In the cold open for Dead Talents Society, the new film by director John Hsu (2019’s Detention), a young woman enters hotel room 414. Bizarre events quickly add up, including a whole wall that is suddenly plastered with glamour pictures of a woman. Then the closet door creeps open and the woman from the picture emerges. She slowly begins walking backwards down the hall before going into a bone-cracking back bend, scurrying on all fours towards her terrified victim.
Before the scare can even sink in, the action pauses, revealing that this is footage being played on a supernatural talk show. The scary woman is revealed to be Catherine (Sandrine Pinna), arguably the most famous ghost in the world thanks to her incredibly effective urban legend. The talk show is made for and run by dead people, who compose a whole other world: a “scare the living” world of entertainment with its own rules and hierarchy.
The main character isn’t Catherine, though; it’s actually The Rookie (Gingle Wang), a timid, bespectacled young woman who has recently died. She hangs out with her best friend Camilla (Bai Bai) and scoffs at the efforts of local ghosts to scare people in the public toilet. But one day Rookie starts to glitch (the effect is reminiscent of a bad TV signal) and cursory research reveals that she is in danger of being forgotten; if The Rookie isn’t remembered by the living in thirty days, she’ll disappear completely.
The solution? Get your haunting license, become unionized, and get protected by the Chairman.
The problem? The Rookie has no talent.
Easily one of Dead Talents Society most intriguing aspects is determining how this other world works. Tsai Kun-Lin and Hsu’s clever script is a pretty damning critique of both influencer and work culture: the dead must continue to hustle in the afterlife in order to remain relevant and popular. This is a system that prioritizes anything new and fresh, while anyone who is deemed old or outdated is quite literally eliminated.
Early on The Rookie and Camilla attend an audition for Jessica (Eleven Yao), the “it” ghost du jour whose popularity skyrocketed thanks to her cursed tape scare.*
*Yes, if the premise sounds like Beetlejuice mixed with a plethora of other horror titles like The Ring, that’s because Dead Talents Society is very self-aware and makes liberal use of popular horror films and tropes as part of its metacommentary.
In the years since the cold open scare, Jessica’s popularity has eclipsed Catherine’s – in large part because the younger woman was able to predict the rise of the internet. In the interceding years, Catherine has become something of a has-been, performing her signature scare to the scant few who wander into the hotel. Meanwhile, her Perfect Blue-outfitted nemesis is the one who now wins all of the ghost awards and gets interviewed on the talk show from the opener.
When The Rookie tries out for Jessica’s squad, she’s asked about the details of her death (a non-event), if it was publicized (no) and if she has a signature move (…). In response to the last question, The Rookie raises her hands in the air, limp-wristed, and moans “I hate this world” – it’s a sad display that garners only laughter from the audience.
Although the audition is a bomb, The Rookie’s pathetic display catches the attention of a slightly smarmy talent-agent named Makoto (Chen Bolin), who sees her potential and recruits both her and Camilla to work for Catherine. Clearly this is the underdog team: Jessica has immaculate production values and a loyal group of doppelgangers that she works to the bone. Catherine has experience, but she’s resistant to change, she’s cold to outsiders, and she’s more than a little sadistic when it comes to putting The Rookie through her “scary ghost” boot camp. (Visually this is an early highlight of the film: the resulting montage is both bloody and hilarious).
Narratively speaking, Dead Talents Society is pretty conventional and obvious. The Rookie must discover her confidence and unlock her potential, while Catherine must become less of an icy diva and embrace the modern world. Even bitchy, competitive Jessica will learn that there’s more to (after)life than being the best. The familiarity of the narrative isn’t a bad thing, however; the film works because Hsu and Kun-Lin expertly deploy these (often heartfelt) conventions to great effect. They know exactly how to get audiences to invest emotionally in the characters’ relationship and the ending of the film is a genuine crowd pleaser in large part because we care so much about this ragtag team.
The other reason the film is such a success is because it is a textbook execution of a horror comedy: it is laugh out loud funny and surprisingly gory. A large part of The Rookie’s journey is discovering her special move and how to scare the living, which requires lots of bloody trial and error.
One recurring gag is her attempts to stop a moving car on the highway. The problem is that the driver never stops in time, so The Rookie winds up being dragged along, leaving a disgusting bloody smear in her wake. (The rules of the world clarify that the ghosts can easily engage with the real world, but they can only be seen by the living if they a) have their haunting license and b) will it just so).
Then there’s the film’s use comedic sound effects, which includes cartoon boings and other Looney Tunes-esque audio cues. These elements effortlessly reinforce the film’s inherent silliness. Then add in a not-surprising but deliciously spot-on karaoke backstory for one character, a gag with a removable mustache, and the satire of the industrial work complex that rewards youth, ostentatious behaviour and a large social media following above all else. Dead Talents Society is plenty of fun, but it is also making some astute political commentary.
All of this is delivered in a highly energetic package by Hsu, who easily balances the film’s heartfelt character beats with the zany comedy. There are several sequences that play like a heist film as characters must execute their con on the living in order to successfully pull off a scare. The direction, sound effects and Shieh Meng Ju’s editing lends the film a zippy, high octane energy.
Overall Dead Talents Society is a genuine crowd-pleaser: it’s fun, funny, extremely clever and filled with lovable characters. It’s an instant horror comedy classic and one of the best genre films of the year.
Dead Talents Society had its North American premiere at TIFF 2024.
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