The best movie of 2023 you haven't seen? Cult horror movie storms Netflix top 10

Sophie Wilde in Talk to Me
(Image credit: A24)

There have been plenty of great movies in 2023: Barbie, Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible and more are all must-watches, but one new cult hit has flown under the radar more than it deserves. Well, it had flown under, but that's rapidly changing.

New indie horror movie Talk To Me was released in July and performed admirably at the time, making over $90 million on a budget of just $4 million, but it's become an even bigger smash hit now that it's been added to Netflix UK.

After being added to Netflix UK on Friday, October 27, Talk To Me jumped straight up to become the second most-watched movie on the streamer in the UK, sitting just behind Pain Hustlers which is Netflix's newest star-studded Original.

It helps that Halloween just passed, making the horror movie, as well as all the scary Netflix shows fitting watching, but Talk To Me has been considered by many to be the best movie of the year. Just look at its 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and all the critics who are calling it unbeaten.

The movie centers around an embalmed hand, that lets you conduct rituals to contact the dead. A group of kids come upon it, and start using it at house parties to freak each other out, and for social media clout. As you can probably guess, this use for it does not have great consequences.

Sophie Wilde plays the lead role of Mia, and the other big-name actress in it is Miranda Otto, who plays the mother of Mia's best friend who acts as her own surrogate parent. The movie played at Sundance, Berlin and SXSW film festival before its release, and according to reports a sequel is in the works.

Part of this success is likely due to the two directors. Danny and Michael Philippou are best known for their popular YouTube channel RackaRacka, where they shared videos of them partaking in various stunts; they've got a proven history of video despite this being their feature directorial debut.

In our own Talk To Me review we said "When shocking, holy crap it's shocking", though noted that it lost energy toward the end of the movie. Still, many horror fans are calling it the best horror movie of the year, so if you need a nighttime fright-fest, you should join all the other Netflix streamers and check it out.

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Tom Bedford
Streaming and Ecommerce Writer

Tom is the streaming and ecommerce writer at What to Watch, covering streaming services in the US and UK. His goal is to help you navigate the busy and confusing online video market, to help you find the TV, movies and sports that you're looking for without having to spend too much money.