Here are our pics for the spookiest specters in horror film history
Welcome to another installment of CineFix on IGN’s Horror World Tour: Ghost Edition! Yes, this time we’re checking in with the things in the night that don’t go bumping into other things (depending on which philosophy you prescribe to). And even though ghosts can’t touch things, the eerie nature of their existence in relation to morality grounds them in something very palpable and haunting.
So we’re going to break down some ghost movies from around the world that demonstrate the tropes we’re so familiar with. And since they are ethereal beings, some ghosts can and will float in and out of each of these topics…
Starting with basically the history of cinema itself, Georges Méliès’ two versions of The House of the Devil (1896 and 1897) can be considered the first portrayals of ghosts in film. Granted, the movies aren’t so much horror as they were a display of impressive visual effects for their time. Nevertheless, these short films do lay the groundwork for many ghost movies to follow, which leads to the question: What is a ghost? What do they look like? Can they talk? What are their motives: good or evil? Just how picky are we going to get?
Well, not picky at all. After all, this is a celebration of ghost stories from around the world. From the cartoonish to the human-like and beyond, there are so many cultural and religious interpretations of the afterlife and ghosts. It’s only right to acknowledge and appreciate all ghost forms in all… mediums. Get it? Christians believe ghosts are spirits who exist in an unofficial limbo while on their way to Heaven or Hell, yet other cultures believe in another place entirely where spirits live in parallel to our world after they pass, co-existing and living among us. Many cultures have their ways of honoring death so that loved ones can literally rest in peace, and that leads us to our first point: Ghost stories are almost always about the idea of death.
5. DEATH AND GRIEF
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| the babadook Movie 2014 |
Ghosts are creatures that toe the line between science and religion; they exist in almost every culture. Whether the story is about someone’s untimely, unexpected death, or the reaction to it, reflection of death is always a part of a ghost story. Many stories feature women in mourning, like The Woman in Black, or in any telling of La Llorona. In The Asphyx, Sir Cunningham’s scientific pursuit of immortality is to avoid certain death by toying with human souls – a pursuit that ultimately ends in tragedy. In Ghost and A Ghost Story, widowed women have their late partners watching over them, but we also live within their grief. In The Others, Grace’s denial of a dark truth keeps her and her children lingering in limbo at their huge house. Goodnight Mommy and A Tale of Two Sisters examine children’s extreme reactions to loss. But our pick for a ghost story where death and grief take center stage is Australia’s The Babadook.
Seven years after losing her husband in a car accident on the way to give birth to her son, Amelia’s depression hangs over her like a cloud. She herself is like a ghost – emotionally unavailable to her child, angry, closed off to love, and moving around like an empty shell of a woman. While many concerned loved ones encourage her to move on, The Babadook’s introduction into her and her son’s life is a reckoning. As a metaphor for depression, the Babadook pointedly warns her of the pain he’ll cause if she continues to deny him. Like any mental illness, it’s not that simple to repress it with medication; there needs to be actual work to overcome it. The Babadook torments Amelia by isolating her from others and threatening to take her son. The battle with depression is constant, and the Babadook is a perfect metaphor for what it feels like to cope with grief, recognize what’s important, and move forward on an indefinitely paused life.
But not all are here for a long time – just a good time – so next we look at the unfinished business of ghosts.
4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
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| the curse of la llorona 2019 Movie |
Most times – though not all of the time – ghosts are products of unfinished business in this mortal realm. Whether they stay around because of a loved one, like in A Ghost Story or Ghost, or because they want to exact revenge on those who have wronged them, there is always a reason keeping them in this limbo. Of course, there are instances where they act as moral guides or metaphysical messengers for those still lost on Earth…but those types of movies aren’t spooky. No matter what, though, ghosts are subjected to a limbo not of their own making, yet 2004’s Shutter from Thailand serves as an examination of who gets to decide how and when to move on.
Shutter’s approach to unfinished business is two-fold. Haunted by the ghost of a wronged ex-girlfriend, Tun visits her mother and discovers that her body has been decaying in a bed upstairs. Hypothesizing that a proper burial will set Natre free of this limbo, the temporary peace is the fault of mortal hubris. As the rest of the story unfolds, it’s clear that moving on is on the spirit’s terms; for Natre, this is revenge on her abusers. Tun already feels the literal weight of his guilt and the tension of his impending reckoning, and when Natre is finally revealed to Tun and the audience, it only makes sense that she has been with him the whole time. She loved him, but he pushed her away; now she gets what she wants, but she doesn’t disappear the way others do. She’s choosing to stay, and that’s more disturbing than anything else; not all secrets can go to the grave and stay there. Shutter effectively shows how both the living and the dead can view “unfinished business,” yet the power is never truly with anyone on this plane. Natre is a ghost who justly got her revenge and was in control of the terms of her stay.
In the same way that people can be haunted, so can the places in which they dwell. Our next subject? Houses.
