Ghost Fever (1987) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The movie takes place at a historic plantation in Greendale County, Georgia. This plantation serves as the central location, featuring a haunted mansion with a hidden laboratory from the era of enslaved people, creating the supernatural atmosphere that drives the story.

• georgia plantation
• historic setting
• haunted house
• greendale county

The plantation is central to the film's themes because its dark history of slavery and exploitation remains active in the present. The haunted estate represents a place where the past refuses to stay buried, and the ghosts actively work to prevent contemporary attempts to take the land, making preservation of the estate a fight to honor the land's true history.

• plantation history
• slavery
• heritage
• haunted estate
• land preservation

Ghost Fever features restless spirits who interact with the living, including former enslaved people and the plantation's former owner. The ghosts influence human plans through spectral events, séances, and poltergeist activity, creating a world where the living must reckon with otherworldly forces that are very much present.

• ghosts
• spirits
• séance
• supernatural
• haunting

The primary ghost characters are Jethro, a former slave who haunts the plantation, and Andrew Lee, the former owner of the plantation. Both spirits remember the brutal history of the property and work together to protect the estate from those trying to take the land, forming an unlikely alliance with the living.

• jethro
• andrew lee
• former slave
• plantation owner
• ghost characters

The plantation's history of slavery and exploitation permeates the present through the ghosts and the hidden laboratory. The past actively interferes with contemporary attempts to take the land, and the spirits represent the unresolved trauma and memory of enslaved people whose stories cannot be easily erased.

• slavery history
• hidden laboratory
• exploitation
• past present connection
• heritage

Buford is a Georgia police officer played by Sherman Hemsley who is tasked with serving eviction notices on the plantation. He uncovers the hidden laboratory and faces escalating supernatural events as the past asserts itself, ultimately becoming a key figure in the conflict between the living and the dead.

• buford
• sherman hemsley
• police officer
• eviction notices

Benny is Buford's partner, also a police officer who joins the fight to save the plantation. He participates in a boxing match that provides crucial prize money to rescue the estate, and his character represents the unlikely alliances between the living and the dead that drive the story's resolution.

• benny
• police officer
• boxing match
• plantation rescue

Redemption in Ghost Fever comes through unlikely alliances between the living and the dead. The story frames redemption as a communal effort where characters work together to save the plantation, with Benny's boxing victory providing the funds to preserve the estate as a symbol of reclaiming community and home.

• redemption
• community
• alliance
• boxing victory
• communal effort

Linda and Lisa are two sisters who are linked to the plantation and have been dead for years, remaining tied to their home as ghosts. They guide the living through the estate's dangers and help explain the plantation's past, deepening the sense that the land's memory and history cannot be easily erased.

• linda
• lisa
• sisters
• ghosts
• plantation guardians

Ghost Fever is classified as a Comedy-Horror but leans heavily into comedy despite dark thematic ingredients like a racist ghost, torture laboratory, and voodoo curse. The tone is described as LIGHT, with an absurd and humorous approach to its horror premise, making the stakes feel artificial and the presentation clearly comedic.

• comedy
• horror
• tonal balance
• parody
• comedic horror

Madame St. Esprit is the spiritual medium called to conduct a séance in the film. She channels supernatural forces and triggers a powerful confrontation that reveals the extent of the ghostly danger, serving as the catalyst for cooperation between the living and the dead.

• madame st. esprit
• spiritual medium
• séance
• supernatural confrontation