Dead Talents Society

110 minutesCountryTaiwanLanguageMandarin

Dead Talents Society (Chinese: 鬼才之道) is a 2024 Taiwanese horror comedy film directed and written by John Hsu, starring Chen Bolin, Sandrine Pinna, Gingle Wang, and Eleven Yao. Set in a fictional underworld, the film revolves around ghosts who aspire to become the most successful and renowned stars with their scare tactics and performances among the living.

The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2024, and released theatrically on 7 August in Taiwan.

Catherine, a renowned underworld diva known for haunting a hotel, is betrayed by her protégé, Jessica, who surpasses her at the Golden Ghost Awards with a series of jump scare videos on the internet, leading to a decline in Catherine's popularity.

Four years later, an unnamed rookie ghost^[a] discovers that her body is eviscerating, as her piano competition certificate, the token which bears the value of her existence the most, has been accidentally discarded by her sister while moving away from the house. Realizing that the loss of the token would result in her perish within 30 days, Rookie enlists the help of her ghost friend Camilla, and joins the entry contest of the Dead Talents Society, where ghosts can receive a working pass to stay in the living world if signed by a haunting agency. Although Rookie's performance is awful, it moves Makoto, the agent of washed-up Catherine, who then invites Rookie to become Catherine's new protégé. Before Rookie and Camilla can get acquainted with Catherine and the agency's technician, Kouji, a new guest arrives at the hotel. Rookie and Camilla fail to scare the guest, much to Catherine's dissatisfaction, prompting her to intervene and haunt the guest herself. Enraged, Catherine demands that Makoto dismiss the two newcomers. However, Makoto informs her about the lack of use of their old tricks and the decline in their KPI, and convinces her that Rookie's apparent uselessness could prevent Catherine from being betrayed again. After 20 days of training, Rookie shows little improvement, but during the stay of a young couple, she inadvertently leaps off the building, gets stabbed through the hotel's signboard, and triggers a short circuit, which the couple captures on video and goes viral on the internet.

In the real world, a ghost-hunting YouTuber, Non-Believer, announces plans to produce a vlog by watching Jessica's jump scare videos in Rookie's haunted hotel, to see what would happen when the two urban legends are triggered simultaneously. This draws great attention from the underworld, even the Chairghost of the Society expresses interest to know how would both divas react. Jessica, now an international star after haunting an American influencer to death, agrees to return to Taiwan and do a crossover haunting show with Rookie, attempting to destroy Catherine's protégé. She publicly humiliates Rookie on a talk show, and when Catherine blames Rookie for not defending herself, the fragile-ego Rookie quits the agency in rage. Makoto finds Rookie at her old house, where she reveals that the piano competition certificate was actually forged by her father to encourage her, despite her being a good-for-nothing person who failed at numerous goals. After being expelled from university, the only goal left on her list was to be a good daughter, but she ultimately fails it as she is crushed to death while trying to secure the certificate in an earthquake. Knowing her story, Makoto encourages Rookie to be herself instead of living up to what others expect.

Meanwhile, the crossover show between Catherine and Jessica commences, with the two sabotaging each other's performances, failing to scare the ghost-hunting YouTubers. Enraged, Jessica assaults Catherine, causing collateral damage that destroys the YouTubers' camera, which means the show would not be seen by anyone in the real world and the Chairghost leaves prematurely before the show's end in dissatisfaction. Touched by Catherine's actions, Rookie shows up at the last second and performs another leap, which manages to scare the YouTubers and she chases them away alongside Catherine, Makoto, Camilla, and Kouji.

Although they lose at the Golden Ghost Awards, the YouTubers ultimately result in a car crash and the subsequent large exorcising ceremony garners public attention, which satisfies the Chairghost and ultimately grants renewals of Catherine, Rookie, and Jessica's working passes. In the end, Rookie visits her sister's newborn child and tells him that it is not necessary to be talented, but to simply be himself.

