The constantly evolving Japanese ghost story reflects the changes in the country's social and cultural values.

ECONOMIST: There is more than you think to the haunting of Japan

Literalized in the movie, the material is closer to a high-toned ghost story.

NEWYORKER: The Lovely Bones

But suffice to say it is a taut, well-written story, which manages to do something new and different with the traditional ghost story.

FORBES: This Might Take A Little While

Thompson spent time after finishing at the Royal Court filming BBC ghost story Whistle and I'll Come to You alongside John Hurt, broadcast over Christmas.

BBC: Sophie Thompson on Clybourne Park's squirm factor

But for a certain type of Brit she is as good as a ghost story to send shivers up the spine, a spookily attractive perfect fright night.

BBC: Playtime is over

Now, Goei is busy developing five film scripts: two comedies set in Manhattan, a contemporary Singapore melodrama, a futuristic Asian action adventure and a ghost story set in Japan.

CNN: ?>?magazine

In the village of Barnstable, close to where the Pilgrim Fathers arrived from England in the Mayflower in 1620, the Beechwood Inn has a more inviting ghost story to tell.

BBC: The haunted land of New England

And "Beloved, " starring Oprah Winfrey and based on Toni Morrison's novel of the same name, is the story of a former slave visited by the ghost of the daughter that she killed.

CNN: Tears flowing at theaters this fall