This is perhaps the most endearing, charming, and uplifting horror movie I have seen in ages. There are naturally going to comparisons to Beetlejuice with this, but for me I have a different direction. This is like Time Bandits for me, but played as a straight horror movie as a direct comedy. I realize that doesn’t fully make sense even as I write it.

Because Dead Talents Society is a horror movie. But it’s a comedy. Not in the way Shaun of the Dead or Beetlejuice were. (Okay, maybe it’s been too long since I have seen Beetlejuice. I am willing to reconsider correlations to it.) The premise of this deals with ghosts and their life after dying. Their afterlife. So maybe Beetlejuice is relevant.

The ghosts still exist in our world, but have a bit of an expiration date. As long as there is a physical sort of tie binding them to the memories of the living, they will continue to exist. If the tie is lost, they are subject to being erased. A cool concept in this that instantly grabbed me was that of offerings and shrines. In many cultures families will burn offerings to their deceased loved ones. In this movie, the ghosts acquire the things that are sacrificed to their memory.

This movie plays a bit loose with roles. The main character we are going to be following is usually referred to as the rookie (pictured on the right above.) There’s also Cathy (pictured in the center above), a ghost that haunts a hotel room. Jessica (pictured center below), the protege of Cathy who betrays her (to be fair, Cathy is a bit detached and cold toward Jessica), who finds her own haunt stride. These three are the primary ones to be concerned with. The Rookie finds out that her tie has been lost and she has 30 days before she is going to dissipate. She is brought to Cathy as a new recruit, but Cathy doesn’t really care about that, her last protege did betray her and all.

A good portion of this movie deals with Rookie training and trying to find her stride… and failing often. A wild side storyline in the movie deals with the pop culture of ghost society. A tv series like Entertainment Tonight, and an Oscars type of award show that keeps ghost society informed about the best and most popular of the ghosts out there.

I really want to dig into this in depth, but it was such a fun journey that I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. This was such a rich world, and gives so much potential to tell other stories. Although I don’t think that more is really needed or viable based on the story we got. But I do rate this highly. 9 stars. Could it have been higher? Sure, but not by much. Thinking about it actually makes me think I should do a post sometime evaluating past ratings.