Ghost Ship [DVD] [2003]

I think I can safely say that the opening scene of the movie is rather unforgettable, and I greatly admire the effect the moviemakers were going for here. Rarely does a movie purport to take out untold scores of people with one swift blow, and it is most unfortunate that a lack of commitment to this potentially extraordinary scene sets in motion the very doubts and misgivings some viewers have of the real meat of the story. The method of mass execution used in this first scene is pretty hard to accept scientifically, but the real problem comes in the form of some very obvious mannequins lying among the "dead." The filmmakers try to salvage the scene by having the victims take a few moments to figure out that they are quite dead, and that works for me; unfortunately, they take this too far and end up making what should be a glorious bloodbath look a little silly.

The real story here concerns the crew of a salvage boat hired to salvage a mysterious old ship that a pilot claims to have spotted in the Bering Sea. What they find is an Italian ocean liner missing for forty years, but the great riches they discover onboard lead not to the paradise on earth they fantasize about but rather its exact opposite. Trapped on board the dead vessel, each crew member must fight to stay alive and sane in an environment which quickly shows itself to be quite haunted indeed. The fates of a few are rather hokey and predictable, but the storyline around one little girl ghost saves the movie in my opinion. Only Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies) can see little Katie (played quite effectively by Emily Browning), who eventually tells her the story of what happened forty years ago. This little girl, a pure-hearted ghost trapped on a ship full of malevolent spirits, certainly does her share to give the movie the creepy aura it needs. The major flashback we see through the eyes of Katie, though, is just plain weird. As we are transported back forty years in time, we are suddenly bombarded by some type of hard-driving, neo-tech electronic music that seems wholly out of place.

I'm not saying Ghost Ship does not have its faults and weaknesses, but in my opinion it made for an entertaining albeit rather predictable little horror movie. Some people seem to hate the ending, but I had no problem with it whatsoever; I think it worked quite well in the context of everything I had just seen. I would not call Ghost Ship a must-see horror film by any means, nor do I personally consider it all that gory, but I do think it has enough chills and thrills to satisfy or at least entertain many a horror fan out there.

Julianna Margulies, who stars in "Ghost Ships" as Epps, has described the film as "The Shining" meets "Dead Calm," and it is certainly impossible not to watch this film and find echoes of previous horror films that you have seen since we are talking about a haunted house movie set on an ocean liner (which reminds me of "Alien" more than anything else). What else is there to inject new blood into this horror genre besides new locations for recycled stories?

Actually Mark Hanlon and John Pogue do try to come up with something different. The opening sequence of the film is one of the grossest you have ever seen and I can guarantee you that it terms of the mystery it presents the audience you will never see the solution coming. Unfortunately, that solution ends up being rather over the top (when you come up with something too far fetched for a horror film you know that you are going to have problems). More importantly, ... which is the more unforgivable sin in this genre.

Forty years after the blood bath of the opening sequence the titular vessel is discovered by a salvage crew in the Bering Sea. This is a very odd place for a trans-Atlantic Italian ocean liner to end up, but this does not bother Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) or his crew, who are too consumed by the dollar signs dancing in their heads to worry about things like the fact that the rusted ship keeps doing the now you see it, now you don't routine on their radar. Once aboard Epps, the character who has the virtue of having more brains and guts than the rest of the crew combined, encounters the ghost of little girl Katie (Emily Browning), who keeps suggesting the visitors want to get off the ship right now. Of course, if they did that there would be no film and all this great set design work would be for naught.

"Ghost Ship" is another in a long series of disappointing big budget horror films that have been foisted off on us in the past several years. Apparently the lesson of "The Blair Witch Project," which had no special effects to speak of but still managed to be scary for a whole lot of people, is lost on Hollywood. The explanation for the "Ghost Ship" is quite convoluted and even taken at face value a rather inefficient way of accomplishing such a task. The true face of evil is usually not that stupid.

The best actor, in my opinion, was the little girl who plays the part of 'Katie'.

If you love guts and gore, go for it, but if you want to watch a good horror, go get another film.