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As the first-person horror subgenre has grown it has thrived on the intentional blurring of the lines between documentary and fiction, the style thriving on the intimacy of the documentary form. And in the case of upcoming Singaporean feature Haunted Changi those lines are even more blurred than normal.
Changi, you see, is an actual place - the Old Changi Hospital - a site once used as a POW camp complete with torture chambers and long held to be haunted by residents of Singapore. And if the materials on this film are to be believed - and when our Singapore native Stefan Shih wrote about the film back in February it appeared everyone did - the project began life as a standard documentary exploring the history and legends behind the place. And then the crew spent a couple days there and things went weird.
The official website now includes a timeline of how the original documentary project morphed into what it is now and it makes for a fascinating read. Even more fascinating when taken in context with the just released trailer. So what do you think? Fact or fiction? Is this Cropsey (real) or Blair Witch (not) or some fusion of the two? And, more importantly, how does it look as a film?
Changi, you see, is an actual place - the Old Changi Hospital - a site once used as a POW camp complete with torture chambers and long held to be haunted by residents of Singapore. And if the materials on this film are to be believed - and when our Singapore native Stefan Shih wrote about the film back in February it appeared everyone did - the project began life as a standard documentary exploring the history and legends behind the place. And then the crew spent a couple days there and things went weird.
The official website now includes a timeline of how the original documentary project morphed into what it is now and it makes for a fascinating read. Even more fascinating when taken in context with the just released trailer. So what do you think? Fact or fiction? Is this Cropsey (real) or Blair Witch (not) or some fusion of the two? And, more importantly, how does it look as a film?
Finally! Looking forward to seeing the final film. Heard many strange things happened during their actual filming at OCH.
Wooo hoooo... go Singapore!
Any place with the wartime history of this one is going to hold some nasty secrets. Kudos to the filmmakers for mining this trove and bringing these things to light... or at least trying. Looking forward to it.
I personally do not believe Changi Hospital to be home to anything more mysterious than myths and ghost stories. And mounds of junk and rubbish.
About the trailer: too many quick cuts. But not too bad otherwise.
Awesome!
Got Facebook page here: http://facebook.com/hauntedchangi
Whether it's fiction or not, this is a great subject/subtext for a movie. I think the Japanese occupation still "haunts" Singapore on many levels. Looks creepy and intriguing, too.
Heard something about the director having died. Don't know if it was during production or after. Can anyone confirm/deny?
Friends there tell me Changi was officially closed to the public this Spring. I wonder what initiated that...
wow! reminds me of session 9 and blair witch. btw - that asian girl is hot.