First Impressions: Experience An Otherworldly Love Story With “Marry My Dead Body”

This article contains minor spoilers for Marry My Dead Body.

In February 2023, the supernatural comedy film Marry My Dead Body premiered in Taiwan. The film follows a policeman who becomes entangled in a same-sex marriage with a ghost after he finds a red envelope. Marry My Dead Body made massive waves across its home country, earning a box office revenue of $11.3 million (NT$360 million) in the first half of the year. The achievements did not stop there as the film won the Audience Award at the Asian World Film Festival, becoming the first Taiwanese film to receive an award there. Before the landmark win, Taiwan’s Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development selected Marry My Dead Body to compete for a spot in the Best International Feature category at the 2024 Academy Awards. Unfortunately, the film did not make it to nominations but it did gain a spot on another global stage. 

During the second half of 2023, Netflix announced that Marry My Dead Body would be available to international audiences on August 10. Five days after its release, the film gained 1.6 million views and 3.4 million hours viewed globally, consequently earning the seventh spot on the Global Top 10 TV (Non-English) Film chart. Greg Hsu (or Hsu Kuang Han), the film’s lead actor, expressed gratitude to international viewers who took a chance on Marry My Dead Body. “I am appreciative of the warm reception and how more viewers get to share the special and unique ghost-human relationship portrayed in the film.” Through this genre-bending cinematic experience, audiences worldwide can become familiar with a haunting ritual and gain a new outlook on what it means to love.   

Transcending Genre

When discussing his choice to combine multiple genres in Marry My Dead Body, director Cheng Wei-hao expressed that he wanted to create a refreshing and interesting atmosphere for viewers. “Because the audience is watching more and more films, the standard genre films are becoming too predictable such that they become less entertaining,” he explained. “Experimenting with more genre-mixing for narrative in my works allows me to interact with my audience, such that they are unable to predict what happens next.” 

The idea for Marry My Dead Body was inspired by a short story about a street cleaner who suddenly becomes involved in a ghost marriage. “I thought the idea had great comedic potential. And for the longest time, I wanted to work on a comedy project,” Cheng stated in an interview. Director Cheng, who excels in the crime and mystery genres, contacted comedy screenwriter Sharon Wu to craft the dialog for the film while he focused primarily on the plot development. Throughout production, Cheng opted to maintain this divided approach to ensure a smooth story-telling process.  

His advice to his crew was to distinguish between the foreground and background story. Cheng elaborated on this in an interview stating, “When people describe a movie, they usually describe it based on the foreground story, because it is easier to define the main atmosphere on the surface of the movie. But in fact, I kept reminding the cast and crew that we should pay more attention to the ‘background story’ of this movie.” In the case of Marry My Dead Body, the foreground involves the crime-thriller aspects of a police investigation. The background story, which is rich with themes of sexuality, religion, and the afterlife, focuses on the relationship growth between the two male leads. 

The Newlyweds

Wu Ming-han (Greg Hsu) is a police detective working in the vice squad, where his current case involves taking down an illegal drug ring. Ming-han has almost all the markings of a great detective, but there is one flaw — his blatant homophobia. Through various comments, Ming-han expresses his ill feelings towards the LGBT community. His colleagues, who don’t share the same sentiment, call him out, but he chooses to maintain his discriminatory stance. 

One day, while Ming-han is gathering evidence relating to his case, he picks up a red envelope that was placed by the grandmother of a deceased young man. In an attempt to dodge the impending ghost marriage, Ming-han explains that he picked up the envelope by accident. When it is revealed that the deceased individual is a young gay man, Ming-han expresses a greater level of aversion and refuses the arrangement. 

The ghost, Mao Pang-yu or Mao Mao (Austin Lin), is an openly gay young man who tragically passed away in a traffic accident. His grandmother — the only family member who supports him — initiated the ghost marriage practice, as she was heartbroken over her grandson not being able to marry. Ming-han is not yet convinced about the existence of ghosts but goes along with the plan to appease Mao Mao’s grandmother and bring his sudden string of misfortune to a halt. 

After the wedding ceremony, Ming-han attempts to carry on like normal, until his ghostly groom reveals himself. Mao Mao divulges that he is not satisfied with their marriage either due to Ming-han’s intolerant mindset. Since the ritual cannot be undone, Mao Mao tries to make the most out of the situation. His first course of action is to change his pet name. Since the beginning, Ming-han has only referred to Mao Mao as a “gay guy,” which expresses a low level of respect. As an alternative, Mao Mao suggests that he be referred to as “hubby,” to which Ming-han vehemently refuses. In response to this defiance, Mao Mao possesses Ming-han, forcing him to parade around the city in a naked daze. 

Partners in Crime 

Being at his breaking point, Ming-han begs a Taoist priest to perform a divorce ritual. The priest who is unable to fulfill the request, explains that both men shared a deep relationship in their previous lives — Ming-han being Mao Mao’s pet dog. He further reveals that the marriage will only come to an end when he helps Mao Mao reincarnate. As Ming-han assists Mao Mao in accomplishing his earthly wishes, questions surrounding his sudden death arise. Elements of the foreground story come into focus as it is revealed that Mao Mao’s passing may be tied to Ming-han’s case involving an illegal drug operation. 

With his ghostly husband by his side, Ming-hao works diligently to solve both cases. Things become complicated as he is unable to explain how he knows details no one else on the police squad knows. Will Ming-han be able to bring justice to Mao Mao and dodge suspicion from his squad members? 

What’s Next? 

On August 22, 2024, the spin-off series GG Precinct, directed by Cheng Wei-hao and Yin Chen-hao is set to premiere on Netflix. Greg Hsu reprises his role as Wu Ming-han, a police detective under the criminal investigation team. He partners up with newly appointed police captain Lin Zi-chang (Gingle Wang) to investigate murders modeled after various Chinese idioms. 

Want to expand your watchlist? Check out our round-up of Asian titles premiering at TIFF 2024 here!