her best friend's brother, Riley. Hereditary's devious Paimon had humans to capitalize on Peter's tragedy, promising them riches. The manner in which he exploited all the deaths around Annie and Peter was a masterclass in evil. He even burned up Annie's husband, Steve, breaking Peter to the point the teen was banging his head up.

This weakened Peter's mind and body for possession. What stood out was how fans thought this was Charlie's dead spirit seeking revenge, when really Paimon was working everyone. Mia's demon, though, deserves more credit for doing everything on its own. It doesn't use a willing cult. Instead, it works in tandem with other demons, tricking kids into giving up their souls once they break the possession rules. It quickly sussed out an opening, sensing Mia missing her dead mom. This being then appeared as Rhea's ghost, duped her into killing her dad, and had her thinking once she murdered Riley, the boy would be set free of his possession.

Little did Mia know, it was coaxing her to claim her and Riley's souls, because once she killed the possessed boy, he'd be trapped in Hell. And more than likely, Mia would commit suicide out of guilt, and end up in Hell, too. The fact Riley was found banging his head up as well nodded to Hereditary's Peter, confirming Talk to Me wears its influence on its sleeve. It proved that, like Paimon, something from the other side knew how to use trauma to trick humans, painting yet another horror that preys on what loss does to people. This ultimately shapes Talk to Me as the best horror film of 2023 and something that will stand the test of time, like Aster's vision.

Talk to Me is currently petrifying fans in theaters.

I'm a former Chemical Engineer. It was boring so I decided to write about things I love. On the geek side of things, I write about comics, cartoons, video games, television, movies and basically, all things nerdy. I also write about music in terms of punk, indie, hardcore and emo because well, they rock! If you're bored by now, then you also don't want to hear that I write for ESPN on the PR side of things. And yes, I've written sports for them too! Not bad for someone from the Caribbean, eh? To top all this off, I've scribed short films and documentaries, conceptualizing stories and scripts from a human interest and social justice perspective. Business-wise, I make big cheddar (not really) as a copywriter and digital strategist working with some of the top brands in the Latin America region. In closing, let me remind you that the geek shall inherit the Earth. Oh, FYI, I'd love to write the Gargoyles movie for Disney. YOLO. That said, I'm on Twitter @RenaldoMatadeen. So holler.