Loneliness is a characteristic that almost all ghost films concentrate on. The film’s design through color, architecture and sound greatly enhances the horror of the ghost film. For example, in terms of color choices, both cold tones and bright, creepy colors can affect the atmosphere. There are also internal spaces, like public areas, private areas and semi-private areas, creating strong contrasts and allowing for unexpected occurrences that bring out the horror of the plot. I think one of the foundations of the ghost film is that it is actually built upon scenes and relationships that we are familiar with. These scenes may be public places and homes, and the stories may feature close friends and family members. It’s the evil side of humanity represented in these stories that suddenly assaults the viewer’s sense of security. And the goodness in such an environment will be even more moving.
If a ghost film is separated from the familiar setting and environment and only relies on entirely new and totally unexpected characters and stories to achieve a thrilling effect, then I would prefer to call it an alien film rather than a ghost film.
Shiyan Zhang
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Good respond to the reading! Have digested the reading well and re-interpret with your own understanding. One thing to improve is that you may explicitly elaborate what are the internal spaces you mentioned that create the strong contrast in atmosphere? You can give more specific examples, like is it the long corridor – rather than just saying public / private spaces in general.