Ghost Ship (2002)

A salvage crew discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea, and soon notices that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board.

Director:

Steve Beck

Writers:

Mark Hanlon (story), Mark Hanlon (screenplay)

Stars:

Julianna Margulies, Gabriel Byrne, Ron Eldard

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gabriel Byrne	...	Murphy
Julianna Margulies	...	Epps
Ron Eldard	...	Dodge
Desmond Harrington	...	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

Storyline

After discovering a passenger ship missing since 1962 floating adrift on the Bering Sea, salvagers claim the vessel as their own. Once they begin towing the ghost ship towards harbor, a series of bizarre ocurrences happen and the group becomes trapped inside the ship, which they soon learn is inhabited by a demonic creature.

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Plot Keywords:

ghost ship | female rear nudity | female removes her dress | decapitation | torso cut in half | 

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Taglines:

Sea Evil

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence/gore, language and sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was the first Dark Castle Entertainment horror film released to be based on an original concept, as the original idea for the company was to remake William Castle horror films which the previous few films were. Though it was still critically panned like their previous releases.

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Goofs

In the first scene, Francesca sings "Senza Fine" through once and then begins to sing it over again. When she sings "Cio che abbiamo gia vissuto senza fine" her next line should be "Tu sei un attimo senza fine," but instead she sings "Tu per me sei..." before the song is cut off. The first of several lines that begin with those words comes several lines later in the song.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

The opening logos are tinted brown, and the typical Warner Bros. logo is instead an intentionally chintzy 60s style logo. All this ties into the infamous cruise ship opening.

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Alternate Versions

The film was released in Germany in both its uncut form (rated "Not under 18") and in an edited version ("Not under 16"), which misses many gory shots (i.e. from the wire scene in the beginning, the squashed diver or the "hooked up" singer). For commercial reasons most cinemas showed the cut version.

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Connections

References Event Horizon (1997)

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Soundtracks

Senza Fine
Written by Gino Paoli
Produced by John Frizzell
Performed by Monica Mancini
Courtesy of Concord Records
[Francesca sings the song in the opening sequence; the salvage crew later hears her singing the song]

User Reviews

Ship Of Fools

With visions of riches spinning in their heads, a group of irritating boat salvagers set out to explore what's left of a luxurious passenger ship lost for over forty years on the high seas. Given that this film is a horror flick, the viewer understands from the beginning that the ship has an array of spooky surprises waiting for our adventurous fools.

The initial problem with this film is the salvagers themselves. They are not remotely interesting. They are stereotyped, stick-figure characters inserted to advance the preconceived horror plot.

As a ghost story, "Ghost Ship" lacked suspense, at least to me. The film's gore and hokey supernatural element were overdone, too obvious and direct. To create suspense, the filmmaker needs merely to hint at the presence of a lurking terror, and to slowly build anticipation, on behalf of characters we know and care about. This film thus suffers the same problems that plague so many modern films ... lack of character development and lack of subtlety. The unfortunate irony here is that the film's huge budget allowed the filmmaker to spend money on explosions, stunts, and other elements that actually lowered the suspense.

On the other hand, the set pieces were impressive, giving the ocean liner and the tug boat a sense of visual authenticity. And I liked the plot twist toward the end.

In summary, the film's concept was intriguing and the story had potential. But an absence of sympathetic characters and an overemphasis on expensive cinematic gimmicks combined to lower the suspense, and render a film that was fat and impersonal.

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros Warner Bros. [France]

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English Italian Spanish

Release Date:

25 October 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Chimera

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,503,423, 27 October 2002

Gross USA:

$30,113,491

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$68,349,884

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1