While the horror genre has always managed to walk the thin line about what’s acceptable versus testing audiences’ limits, Talk To Me’s much-talked-about hell scene certainly pushed the boundaries. In just 15 seconds, the acclaimed horror film by first-time directors Danny and Michael Phillippou managed to show us a frightening glimpse into the darkness of hell. It’s a scene that lingers in the minds of audiences well after the movie ends. Interestingly, fans are eager to witness it in its entirety, considering the original unedited sequence was intended to run for two minutes and thirty seconds but was trimmed to secure an R rating. The burning question on everyone’s lips is whether the Hell Scene will be fully reinstated with a director’s cut of Talk To Me.
In a recent interview with the Philippou brothers, they shed some light on Talk To Me’s Hell Scene. Michael Philippou admitted, “We wouldn’t have gotten away with the rating that we had. And tonally, it felt like a different film. It was just too full on. So we ended up cutting it right back and having little glimpses, and that was like scenes that our producer was like, ‘You’ll never get this past the censors.’ And we did! We snuck it in little flashes, little frames.”
For those who haven’t seen it (we can’t even include images or video footage from the scene here because it’s so disturbing) or closed their eyes during the scene, Reddit user Optimal-Concept7321 points out that it’s actually a lot more unsettling than we initially thought. Going through the footage frame by frame, he commented that, “There’s some really f***ed up imagery that only gets shown for a split second.” This includes a woman cannibalising a newborn baby, a group of people who have their genitals removed, and a creepy demonic woman crawling beneath the hospital bed.
If that’s what made the cut in Talk To Me, one can only imagine what the full hell scene included. In all honesty, as is, the scene manages to deliver a level of horror rarely seen in mainstream cinema. It’s definitely left a mark on everyone who has seen it.
There’s hope for those hoping to see the full scene, too. In a recent interview, the brothers confirmed that it could be released someday. “Maybe one day we’ll release the full thing. But it was super, super, super messed up.”
Tell us, would you like to see Talk To Me‘s hell scene, or was that what you saw enough? Also, check out Tarot, which many people are calling 2024’s Talk To Me.
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