Vanessa Staib

As someone who has researched this case before, I was pretty excited to see a dramatization of it because hardly anyone ever talks about it. However, I was ultimately left disappointed. This film is 90% inaccurate. While I do expect dramatizations not to be completely accurate, there was literally almost nothing accurate here. In fact, I felt like I was watching some fictional horror film. For one, Kendrick decided to make Cheryl this "empowering woman" who called out a sexist contestant and the show host. This isn't even remotely accurate. In truth, we do not know much about the real Cheryl and she never acted the way Kendrick did on the real dating show. I honestly find it gross that Kendrick thought pushing this message was more important than focusing on the victims. Furthermore, Cheryl's date with Rodney was nowhere near as dramatic as they made it out to be. I do expect some dramatization, of course, but again, it became totally inaccurate. Rodney never tried to attack her. She simply found him creepy and backed out of the date. Lastly, we have this character who has a panic attack because she recognizes Rodney, who she suspects killed her friend. Once more, this is entirely made up. This character does not exist AT ALL. Given how much time they dedicate to her, you would think there would be some truth here, but nope. This is all false. Overall, Kendrick should have focused more on the victims and Alcala rather than her imagined version of Cheryl.

It's okay overall. It has a unique concept and the storyline is interesting. However, my issue lies with the characters. Like any other campy teen/young adult horror film, you have a group of friends with very bland personalities. It's hard to really care about any of them. Some can even be perceived as more annoying than anything.

I decided to check this movie out after hearing all of the hype. While this film did have some great scares, I do feel people have overhyped it. Let's start with the pros. The film did have quite a few chilling moments. Personally, possession has always been something that has made me disturbed and uncomfortable. I feel that the movie did this perfectly. The different voices and unsettling comments genuinely gave me the creeps. I can also appreciate the fact that they didn't rely on cheap jump scares. While there are a couple of jump scares, they don't overdo it, like a lot of horror films do. Another thing I liked was how intriguing the demons were and how ambiguous the ending was. I won't spoil anything here, but I was left questioning what exactly happened and if we can even rely on our protagonist. I actually wanted to learn more about the mysterious hand as well. While I am leaving an okay review, I would very much enjoy an origin story of how the hand came to be. Now, onto the cons! The biggest thing I disliked about this film was how dumb and annoying 90% of the characters were. I can defend characters like this sometimes in horror movies, if it's portrayed right. After all, we can't have a horror movie without some stupidity. However, in Talk to Me, this fails for me. It seems like there is only one character, Riley's sister, who has some common sense and is totally against it. In my opinion, this girl would have made for a better protagonist. Furthermore, not only are the characters stupid, but they have the WORST personalities. Think of every character you hate from horror films and place them all into one movie. That's how this film is. Even our protagonist is an awful person and uses her trauma as a way to justify her behavior. Now, if this was a horror film calling out a common flaw in human behavior, I could understand it. If that was their intention, it failed for me, personally. I was simply left irritated and wanting almost every character to be killed off. Overall, I would say give this film a shot if you come across it. While I hated most of the characters, I did still enjoy the plot and the scares along the way.

It's not as good as people made it out to be. A few creepy moments here and there, but for the most part, very slow paced and boring. The ending was disappointing as well.

It's basically a more adult version of Goosebumps. Definitely more scary!

In my opinion, I think this film was a beautiful adaptation of the book. Of course, the book will always be better but I don't think the movie failed. Mark Wahlberg's performance as Jack (the father) was amazing! I believe any father could understand his pain and reactions throughout the film. Furthermore, the girl who plays Susie was stunning. The way she accepts death is beautifully tragic and well done. To top it off, Tucci as Harvey (the murderer) was very unsettling. Seeing the way he lures Susie and gives off this friendly demeanor gives me the chills every time. Not to mention, the depictions of the "in-between" was very beautiful and kind of gives you this positive feeling among all of the darkness surrounding the film. Overall, very beautifully done film! I highly recommend watching it. If you haven't read the book, you should read it as well! It's even better than the movie!

Nothing happens during this movie until it's towards the end and even then, all it is is a chase scene. There's barely any deaths and majority of the movie is just a bunch of phone calls and the main character being paranoid. Also, there's a pointless relationship drama that really doesn't give anything to the story or the characters. Don't waste your time. Rotten Tomatoes was generous to give this a 9%.