Talk To Me: Rotten Tomatoes have rated it as one of the scariest films ever - here's what our writers thought

Talk To Me has been terrifying audiences across the country since its release in cinema last Friday. Is it the scariest movie of the last decade?

Directed by YouTube sensations and Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, new horror film Talk To Me has certainly got the attention of audiences after being dubbed "the scariest film of the last decade".

Handed a worldwide theatrical release last week, the horror has been highly anticipated ever since receiving critical acclaim following its world premiere at 2023 Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year.

The film follows a young Australian woman called Mia, besieged with grief following the death of her mother, as she attends a party with friends who claim they have a severed hand that can conjure spirits and connect with the dead.

Rated at an astonishing 95% rating on highly respected film review site Rotten Tomatoes, our writers Graham Falk, David Hepburn and Lauren Jack argue whether the film is "the scariest of the decade" or not.

Graham Falk

As a horror obsessive, I often see films dubbed as 'the scariest' of the year but rarely do I see a statement that classes it as the scariest in a decade. When it comes to Talk To Me, I admit I was immediately intrigued.

The word scary in film world in an interesting one. Midsommar was the last film that really got under my skin and spooked me because of the real life horror it represented, the anxiety and the dread that came with the film why it scared me as much as it did. Others find all out blood and gore like Terrifier far more terrifying - whereas I find it more funny and have an interest in the practical special effects. The fact that Talk To Me lies somewhere in the middle is what makes the film so exciting.

Leaning on themes of addiction, grief, peer pressure and all the real life horror, it would be easy for it to fall into the ever increasing list of newly created "elevated horror" but the use of gore, old school jump scares and a unique plot make it stand out from almost anything released in recent memory.

Verdict: I'm going with no, but only because It Follows was made nine years ago. Outside of It Follows, I think it is the scariest film of the decade. It's a unique idea that has element of old school horror and gore, while it fuses it with modern day horror such as grief, addiction and more. Just superb.

David Hepburn

While I enjoyed 'Talk To Me', I'm somewhat baffled by the assertion that it's one of the scariest films of the decade.

Maybe it's a matter of taste, but the flimsy premise, comic elements and occasionally rudimentary effects left me more entertained than petrified. Admittedly some of the gorier sections had me looking away from the screen, but there was nothing to disturb my dreams in the way the best horrors have a habit of doing - recent examples being the likes of 'The Babadook', 'Under The Skin', 'Creep' and 'It Follows'.

My own choice for the scariest film of the last 10 years would be Darren Aronofsky's much-misunderstood, and oft-derided, 'Mother!'. It's a piece of work that even star Jennifer Lawrence admits she doesn't understand - and that's part of its terrifying charm.

It also includes elements of home invasion, in the guise of Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer's horrific uninvited house guests, which is my own personal Achilles heel of horror (Michael Haneke's 'Funny Games' being the gold standard).

Add a teeth-grinding soundscape of snaps and creaks, a dense and disturbing allegorical plot about humans killing the planet, and Javier Bardem at his most sphinx-like, and you have the perfect recipe for an out-of-control waking nightmare.

Verdict: No! Mother! is the scariest film of the last decade.

Lauren Jack

As a horror fan whose tastes tend to lean toward slashers, paranormal films aren’t always my favourite.

I find many of them rely on cheap jumpscares and the horrors I find truly scary are the ones where the thrill of fear chases you long after the movie is done. The teaser trailers for Talk To Me caught my attention, but beyond that I went into the film blind – something I’m glad I did.

It is an impressive film, and the cast and filmmakers have done an excellent job. It has fantastic scares which don’t feel cheap, characters you really get to know and an overall tight story which packs an emotional punch, dealing with themes of grief and addiction. However, the third act of the film isn’t able to sustain the initial promise of dread and suspense and there are a few recent horrors, such as Hereditary, which do.

The 2018 film similarly deals with possession and grief. But instead of the tension dissipating as the story goes on, it escalates. You aren’t given a moment to breathe, even during its quiet moments, with almost every scene accompanied by a pulsing hum in the background.

It’s relentless. There is no relief from the slow burn of anxiety which culminates in a more impactful – and scary – final act, something that Talk To Me doesn’t quite manage.

Verdict: While Talk To Me is excellent, I don’t think it was able to maintain the level of terror enough to make it the scariest film of the decade. There are other films such as Hereditary, Midsommar or It Follows which will unsettle you long after the credits roll and are perhaps more deserving of the title.