3. HOUSES/HOMES
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| The Others 2001 |
Usually one of two things are “haunted” by a ghost: a person or a place. (“Things” are usually cursed, but that’s a whole other article.) I’d even go so far as to say that most haunted house movies can be considered ghost movies; in films like A Ghost Story or Beetlejuice, where a couple’s future is cut short but the house remains, the ghosts remain too. In TV shows like Being Human and Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, people who have died in their homes are tied to the house. The Shining’s Overlook Hotel becomes a menace to both Torrance men. When the location’s architecture and idiosyncrasies are vital to the story, then the place becomes as much of a character as the humans, but the house that we’re moving into is the Stewart estate in the English-language The Others from Spain.
The house that Grace and her two children live in is sprawling, cold, and lonely, but largely because of Grace hersel. While awaiting her husband’s return from the long-over war, the house becomes the post that Grace cannot afford to leave. And with two children with rare skin disorders, the home becomes both a shield and a prison to the outside war and reality itself. When joined by a small staff with mysterious motives, the house starts to reveal itself to Grace and the children. Grace becomes disoriented trying to figure out what sounds and sights are real – are they truly alone in the house, or are her daughter’s ghost sightings real? The house has some dark truths, some of which Grace uncovers, but the darkest revelation is both thrilling and reinforces the idea of a place ghosts can also call home.
The Others is also a film wherein you just have to believe children sometimes, which leads us to our next: children are ghost radars.
2. CHILDREN AS GHOST RADARS
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| The Devil’s Backbone Movie 2001 |
Much like animals that can feel natural disasters before they happen, children can and will always tell when there’s a ghost around. From Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice to both Casper movies, and from Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone to The Babadook, children are often tools of the ghost genre simply because children still have open imaginations and only deal in honesty (up until a certain age). Are kids just more aware and approachable to ghosts compared to adults who are so busy with everyday life? When kids have imaginary friends, are they actually just ghosts? That’s a question for another time, but for us, our pick for this category is M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense.
While the children in those other movies have the luxury of seeing maybe just one or two specific spirits or ghosts, poor, sweet, scared Cole Sear freaking sees all the dead people all the time, even as a baby! As a child with an incredibly morbid ability but no idea how to process this gift, Cole needs the help of Bruce Willis’ Dr. Malcolm Crowe. A benevolent psychiatrist and blissfully ignorant ghost – spoiler alert! – Crowe helps Cole, and the normally one-sided relationship becomes a two-way street. The Sixth Sense demonstrates the sympathy that children possess, as Cole meets a parade of lost souls who need someone to help them pass on. His fear reminds us that children are still very vulnerable and susceptible to those who need help until taught otherwise, and in a way, The Sixth Sense becomes a meta-genre guide on how children should help ghosts who need it.
Sometimes, however, even the cutest little kid can’t do much, and ghosts just need a vessel to possess…which brings us to our last topic: Possession.
1. POSSESSION
One of the cool and freaky things ghosts can do (depending on what mythology you follow) is possess inanimate objects or even people. This ability leans more into the poltergeist-y idea of a ghost, as in (duh) Poltergeist, The Possession, The Exorcist, or Hereditary. Even weird alien-type spirits can possess someone, as in Possession or Ghostbusters. We also see the humorous application of this in films like Beetlejuice and Casper. It can also be deadly, as in the case of Shutter, or straight-up terrifying, like in The Others. When we see things move without a visible force, we can assume that there is a ghost behind it. Though not every spirit can touch things right away, some have to learn it so they can have very iconic, very sexy reconnections with their loved ones. All in all, control and manipulation of anything and everything is important to the genre, but we’re looking to an early example of ghost possession through multiple thematic and practical forms in Mexico’s Hasta el viento tiene miedo/Even the Wind is Afraid.
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| The Exorcist Movie |
Unlike modern ghost movies where we see some ghostly figure take over or control something, Andrea’s presence in “Even the Wind is Afraid” is purely atmospheric. We don’t need to see Andrea or flashbacks to her death to feel spooked out; her unfortunate demise already casts a dark shadow over the movie. Andrea is able to actively create an atmosphere of remorse around the girls to possess their curiosity with the mystery of her death. Like cult leaders, a small group of curious, impressionable people is something ghosts need in order to be effective. When Andrea does want to make herself known, she shows up as the loud, dangerous winds at night and as a voice in Claudia’s dreams, drawing her toward the tower. Andrea’s subtle approach to possession guides Claudia and these other characters to where she wants them and sets the standard for what Claudia’s eventual possession would look like. We don’t need to see Andrea slip into Claudia’s body and convulse to demonstrate her control over her new vessel; she gets in, gets out, and leaves Claudia basically unscathed. As a ghost, Andrea doesn’t abuse her ability to be a jerk; she approaches it with utility, which is something the others end up almost respecting. The portrayal of an unrested spirit in this film establishes the idea of omniscient ghosts in film and in our real world with a hand hovering over everything, which is why Even the Wind is Afraid is our pick for possession. We can never be truly sure who is with us at any moment, and for that, we can all believe in ghosts to some degree.
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