Ghost Ship (2002)

Director:

Steve Beck

Writers (WGA):

Mark Hanlon (story)
Mark Hanlon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 October 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sea Evil

Plot:

A salvage crew that discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea soon notices, as they try to tow it back to land, that "strange things" happen...

Plot Keywords:

Ghost Ship | Ghost | Luxury Liner | Spear Gun | Cut Into Pieces

Cast

Gabriel Byrne	...	Captain Sean Murphy
Julianna Margulies	...	Maureen Epps
Ron Eldard	...	Dodge
Desmond Harrington	...	Jack Ferriman
Isaiah Washington	...	Greer
Alex Dimitriades	...	Santos
Karl Urban	...	Munder
Emily Browning	...	Katie Harwood
Francesca Rettondini	...	Francesca
Boris Brkic	...	Chief Steward
Bob Ruggiero	...	Captain (as Robert Ruggiero)
Iain Gardiner	...	Purser
Adam Bieshaar	...	First Officer
Cameron Watt	...	Second Officer
Jamie Giddens	...	Friendly Officer

Also Known As:

Chimera (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence/gore, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA | Australia

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Finland:K-15 | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Brazil:16 | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Denmark:15 | France:U | Germany:16 (cut) | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #39390) | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The opening floor deck sequence of the film where everyone is severed in the torso area by a cable, was originally conceived to be that everyone was decapitated, but the studio didn't like the idea.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Just after the Arctic Warrior explodes, Epps jumps from the Antonia Graza's forward well deck into the water and emerges unharmed. The well deck is at least 6 or 7 decks above the waterline, and such a fall would have caused a great deal of pain and possibly some broken bones.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Greer: I can't hold her much longer, Murph. Port bow is heeling. She's taking on way too much water.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Around the Bend (2004)

Soundtrack:

Slippin' Into Darkness

Ghost Ship: 5/10

Finally, a breath of fresh air. There's been downpours of such "horror" films like Darkness Falls, They, and Secret Window, and it's nice to see a movie that sets up its characters in a chilling manner, slowly letting us get to like them, and then the horror turning on us in a subtle yet horrifying manner that gives us nightmares. The movie I'm talking about hasn't actually come out yet, and will probably never be released. I'll bet you thought I was talking about Ghost Ship, right? Ghost Ship is not a movie like that; in fact, it's the complete opposite of what horror films were in their peak in the 70s and 80s. That doesn't automatically mean it's a terrible film. It's just not great.

A salvage crew at sea spots a 40 year old cruise ship out in the middle of nowhere. The b-list and z-list actors go aboard to search for whatever treasures may be aboard. But it's a ghost ship, so various horror-related things occur to them, as they die (you guessed it) one by one.

The opening scene is a great one-setting the mood (which is quickly broken) and then some gore that isn't over-the-top. In fact, it's pretty funny, and I was amazed that they didn't go all out. But then it becomes typical new millennium horror fare. The characters are all underdeveloped, there's the bad-ass woman, there's the captain of some Western European descent, there's the two buffoons, there's the person trying to hit on the bad-ass woman, and there's the mole/traitor in the midst. You can combine those, if you want. The misadventures of these characters are strictly by-the-books, with some creepy surroundings and a few jump scares, but nothing really more. The special effects are generic, and everything comes down to some silly conclusion that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Wait, was I describing Ghost Ship, or was I describing every other horror movie that has come out recently?

On the other hand, the movie has some cheesy fun to it. You wait to see what sort of improbable happenstances occur, with some sort of schadenfraude to it. You don't care about the characters, so you wait to see how they're going to be killed next. It's fun, for the most part, if you can leave all of the nautical mumbo jumbo behind and just go for an atmospheric if hardly scary ride through the ghost ship. Incidentally, the scariest part of the movie is actress Julianna Margulies's eyebrows. But, why not give Ghost Ship a try? It's enjoyable, and you might actually be scared by it (well, probably not).

My ratings: 5/10

Rated R for strong violence/gore, language and sexuality.