Ghosts of the new machine

HE SAYS COMEDY is in his nature, he hates watching paranormal thrillers, and he confesses to being a sceptic about the existence of supernatural beings. Which is all very well - except Su Chao-bin has written two of the Chinese-speaking world's creepiest horror movies in recent years, and has just made his directorial debut with yet another scarefest, based on the ghost of a child.

'There are a lot of directors who don't believe in everlasting love, but make films about exactly that,' the 36-year-old from Taiwan says with a laugh. 'Then again, I used to believe there were aliens in outer space. I don't any more.'

Su's emphasis on rationality and scientific proof reflects his academic background in mechanical engineering, and as a masters student at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute.

The prominence of a ghost in his film, Silk, underlines Su's suspicions about floating spirits in the mortal sphere.

'The idea of the film came from the question I contemplated two years ago about whether ghosts really exist,' he says. 'A lot of people say they do, but you never see anyone taking pictures or videos of one, or conducting an interview with them. There's no concrete evidence. So I was thinking what it would be like if we managed to catch a ghost.'

Then he read a newspaper report about a Japanese scientists' claims that they could trap an electromagnetic wave for 10-millionth of a second with a Menger sponge - a fractal cube hollowed out with a complex system of cavities. Forever the scientist, Su saw in this the tool that his protagonists could use as a device to detain ghosts, since detractors have described spectral beings as merely clusters of electromagnetic disturbances.