The Ghost Within follows Margot, a young woman suffering from severe memory loss who sets out to solve the twenty-year-old mystery of her sister Evie’s death. Returning to her family home, a series of terrifying encounters with her sister’s ghost begin to bring her lost memories back. Aided by an experienced paranormal investigator, Margot’s desperation peaks when she has reason to suspect Evie was murdered at their childhood home. Will she unearth the tragic events of that terrible night to discover her sister’s killer? Or will this desperate hunt for the truth cost the lives of all involved? The film was directed by Lawrence Fowler and stars Michaela Longden (The Jack in the Box: Awakening), Rebecca Phillipson (Dazed), and Tom Millen (Star Night).
Adding to the ghost tale is the score by composer Christoph Allerstorfer who used everything from his daughter’s vocals to unsettling sound design. He talks about this and much more in the below interview…
How did you first get in to composing?
I started writing short pieces on my father’s computer with general midi sounds from very early on. When I was 15, I started a band and wrote the songs together with a band mate. I always was fascinated by films and their music in particular, and when the band split up I was ready to shift my focus on cinematic music. I also discovered trailer music during that time. I quickly found a way into production and trailer music and was introduced to James Griffiths, a film composer from the UK who hired me as assistant. I got my first feature film because of him, and I’m incredibly thankful for everything he taught me and the huge support he gave me! The movie ended up number 2 in the charts in Italy for one week which was a huge deal for us with almost no budget for everything.
What did preparation look like for you on The Ghost Within?
After filming was completed, the director was in a hurry to get a trailer done for the Cannes Film Festival, and I had half a day to come up with some music. The trailer was well received, and I picked up ideas from it for the actual score. Normally, I prefer to write some short pieces before I get the first cut, but on this film everything had to happen fast.
The Ghost Within takes place in the countryside, did the setting impact your score at all?
Not really, there are no particular shots introducing the audience to it, so this had no impact on the music.
You have worked with director Lawrence Fowler on a few other projects. Because of this already existing relationship, were you able to experiment more with the score?
Yes absolutely! On our first movie together, Lawrence already had a strong vision about how the music should sound. For The Ghost Within things were much more open, and I was free to ignore the temp music and come up with something completely different if I felt a different approach would work better.
Some composers discuss using found objects in their scores, did you do anything like this with The Ghost Within score?
I have quite a collection of instruments in my studio, from strings to percussion and little noise makers, I love implementing in my scores. For this film I used bowed metals and small percussion instruments, and my 13 year old daughter provided some vocals. So nothing I found exclusively for this score, but I’m constantly on the hunt for interesting sounds and instruments.
You also recently scored the film Breaking Infinity. Can you talk about you work on that?
Breaking Infinity is a time travel film, and the protagonist is going through the same locations in different time zones spontaneously, so the shifts had to be surprising, but still make sense in a musical way. There was barely any temp music used in the cut, and Marianna Dean, the director, just said: “Do what you think works best”. I was very nervous every time I sent off a cue, but enjoyed working on it a lot!
Breaking Infinity is a sci-fi film, how different was your approach to that film? In comparison to a horror film like The Ghost Within?
Because of the time jumps from an ancient mysterious rural area in Wales to the lab with the time machine, the music had to cover a wide range of styles. Synths are the obvious choice for tech stuff, but I did not want to go crazy with them because the core of the story lies somewhere else. Overall, I used synths, raw percussion, guitars and had a small orchestra available with strings, harp and woodwinds which we recorded in Vienna.
The Ghost Within also has multiple facets to the story but I could stay more into one musical genre.
You also score a lot of film trailers, with recent credits being Nope and It Chapter 2. In your opinion, what makes trailer music effective?
I think for trailers a good and memorable hook is the key. In my opinion The Revenant teaser trailer is one of the best trailers ever done. The hook in this case is a rhythm with gunshots and breathing sounds, with war drums and shouts coming in later. The intro with John Luther Adams’s piece is also spot on and sets the tone perfectly. There’s much more to this and a lot of thought went into creating this trailer, but it shows how effective a simple hook can be.
Is there a specific director that you enjoy their work and would like to collaborate with one day?
I love the work of Ari Aster and a collaboration one day would be incredible for sure. All I can and will do is never stop learning, and let’s see what the future has in store!
Christoph’s The Ghost Within score is now available digitally.
Originally published March 22, 2023. Updated March 21, 2023.
