Talk to Me review: Horror movie debut from Australian YouTube twins Danny and Michael Philippou is stylish, gruesome thrill ride

In horror movies, a disembodied hand almost always spells trouble. Another malevolent hand looms at the centre of the new Australian horror movie Talk to Me, in which a house party trick involving momentary demonic possession leads to gruesome consequences for a bunch of teenagers playing chicken with the supernatural. The film marks the feature directing debut of Adelaide-born, Los Angeles-based twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, aka YouTube creators RackaRacka, who broke out with their 2014 viral smash Harry Potter VS Star Wars and have since attracted a massive global following thanks to their ingenious horror-comedy clips. It's no surprise that taste-making American distributor A24 was quick to snap the film up after its Sundance screening earlier this year; the Philippous have a head full of seemingly every horror movie to hit the zeitgeist in the last decade, whether it's the explicit references, formally and visually, to Jordan Peele's Get Out, the elevated schtick of Ari Aster, or the spring-loaded crowd-pleasers of James Wan. The filmmakers, assisted by some genuinely evocative photography from McLisky, arrive armed with enough stylistic brio – and irresistible passion for the genre – that the film comes through with a rousing, loopy finish, one that's both sinister and funny enough to put any misgivings about tonal incoherence aside.