Marry My Dead Body

Wu Ming-han is a “dumb straight guy.” Mao “Mao Mao” Pang-Yu is a recently deceased gay man. Together, they make a perfect pair in Marry My Dead Body, a Taiwanese film that mixes and matches genres to delightful effect. Depending on where you look, the feature might be described as an LGBTQ+ comedy, an actionized police procedural, a horror movie, or even a tender story about generational divides. Sure enough, there’s a little of each in this 2023 feature, a weird and zealously entertaining romp with a tonal variety that might be perceived as an imbalance. But there’s a method to the madness of director Cheng Wei-hao’s screenplay, co-written with Sharon Wu from an original concept by Lai Chih-liang. The film has a clever way of baiting the viewer with its genre-inflected setup, filled with silly laughs, zippy car chases, supernatural apparitions, and elaborate fight sequences. But beneath its multifaceted surface is a heartfelt narrative about overcoming outmoded prejudices and accepting that identity goes beyond binary definitions, which not only impacts the characters but also comments on Taiwanese culture and politics. Although buried in Netflix’s servers after its debut at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, it’s worth unearthing and celebrating as a wonderfully unclassifiable ride.

The full review is currently posted on Patreon. Join Deep Focus Review’s Patron community, and you’ll receive exclusive access to this review and many other writings published on Patreon first.

Patrons also get access to:

• Exclusive weekly blog posts
• Streaming recommendations every Friday
• Polls to pick the movies reviewed on Deep Focus Review and Patreon
• Pick your own “Reader’s Choice” review (at the Screenwriter tier or higher)
• Polls that decide the next entry in The Definitives