I wasn't sure what I wanted to see early in the day Saturday, but I'm always intrigued by TIFF's Midnight Madness movies so I figured I would give one a shot (during the day though I need my sleep). I wound up being treated to what I'd consider to be the biggest surprise of the festival for me thus far.
Dead Talent's Society is set in a world where the deceased can become famous in death, essentially equating scaring people to our celebrity culture. When one young ghost is at risk of vanishing from existence, she teams up with a veteran scarer to make it big as one of the spookiest of urban legends and keep her spirit alive.
This is a very fun horror comedy, taking a new spin on a ghost story by using it to critique celebrity culture. One of the lead characters is a fading star in the industry, constantly envious of her former protégé who has now made it big by scaring people through the internet. Our main character is just a simple girl trying to keep herself from fading forever, but near everyone else is deeply ingrained in the hustle and bustle of trying to make it big. In order to remain in their ghostly state, they have to scare the living so that they share the story and keep their name out there. Thus we get to see all the behind the scenes of these ghosts trying to scare people, which essentially feels like putting on a production. It's a hilarious approach to the paranormal that I can't say I've seen anything quite like.
On top of being very funny this is a pretty heartfelt movie. The main character died an unspectacular death, lived an unspectacular life, and before getting help had no idea how to scare anyone. This allows us to follow her character growing from quiet and insecure to a bonafide paranormal star. The performances all around are great, all being hilarious when needed but also having some very sweet moments.
I will say, as much as I did enjoy the film a lot, it does go on a bit too long. I think at least 10-15 minutes could have been cut to make things flow better and stop a bit of a lull that comes around halfway through. As a horror fan though, the behind the scenes of a scare was a lot of fun to me, and despite being very goofy this has an excellent amount of blood. Would definitely recommend this one. 4/5
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