Ghost Ship (2002)

OK, ghost story. Not great movie, but it's enough solid that could have been great if it has a good script and I think this film looks like a bit of a B movie. The story and twist are good enough. I loved the opening scene, it was unexpectedly good. That scene was the only good thing about it and it's almost like they used their entire budget in that scene. The acting is OK and I didn't care for any characters except Emily Browning's ghost character which she was really likable. But overall, it was just an okay film with good story. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

Good old Dark Castle. This is the production group that brought us the remaked likes of the below-par HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (the sum of the parts being far greater than the whole of the movie) and the above-par THIR13EN GHOSTS (a film that actually managed to be consistently scary). Their third film, GHOST SHIP, is not necessarily a remake of one such film, but it's not the first film with that title. Instead inspiration seems to come from the 1999 sci-fi horror film VIRUS and the 1980 B-movie DEATH SHIP, with George Kennedy. Sadly, GHOST SHIP is a clichéd and predictable "cast run around corridors getting killed" type-thriller with almost exactly the same set-up as the previous two films Dark Castle has produced, but with even fewer genuine scares or surprises.The film plays out various uninteresting incidents with monotonous regularity. The opening sequence is the best in the film. We are introduced to a bunch of upper-class twits dancing on board a cruise liner sometime in the 1960s. There's a foxy lounge singer on the soundtrack and some romantic lettering spelling out the titles. Think you've got the wrong film? Think again. The passengers find themselves massacred by a wire, which flies across the ballroom and cuts them into little pieces in a scene which reminds one of the Canadian indie hit, CUBE. The effect is simple, unbelievable, but astonishingly gruesome, and a real jolt to the system. A shame then that things go downhill so quickly.GHOST SHIP is a film with a lot of spooky appeal. It's atmospheric and the creaking, mouldy corridors of the long dead ship make for a great setting, I'll give you that. Thumbs up to the set artists and production designers. Unfortunately, the matter-of-fact plot plays out exactly as you would imagine: the salvage ship "mysteriously" blows up, trapping the characters on board; body parts are found floating in the water and then mysterious, miscellaneous 'haunting' type things start happening. Blood runs out of walls, history replays itself, a naked ghost leads a womaniser to his death at the bottom of a lift shaft (?). Techno music has a habit of playing at inopportune moments and there's an effectively spooky little ghost girl hanging around like the twins in THE SHINING, except this time she's "good" and played with skill by newcomer Emily Browning.By the time the end of the film comes, things aren't even scary anymore. When one character is revealed as a monstrous demon, they couldn't even be bothered to have any makeup. The whodunit aspect of the plot is lamentable and the finale, although boasting an impressive explosion, is empty-headed and severely disappointing. The less said about the ridiculous shock ending the better. Watch out for the dozens of plot holes and inconsistencies that the movie offers. I never knew you could carry a bar of gold around in your back pocket; I didn't realise trouser belts were that strong.The cast is a mixed bunch but generally uninteresting, thanks to the unlikeable characters. Gabriel Byrne is here, but who knows the reason why. Although he easily lends gravitas to the proceedings he seems understandably bored and unstrained by the material. Julianna Margulies's feisty female heroine is a predictable Lara Croft-style adventurer and utterly banal, while the the comic relief from the likes of Ron Eldard and Karl Urban is a bore. Elsewhere we see actors from NEIGHBOURS (!) hamming it up as gory zombie ghosts and a token black being led to his death in a stereotypically racist moment. GHOST SHIP, aside from the copious amounts of atmosphere, is an extremely boring and unnecessary film that adds nothing new to its genre. Dark Castle need to pull their finger out and make a film with some actual plot to it next-time, instead of creating a movie which rips off a dozen others in the process.

It's a pretty unadventurous title that matches the content of the film. Directed by Steve Beck and starring Gabriel Byrne, Desmond Harrington, Ron Eldard and Julianna Margulies, plot finds a salvage crew discovering a long lost passenger liner out in the remote Bering Sea. With the laws of the sea stating that they can keep what they find, they are delighted to find gold on board. But it's not long before strange things start to happen.It starts of real well with a bloody and gruesome prelude, the production design is super and everything is in place for a chiller out there in the foggy waters. Unfortunately what we actually get is a predictable series of clichés cribbed from better movies of the past, none of which capable of eliciting a genuine scare. The makers think that having a bombastic techno score accompanying the dramatic moments will make them appear more shocking. It doesn't, while the cast are ill served by direction and writing.Horror 101 for beginners. 3/10

Watched this as I was a big Gay Byrne fan and I also liked Karl Urban from his Xena days. Really struck me as The House on Haunted Hill at sea and I wasn't far wrong but that isn't a bad thing. The poster very much reminds me of the old 80s slasher film Death Ship which I must confess I've never seen all the way through but whose splendidly lurid video cover both scared and intrigued me as a kid. Some quite superb set pieces, the bad taste classic of the dancers sliced to pieces by the breaking cable takes some beating. The little girl ghost is an incredible cliché of horror films but actually works pretty well here, it's a lovely concept that she couldn't be corrupted as the adult ghosts were because she died pure and innocent. The ending is lovely too, for such a dark film we have a happy conclusion with the souls of the dead finally released from their rusting prison and free to pass to the afterlife, whatever that may be, saving the heroine from a watery grave as they do so (very much like House on Haunted Hill 2). It would have been a nice touch if maybe the heroine continued to hold on to Sarah's hands as she ascended skywards only for her to tell her to let go and fall back into the sea, that she still has her mortal life to enjoy (and possibly some work to do to judge by the very final scene, the good fight goes on).A few bad points, Gay Byrne veers on the hammy with his old sea dog routine, he reminds me a little of Captain McCallister from The Simpsons. The old split the crew up and kill them one by one storyline is just too hackneyed for words. Surprisingly little gore though, the most shocking moments are the villains killing off the crew and passengers in 1962, especially Sarah's death which is hard to watch.All told, an entertaining horror and I'd certainly be up for watching the sequel.