Learn Horror Vocabulary with Taiwan's Biggest 2024 Movie

Today I want to recommend last year’s biggest Taiwanese movie: Dead Talents Society (鬼才之道).

It’s a horror-comedy, though to be honest, I didn’t find it scary at all (there are some pretty bloody scenes), and I didn’t think it was all that funny either. But! It’s still a super creative movie with an original vibe, very different from anything else out there. The plot is interesting enough to keep you watching, and it’s packed with genre-specific words and phrases, a perfect opportunity to boost your Chinese horror vocabulary.

And to help you with that, I put together some study cards based on the movie. You’ll find them right here:

👉 Dead Talents Society - Study Cards

👉 Dead Talents Society - Quizlet

Dead Talents Society was directed by John Hsu, the same director behind 2019’s Detention (返校). That one’s more of a horror-drama, and it’s actually pretty good. I somehow haven’t mentioned it in my emails before, but if you’re a fan of the genre, you should definitely check it out. Quality Chinese-language horror films are still pretty rare. Detention was based on a successful video game, and it even got a TV adaptation later on, which might be worth a watch too.

Back to Dead Talents Society, it’s actually a light critique of influencer culture, all wrapped up in East Asian ghost story vibes. Knowing it was made as a satire of social media definitely adds a layer of meaning. If you go in just expecting a funny horror flick, you might walk away disappointed, but if you watch it with that lens in mind, it hits different.

It was the highest-grossing Taiwanese movie of 2024, picked up several Golden Horse Awards, and did well at a bunch of film festivals too.

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