John Hsu’s “Dead Talents Society” (Original title: Gui cai zhi dao, 2025) is a charming, lightweight diversion whose scrappy appeal makes it easily zip by. You don’t mind the occasional bumps and the dips in characterization because the glee with which the scares are set up frequently offsets them. There’s an endearing quality to its bunch of mournful ghosts whose quest for validation doesn’t end just because they are dead. It’s a nagging reality that pushes them into debilitating loops. It’s a cottage industry of ghost scares that gets set as the premise for their survival.
A lightly wafting energy keeps the film steadily going past bumps in the writing, crevasses where you can sense the characters themselves are turning sketchy. It is as if the plot has been forgotten, and a few distracting missteps don’t add much to narrative momentum except halt it to no serviceable end. The antics of the ghosts should have been the central attraction and the film overlooks this occasionally to its detriment. Nevertheless, the firm impulse to never let things get too sober for long serves the film well.
Dead Talents Society (Gui cai zhi dao, 2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Can a Ghost Find Confidence in the Afterlife?
The rookie has barely any twinge of confidence in her abilities. She discovers her death. It takes her by utter surprise. This is an occasion that throws her into a world of ghosts, all who vie for supremacy of attention. They situate a variety of theatrics designed to keep themselves from disintegration. Before ninety days, each has to prove themselves worthy of sustaining, holding out.
We are introduced to Cathy, the senior ghostress whose residence in the Lucky Hotel has run aground, with her protégé Jessica stealing all the thunder and emerging as the showiest ghost in town. All eyes are drawn to her. Everyone fawns over her new, unpredictable stunts. Cathy’s tricks of scaring guests at the hotel, turning herself upside down, have begun to fade in appeal and popularity. Everyone turns to Jessica. She’s the it girl, globetrotting and launching a million campaigns.
The rookie turns up at an audition, which she needs to pass to get sorted into a team so that she can get a haunting license. She is sincere in expressing she doesn’t want to disappear but fails in landing a decent scare and is immediately turned out. She is laughed at. But the kindness of Makoto, who’s part of Cathy’s team at Lucky Hotel, works as an anchor. He invites her to join them. She has little hope and is terrible initially. However, the team is persistent in building her up, boosting her capabilities, and fine-tuning her gift of extracting solid scares.
Can the Rookie Overcome Her Self-Doubt?
They train her, even though she’s terrified of the new skills, the push required to execute the stellar scares. Much of the film’s pleasant energy rests on the way it captures their bonding and how the Rookie flowers into someone who recognises her capabilities without being instantly defeated and despairing. When one of her frights gets the attention of the ghost community, she finally gets the haunting license. Nevertheless, there’s a slew of hurdles ahead.
The Rookie is full of cripplingly low self-esteem. She views herself as a loser who never got attention in life despite throwing herself into all sorts of pursuits. She struggles with validation and affirmation. It plagues every thought of hers before she can even commit to a practical decision. She’s always thinking poorly of herself, failing to power through to make a vital, much-needed move. How can she work on herself, prove her mettle, and resilience when there’s so much self-doubt holding her back?
Will the Rookie Let Fear Define Her Fate?
She quits, giving up the haunting license and receding to the periphery. She tries to convince herself she’s unsalvageable, that she has no shot at a better future. Her wretched low self-belief is her nemesis. It pulls her down and eats into her confidence and capability, which would exist only if she were kinder to herself.
She witnesses several talented, accomplished ghostresses who are adept in mounting their tricks, flashing their skill with effortlessness and easy verve. How can she even hold a candle to them? She’s a nobody, it’s better that she retreat before making a bigger fool of herself amongst everyone. That’s how she persuades herself.
There’s a splashy collaboration between influencers and ghostresses. Their clash will bring much-desired traction and popularity to fading legions of ghosts, introducing a shot of vitality and zest. The chairperson has all the ghosts in his clutches. To please him, keeping him in good books holds paramount value and significance. Alienating him risks isolation, rejection, and crushing loneliness. No one can afford it. To be invisible is a possibility all ghosts try to stave off desperately and achingly. It’s a constant threat.
Dead Talents Society (Gui cai zhi dao, 2025) Movie Ending Explained:
Who wins: Cathy or Jessica?
The Lucky Hotel team and Jessica’s gang clash, each trying to outdo the other and get the maximum attention and earn glory. It’s an ugly scuffle between Catherine and Jessica, each mauling the other, trying to assert dominance and one-upmanship. It provides a great spectacle for audiences hooked on every moment of the performance. They are raring to watch and consume with euphoria and exultation, hanging onto every beat of antics, each trace of attention. They are constantly entertained and cheer on as the two go at each other.
Who will prevail and get the best notice? It’s a test to check who will emerge as the victor and grab the cynosure, the buzzing appeal necessary to stay popular and have fame cemented. It all seems to hurtle into a vain, thankless disaster of a situation when, after all the fighting, the influencer’s camera itself gets smashed, coming under a car. Neither Jessica’s nor Cathy’s team gets to have their ultimate shine. It’s all wrecked. Everyone files out, but it’s then the rookie swoops in and manages to scare off the influencers, wrestling back the faith of the chairperson in the process.
Cathay and her folks join her in a final bid to snatch some attention. This lets the Lucky Hotel team stay in good faith for just a little longer, even if the duration is unspecified. The film ends with her dropping by at her parents’ and dialling down the punishment she had so long inflicted on herself. She frees herself of the burden of having to prove herself duly worthy.
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