DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY (Taiwan 2024) - MINI REVIEW

A comedy horror with both comedy and horror! A winner!

A rookie ghost with 30 days left to scare a human or risk disappearing forever is headhunted by a mentor who works with the former number one ghost in the afterlife - Catherine.

They aim to train this hopeless rookie to be hottest scream queen - and the perfect opportunity arises. Unfortunately, she needs to work alongside Jessica, the new queen ghost and Catherine’s ex understudy, to scare the living daylights out of a trio of social media influencers.

Go on, count on your hand the number of good comedy horror movies there are out there. Army Of Darkness? Scary Movie? One Cut of The Dead? There’s not many, and for good reason. It’s hard to be funny and scary at the same time.

Director John Hsu, who was responsible for Taiwan’s hottest horror film of the last decade with Detention, had his work cut out for him here. But the result is nothing short of enjoyable, funny and at times a little creepy.

When Sandrine Pinna is given the opportunity to shine, she does a remarkable job. She singlehanded raised the Chinese horror movie The Chrysalis from the typical Chinese horror trash to something that I recommend anyone to watch if they want a taste of Mainland horror. When her character is solid, so is she. And this movie is no exception. She plays the role of Catherine with extreme gusto and passion that every scene she is in is exciting to watch.

You could say the same for Gingle Wang too. This is her second time to team up with John Hsu - they worked together on Detention where Gingle had the lead role of Fang Ray-shin - and she just keeps getting better. This is a wildly different role from both Detention and The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon, but it suits her so perfectly as she goes from the nervous, bumbling ghost who thinks her family is disappointed with her, to a strong and confident spirit after she has an awakening. Its great character development made possible by an entertaining script that keeps you hooked.

And that’s the part of the movie that shines the most: the storyline. It’s original and thoroughly entertaining. The humour isn’t forced, it’s just there and it’s never lost in translation. The movie is full of the types of characters you’d expect if the situation was real: a ruthless CEO whose fueled by money, a talent show host with quick wit and TV anchor with just that right level of bitchy charm that reminds you of reality TV trash. It’s all there, and it all makes sense.

What’s not to like about this? I’m sure there are things it could have done better, but I was enjoying the film so much I didn’t even stop to think of what that could be.

Which I think, in the end, means I really liked the film. A comedy horror with actual comedy and horror elements. By using the basis of urban legends as a way to craft the horror elements, the movie was free to make its own rules. In fact, what the movie does is reveal how those rules shape each scene.

I liken this movie to a Penn and Teller episode, where the magicians explain to you how the magic tricks work. That’s the best way I can describe to you how the horror elements in this film are portrayed.

If ghosts were real, they would hate what this movie did. But the rest of us can sit back and laugh thinking - “what if”?

This is an easy one, I give this movie 4 ghosts out of 5. I haven’t had this much fun with a comedy horror for a long time.

Genre Comedy Horror
Director John Hsu
Starring Chen Bolin, Sandrine Pinna, Gingle Wang, Yao Yi Ti
Original Title 鬼才之道
Alternative Title Dead Talents Society
Country of Origin Taiwan
Release Date 10 October 2024

Now showing on Netflix.