What happens to us after we die?
Maybe we spend an eternity chained to walls built out of the souls of the damned, frozen in ice, waist down. Maybe we just cease to exist and we are slowly forgotten by the world while our decaying corpses are eaten by maggots. Or maybe we continue to live on in a capitalistic ghost society where you stay alive (or technically, unalive) by staying relevant in ghost Hollywood! I don’t know which one is worse!
In John Hsu’s horror-comedy-drama, Dead Talent Society, ghosts continue to exist normally after death, so long as they are able to scare enough living people. Scaring the living is a lucrative business for the higher-ups of this society since people will perform burnt offerings of money to stop being haunted. Top scarers are the A-list celebrities of the afterlife. However, with so many ghosts wanting to achieve ghost stardom to solidify their place in society–and ultimately their existence–it’s a cruel business. The movie is centred around the freshly deceased teenager, Cho (Gingle Wang), who learns that she has a month to make a name for herself in the people-scaring industry, or disappear forever. Luckily, charismatic, and washed-up ghost talent agent, Makato agrees to help her out, despite her lack of talent in scaring. With the help of Makto, and tough-loving, also washed up (although she’d say otherwise), ghost celebrity, Catherine (Sandrinne Pinna), Cho tries everything to survive by going viral in ghost society. It turns out to be much more difficult, cutthroat, and drama-filled than she expected it to be. But it’s do or die–again!
From failing to scare a corporate cog because he was too focused on his phone call with his boss (who undoubtedly cares so much about him), to a super silly music video, this film was definitely a laugh-out-loud-and-not-just-loud-exhale-despite-being-a-self-concious-person-in-movie-theares kind of movie. The comedy aspects are extremely effective because Hsu uses common horror cliches, but puts a refreshing twist on them by giving you the ghost perspective. For example, ghosts using white face paint and putting on long white dresses, or ghosts arguing about the orientation of their haunting grayscale portraits. Hsu is also an expert on comedic timing, delightfully surprising his audience whenever they think the joke is over (hint: he’s not an “I’ll use the rule of threes and call it a day” kind of writer…).
But, with the quirky, relatable, loveable characters, this film was also filled with wonderfully, raw, heartwarming displays of humanity (ghostmanity?). So prepare some tissues too! I had to use my sleeve, which was a little gross. Although it becomes ever apparent to Cho how low ghosts would go for relevance, she also experiences the goodness of genuine friends; friends that try everything to help her succeed even when she messes up the angle of a jump and gets impaled by a neon sign instead.
Between scenes depicting the pursuit of fleeting fame in an industry that doesn’t hesitate to replace you like a spoiled kid with new iPhones, and slowly falling in love with the people around you, Hsu proves the latter is a richer pursuit.
Through Dead Talents Society, Hsu explores the scary lives of the glamorously famous, and the very human desire to be seen. But he also leaves us comforted with the realization that, unlike the ghosts, we won’t immediately get evaporated if we fail to go viral. Focusing on the present moment is a better existence for ghosts who have everything to lose, and an even better existence for us with nothing to lose. After all, why be seen by the world, when you can be known by your friends.
Overall this was a very refreshing watch, full of witty humour, drama, and humanity (well, not really, but you know what I mean). Dead Talents Society reminds us to live like no one is watching, because no one is really watching–only waiting until something better shows up–and the ones that really care won’t just be watching, they’ll be living with you!