Prepare for spine tingling scares and a feast of frights a classic ghost story hits the screens this week.

Psycho-thriller The Matrimony is guaranteed to keep the audience on tenterhooks, said director Teng Huatao, in an exclusive interview with BJW last Thursday.

"I wanted to make a completely different thriller," said Teng. "It's also a very moving love story. I don't categorize this film simply as a thriller or a romance I'd rather call it a supernatural romance thriller."

Teng chose Shanghai in the 1930s as the setting for the film. "In that period the city was buzzing," he said. "Anything could happen there." Teng is also a fan of the works of late artist Chen Yifei, another reason which led him to choose Shanghai. "His portrayals of Shanghai are vivid and striking," he said. "His depictions of women in Shanghai in the 1930s radiate a ghostlike nobility and sense of mystery which was the kind of feeling I wanted to get for the film," he added.

The production crew had a lot of ideas for the name of the film, including Flower at the Other Side of the Shore, and The Vows, before finally settling on The Matrimony. The scriptwriters injected subtlety into the film with ideas that everyone can relate to, like relationships, love triangles, desire, possession, and revenge.

"I wanted a film that would have a longstanding impact at the sentimental level on the audience," the director said. It doesn't appeal to the audience by simply scaring them, because there are many moving plots in it, he added.

The combination of a love story and supernatural happenings also gave cinematographer Mark Lee lots of new inspiration while shooting. "I told myself that 'affection' is very important in this film, both in terms of the human characters and the ghost," said Lee.

The historical context is an important element in the film. The first 20 days of shooting were done on the wide avenues in Shanghai. The crew visualized the classic atmosphere of old Shanghai: spectacular age-old Western buildings, stylish restaurants, and mysterious private villas.

The crew shot the remaining scenes in a custom-built, three-story mansion, the Shen Mansion, in Anji, Zhejiang Province. The art directors decorated the exterior and interior of the mansion in a European style to highlight the wealth of the family, and made the old mansion dark and gloomy to create a tragic and mysterious atmosphere.

"I just hope people don't get so scared that they keep their hands over their eyes and miss the beautiful setting," said Teng.

The cast includes actors and actresses from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The ghost, Xu Manli, is played by mainland actress Fan Bingbing, whose performance in Feng Xiaogang's 2003 box-office hit, Cell Phone, won her the Golden Flower Award for best acting.

In the film Xu is a radio show hostess, educated, well-spoken and confident. But when she loses her loved one, Shen, and finds his new wife Sansan replacing her, she becomes eaten up with jealousy and rage.

"When I first read the script, I had a feeling that it would be a very exciting and commercial film. I liked the character Manli very much," says actress Fan Bingbing. "Though the role is a ghost that would be presented in a horrible, ugly way, unlike previous roles that I've played, I enjoyed it even more because it was such a great challenge."

Taiwanese actress Rene Liu acts as the wife, Sansan, who agrees to let the ghost possess her body so she can save her husband's life. In The Matrimony, Rene Liu was terrified by the ghost.

"I was scared by Fan Bingbing in all kinds of ways in the film, and because of the role, I had to scream and shriek, and I kept tumbling and falling on the ground," said Liu. "I actually got very battered and bruised."

But the character Sansan is also very brave. When she hears her husband scream Manli's name at his deathbed, the tearful wife runs back to the old mansion, demanding that the phantom of Manli show itself. She is willing to do anything to keep her husband alive.

Hong Kong actor Leon Lai plays the role of Shen Junchu, a cinematographer who loses hope and faith in life after his fianc Xu Manli dies in a tragic car accident. Lai won Best Actor in the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan with his performance in Peter Chan's thriller Three Extremes.

"The Matrimony is a different kind of thriller," said Lai. "The script is special and it would not be fair to compare it to Three Extremes. I think the film has its own soul. I tried my best to act with a different approach. I think audiences are in for a surprise."

The Matrimony opens on February 8 at cinemas citywide.

(China Daily 02/07/2007 page6)