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Ghost in the Machine is a 1993 American science fiction horror film directed by Rachel Talalay and released by 20th Century Fox about a deceased serial killer with artificial computer intelligence. In 1987, writers William Davies and William Osborne first got the idea for Ghost in the Machine when reading about a piece of computer software called Skeleton Key, which allowed users to invade other computer networks and retrieve all data within them without owners knowing anything about it, and crafted a premise wherein a serial killer was absorbed into a computer and now possessed those same abilities.[3] Due to the release of Wes Craven’s Shocker, 20th Century Fox briefly put the film in Turnaround due to perceived similarities between the two films, however the film resumed development at Fox following uncredited re-writes by Todd Graff. The film’s special effects were provided by Video Image under the direction of special effects supervisor Richard Hollander. In order to create evolutionary images of the electronic serial killer’s computerized environment, at the suggestion of director Rachel Talalay, Hollander and his group decided to digitally manipulate real-life data taken from MRI body scans. Ted Marcoux, who plays Killer Karl, was scanned at UCLA. The film was shot over the course of 51 days in Los Angeles, which doubled for the film’s Cleveland, Ohio setting. Ghost in the Machine had initially been slated for release some time in August 1993, but to avoid competition with Jurassic Park and major fall releases the release was pushed back. During its opening weekend, Ghost in the Machine grossed $1,854,431 and ranked at no. 10. By the end of its run, it had grossed a domestic total of $5,086,909, failing to recoup its $12 million budget. The film was generally not received well by critics, holding a 10% “Rotten“ rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews. Ghost in the Machine was released on VHS and Laserdisc on May 25, 1994, and on DVD on January 17, 2006.
