Dead Talents Society

Dead Talents Society is a Taiwanese comedy-horror film about ghosts who must earn their place in the afterlife by scaring the living. A young woman who died in tragic circumstances keeps returning to her family home, unwilling to let go of the life she lost. When she begins to fade, she learns that her only hope of survival is to become a successful ghost star, frightening people well enough to be remembered. With her best friend Camilla she enters a talent contest, where she fails badly but catches the attention of Makoto, who runs an agency for spirits. Among his clients is Catherine, once a celebrated performer whose former protégée Jessica has eclipsed her. Catherine becomes a mentor to the rookie as she tries to master the art of haunting.

The film is directed by John Hsu, his second feature after Detention (2019), from a screenplay he wrote with Tsai Kun-lin, and produced by Tung Ting-an. It stars Gingle Wang as the rookie, Chen Bolin as Makoto, Sandrine Pinna as Catherine, Eleven Yao as Jessica, Bai Jing-yi as Camilla and Soso Tseng as Kouji. It runs 110 minutes and was released in August 2024.

Reception has been favorable. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 3,900 votes, and on TMDB 6.9 out of 10 from roughly a hundred votes. A critics' rating of 7.4 out of 10 from 20 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.