• Chen Bolin as Makoto, a one-time pop idol-turned-underworld haunting agent of Catherine^[1][2]
• Sandrine Pinna as Catherine, a washed-up underworld diva^[1]
• Gingle Wang as The Rookie,^[a] a newly deceased young woman who tries to become an underworld diva^[1]
• Eleven Yao as Jessica, a renowned underworld diva and the protégé-turned-rival of Catherine^[1]
• Bai Bai as Camilla, Rookie's best friend who later becomes a member of Makoto's haunting agency^[1]
• Soso Tseng as Kouji, the technical support of Makoto's haunting agency^[3]

Also appearing in the film are Da-her Lin as Non-Believer, a ghost-hunting YouTuber;^[3] Lung Lung and Daniel Chen as Lola and Ken, Non-Believer's companions;^[3] Huang Di-yang as the Chairghost of the Dead Talents Society;^[4] and Na Wei-hsun as Rookie's father.^[5] Cameo appearances include political commentator Milla as Connie, an underworld talk show host,^[6] and comedian Hello Hor as an underworld news anchor.^[7]

Following the commercial success of the 2019 horror film Detention, director John Hsu decided to take a lighter and comedic approach for his new project.^[6] Noticing the growing popularity of ghost-themed films in Taiwan, he collaborated with screenwriter Tsai Kun-Lin to develop a never-before-filmed idea in 2020 which later evolved into Dead Talents Society.^[6][8] In February 2021, the duo invested over NT$1 million to shoot a 6.5-minute teaser, which generated significant buzz and online discussions.^[6] Chen Bolin and Sandrine Pinna appeared in the teaser and confirmed their involvement in the lead roles,^[9] while Milla of the political satirical news channel Eye Central Television was set to make a cameo appearance.^[6] Originally scheduled to begin filming in late 2021, the duo spent two years refining the screenplay, going through more than twenty versions, which Hsu attributed to the unexpected popularity of the teaser.^[10][11] On 19 January 2022, Sony Pictures International Productions (SPIP) and Taiwanese production company Activator announced their collaboration to co-produce the film.^[12] This marked SPIP's first Taiwanese production in twenty years since the 2002 film Double Vision, with SPIP funding over half of the film's budget.^[13] SPIP also acquired worldwide distribution and adaptation rights.^[12] In December 2022, Gingle Wang, Bai Bai and Soso Tseng were announced to take up lead roles.^[14]

Principal photography was initially scheduled to begin in 2021, but was delayed until December 2022 due to rewrites and the COVID-19 pandemic.^[13][10] The underworld hotel in the film was primarily shot at Champagne Hotel in Jiaoxi, Yilan.^[15] The production crew spent a month renovating the ninth floor and constructing a fake elevator set to recreate the 1970s-80s vibes.^[15] Filming also took place in Zhongshan District, Keelung,^[16] and concluded in January 2023.^[17]

Due to an extensive number of VFX shots, the film underwent an additional year of post-production after filming.^[11] An official trailer was released on 1 April 2024,^[18] with Eleven Yao, Huang Di-yang, Lung Lung, Da-her Lin, Daniel Chan, and David Chu revealed to be part of the cast.^[19]

The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2024,^[20][21] and was theatrically released on 7 August in Taiwan.^[22] The film was also selected for screening at the Midnight Madness section of the 49th Toronto International Film Festival, marking its North American debut.^[23]

Dead Talents Society opened at the top of the Taipei box office, bringing in 3.5 million NTD on its first day,^[24][25] and accumulated over 15 million NTD in revenue during its opening weekend.^[26]

James Marsh of South China Morning Post gave Dead Talents Society 4/5 stars and described the film as "wildly imaginative, frequently hilarious and shamelessly feel-good", with insightful explorations on existential purposes.^[1] Estella Huang of Mirror Media referred the film as a complete and well-crafted supernatural comedy, noting that while the film's setting may bear resemblance to Monsters, Inc. and Coco, the insightful commentary that reflects real-life struggles and social phenomena made the worldbuilding distinctive.^[27] Writing for The News Lens, Berton Hsu praised the film's entertaining qualities, visual designs, and experimental narrative approach, while noting the director's bold attempt in balancing horror and comedic elements to create a unique afterlife world.^[28] Steven Tu, in his United Daily News review, called the film a milestone in the maturation of Taiwanese genre filmmaking, extolling the film's unique worldbuilding, heartwarming character arcs, and strong technical execution as creating a highly entertaining yet emotionally resonant work that exemplifies the true craft of successful genre cinema.^[29]

• Dead Talents Society at IMDb