First, a bit of history about Changi. Apparently, Changi started out as a barracks for the British military way back in 1930, so it's a pretty old building. During World War II, many officers from both sides died or were killed in Changi and it is rumored that they also tortured prisoners of war there. After the war, it was turned into a public hospital, Changi Hospital, but many reported hauntings there. So many, in fact, that some would rather suffer than go to the hospital there. They finally closed it in February of 1997, 13 years before this documentary, and it has been vacant since. In those years, it has been vandalized, but many say that it is still haunted. In January 2010, a crew in Singapore started making a documentary on Old Changi Hospital. Their original footage is shown in this movie. You can watch with subtitles, but you don't necessarily need to. The original footage is in English.
The crew consists of a camera man named Audi, a sound guy named Farid, a director named Andrew Lau, and a producer named Sheena. Sheena is the only female in the group. They decide to make the movie and film everything they do so that they have behind the scenes footage as well. The movie is divided between interviewing people in the area of Changi, talking to each other about the movie, and finally, the footage inside the hospital. All the interviewees agree that everyone who goes into Changi at night sees ghosts and some are even possessed, so you shouldn't go in at night. During the day, it is usually ok and you can usually find youths painting graffiti. One interviewee tells them about experiments and sending infected women into the barracks to infect the soldiers for retaliation.
The first footage of the hospital is during the day. Most of the graffiti that they find appears to be devil worshipping, a lot of 666 and pentagrams and such. The hospital is a huge compound with three wings and many areas. In one of the areas, they find a torture chamber with the chains still on the walls. During the day, things are mostly calm, other than a door closing by itself. They go home after the first day to edit footage, including some time lapse shots that Andrew took later. The first really creepy thing they find is a shadow in the film, a headless shadow, but that's really about it. Andrew remembers to tell them that as he was getting the photos, he ran into a Chinese national woman who's squatting in Changi, actually living there for a "long time." This seems to really conflict with the stories from the kids who say no one goes in there at night, so the crew argues as to whether or not to interview her. Of course, they'll have to find her again. Before going in at night, they have a cleansing ritual performed. Given the history of Changi, I'm not sure that would even help, but it's worth a try. When you're going into a haunted hospital at midnight, I guess anything is better than nothing! They also bring in the official "Ghost Hunters of Singapore," so they're not alone. These guys are supposed to be using scientific methods to find ghosts. Of course, they also send a kid in first to check it out, since kids are more open to seeing ghosts and such. Supposedly, the kid has never seen anything before, but in Changi he runs out screaming. This should tell them all to stay away. The official ghost hunters leave right away, but naturally the movie crew isn't going to stop no matter what. They get more footage, but call it a night when Sheena freaks out. When they review the footage, it shows interesting things which makes Lau even more determined than ever to find out what is really going on in Changi. Sheena still refuses to ever go back though and none of them are feeling well. Their descent into madness begins here and none of them will ever be the same again. Once Changi gets hold of you, it never lets go.
Special Features include the beginning of Sheena's book, which is quite interesting! I wish there was more to read. Who knows, maybe they'll make it into a full book because I'd read it! There is also WWII footage and the crewblog available. I like that the special features keep with the theme of the movie and don't really make it obvious if it's fake or not.
I have always been a fan of haunted houses, abandoned buildings, or just about any haunting movie. I find the back stories fascinating. While Haunted Changi doesn't have a huge plotline other than the actual haunting, there are things that tie back together and make it interesting. It does feel a lot more like an American made haunting/ghost story than an Asian one, though. If you are a fan of The Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity or any of those type movies, I recommend you check out Haunted Changi today!
