Customer Reviews

Ghost Ship [VHS]

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(60)
3 star:		(38)
2 star:		(56)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

I decided to ignore most reviews of this film and check it out anyway. I am very glad I did. I don't understand why people think its so bad. Ghost Ship is about a crew who aboard an abandoned ship that went missing in 1962, and was never heard of again. The crew finds it and strange things begin to happen. They start seeing Ghosts, hence the title. The ghosts are the passengers who were brutally killed on the ship, obviously.
The film has a few scary moments and it moves along quickly. There is a major plot twist at the end that I did not see coming at all and I thought it was brilliant. You can't comment on the acting of a horror movie, it's pointless, but luckily Ghost Ship has a cast of well known, and talented actors such as Gabriel Byrne, Julianne Marguiles, and Ron Eldard. If not for them, the film could have been a lot more cheesy, but I thought the film was intriguing, scary, and creepy. The opening scene by far one of the most gruesome scenes in film is worth seeing this film for.

Ok, it's not the best ghost film ever made, but it is far better than the reviews here state. It's a movie about a haunting, not a slasher film. Like any good ghost film, Ghost Ship builds to a satisfying and memorable climax. Plus, there's some gory special effects (love the opening scene), nice camera work and an original storyline (for a change). The sinking of the oceanliner and releasing of the spirits is done beautifully. I loved the new "ghost crew" setting up the next ship for a simular fate! It's by far better than all the recent ghost garbage like Boo! and the horrible remakes of 13 Ghosts and The Haunting. If you like teenage body count films with blood and boobs, then pass by this one (and don't write bad reviews).

First off, this film wasn't scary, but very unpredictable and many scenes were unexpected. I love to watch this movie over and over again. It was great. The wire scene was incredible and cool. This movie had everything-blood,gore,big explosions,violence,good acting and was fast paced. The wire scene is the best opening scene, along with D-Day in SPR. If you are easily scared and hate gore, don't see this. Buy and enjoy.

For the past several years, the folks at Dark Castle productions have given us a horror film just in time for Halloween. First came House on Haunted Hill, then 13 Ghosts, and finally Ghost Ship. Rest assured that Ghost Ship is better than the absolutely wretched 13 Ghosts, but doesn't have the appeal of House on Haunted Hill.

Forty years ago, the Antonia Graza, a luxury liner, was lost at sea. We learn in the incredibly gory opening scene of Ghost Ship how the passengers and crew of the ship met their untimely deaths. Jump forward to the present day. A salvage team, led by Julianna Margulies (Tv's ER) and Gabriel Byrne (End of Days, Stigmata) stumble across the Antonia Graza while at sea. The crew boards the ship in hopes of striking it rich. The problem is, the ship is haunted by those that died forty years ago. In typical horror movie fashion, the crew is disposed of one by one in reverse order of celebrity status.

The acting isn't top notch, but it's not pure garbage either. It's refreshing to see Margulies in a role that doesn't involve taking blood and urine samples. Byrne, who is becoming a fixture in suspense, is good as usual. The rest of the cast is so-so, but it really doesn't matter, as they're just there to be bumped off in interesting ways.

The creepy visuals are truly the star of this picture. The opening scene will leave viewers wide-eyed. A steel cable flies across a dance floor, cutting everything (and everyone) in it's path in half. Later in the film, a grand ballroom, which is in shambles after forty years at sea, spontaneously reconstructs itself around a crew member. This is absolutely amazing to watch.

Overall, this is not a great movie in terms of dramatic content. It was panned by most critics, but in all actuality, there are worse ways to spend a dark and stormy night.

3.5 stars

If you really want to enjoy this movie, go into it knowing that it stinks. Expect the worst and you'll have a good time. Believe all these teenaged suckers giving it 5 stars and talking about how great it is, and you'll be disappointed. This movie isn't even close to 5 stars. I gave it 2- one extra star for giving my girlfriend and I something to make fun of for 90 minutes.

Someone needs to remind Hollywood that horror films are supposed to be scary. All horror movies are generally dumb, but when they are dumb and weak the line should be drawn. It was a good concept, getting stranded on a rickety, rusty cruise ship full of ghosts, but they blew it.

This movie is weak like Jeepers Creepers, and Phantoms. Visually, they try to make it look and feel like "The Shining", but it doesn't come close to that scary or cool. For about 30 minutes it's tense and you'll get into it, but after that short period you'll want out. It stops being scary and all you have left is just stupid. But since they're digging up their talent from ER's dumpster, has-beens or wannabes what could we expect? Juliana whatever-her-name-is left ER to do movies... I hope she's proud of herself. Not only was her acting bad, but she wasn't even a likeable character. If I was the bad guy, I'd have whacked her first.

But then a blind grandmother could pimp slap the main villain in this movie. I have finally found a villain less threatening and menacing than effete bad-guy in Stargate (the movie)!

I'm not taking up any more of my time talking about it. Go ahead and click on how this review didn't help you, but don't say you weren't warned. If you have to see it, see it. But be smart like me: Rent this, or better yet be smarter, don't bother with it at all.

`Old man rhythm is in my shoes
No use sittin and a singin the blues
So be my guest, you got nothin to lose
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise?

Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise?' - `Sea Cruise', sung by Frankie Ford

Boy, that's about as weak a tie in reference I've come up with in awhile to start a review...directed by Steve Beck (Thir13en Ghosts), Ghost Ship (2002) features Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects), Julianna Margulies ("ER"), Ron Eldard (Mystery, Alaska), Isaiah Washington (Romeo Must Die), Karl `Eomer' Urban (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), Alex Dimitriades (Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo), Desmond Harrington (Wrong Turn), and Emily Browning (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events).

As the film begins we're aboard a luxury ocean liner set sometime in the past, I'm guessing, given the size of that beehive hairdo on one of the women. Anyway, while a number of passengers and crew are cutting a rug on one of the decks, there's an unfortunate accident (or is it?) with an overly taut steel cable resulting in nearly everyone on the deck (except for a little red-headed girl, played by Emily Browning) being literally cut down in size. Fast forward to the present where we meet a crew of professional sea salvagers, led by a man named Murphy (Byrne). Among the crew is Murphy's right hand, a woman named Epps (Margulies), divers Dodge (Eldard) and Munder (Urban), first mate Greer (Washington), and Santos (Dimitriades), the mechanic. After a recently successful haul the group is approached by a man named Jack Ferriman (Harrington) with a proposition. Seems Ferriman, a pilot of sorts, knows the location of a derelict ship, and wants Murphy and his crew to salvage it, with a percentage of the take going to himself. After agreeing on terms they locate the ship they learn it's actually the Antonia Graza (given the ship's rusty condition it should probably be renamed the USS Tetanus), an Italian ocean liner missing for the last forty some odd years (it also happens to be the same ship we saw at the beginning...big surprise). Anyhow, as the crew begins its reconnaissance, a subtle strangeness sets in, indicating perhaps they're not alone (the red-headed girl we saw at the beginning appears and disappears). The crew gets a little jittery, but their fears are temporarily waylaid after finding a fortune in gold in the cargo hold, to which they decide to forgo trying to save the ship (which is severely damaged and sinking), and make off with the gold...sounds like a plan, but forces conspire to keep them on the derelict ship, where they eventually discover some disturbing truths about what happened to those previously aboard the Antonia Graza...

It's probably worth mentioning up front the opening sequence is pretty gory, so if you've a weak stomach or easily disgusted, you may want to skip the film. Once past this, there's not much else that comes close to this level of nastiness. While the opening bit didn't bother me, it seemed odd (and unnecessary) its inclusion given I was expecting more of a traditional, psychological type ghost story. Well, it turns out the director Steve Beck, has a background in special effects, so I guess he wanted to start off the film with something he knew...and speaking of effects, I think that's probably one element many people who've seen this film can agree on is that the special effects tend to drive the movie more than anything else. One aspect I found especially strong was the settings as it appeared there was a whole lot of effort involved in creating atmosphere in terms of the Antonia Graza. As far as the other elements of the film, the story, the script, the performances, well, I really wasn't impressed. I just never felt the sense of dread I would hope to feel in a solid ghost story, which is, in my opinion, what this feature strives to be...the story, while containing some interesting aspects (along with some serious plot holes), fell a little flat, the script was pretty minimal (which was more a positive than a negative), and the performances barely there and a bit too artificial (laced with a whole lot of machismo), but this may have been due to the skimpy material the actors were given. The film does sometimes move a little too slow as the intent seemed to be a build up towards some not so juicy revelations (often shown in flashbacks), but I thought most of the characters not very interesting so spending time with them felt almost a chore (once they started getting knocked off I felt very little empathy for them). There was one shining moment well into the feature and that when an Italian actress named Francesca Rettondini shows us the goods (specifically her goods) that helped make the overall experience somewhat more worthwhile. All in all this isn't a rotten film, but I just wish the writers had put as much effort into the story as the filmmakers put into the effects.

While the actual film may not have been all that hot, the picture, presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), looks beautiful and sharply detailed, and the Dolby Surround 5.1 audio, available in both English and French comes across well. There's a good helping of extras including a making of documentary (15:05), a visual FX featurette (6:01), a featurette titled A Closer Look at the Gore (5:30), another focusing on the design of the ghost ship (5:44), a music video featuring the band Mudvayne and their song `Not Falling', which was used in the film, a puzzle game titled `Secrets of the Antonia Graza', cast and crew filmographies, a theatrical trailer, and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. Also, the DVD case features a nifty holographic type image on the cover.

Cookieman108

Imagine this: you're a member of an elite salvage crew that works in the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia. One evening you and your crewmates are celebrating your most recent successful salvage operation in a bar in Alaska. Suddenly, you're interrupted by a "mysterious stranger" who claims he's a pilot who's found a huge, derelict ocean liner in the Strait. He says that the US Navy and Coast Guard isn't interested in the ship because it's in international waters, which means it's open for someone to claim salvage rights. So, without asking any questions (such as: what is a huge abandoned ocean liner doing in the Bering Strait, why wouldn't the Coast Guard be interested in such a ship, the credentials of the mysterious stranger, etc.) you'd agree to immediately sail out to the ship, right? If you said "yes", then you'll probably love this film. If, however, you enjoy classic horror films such as "Halloween", "The Others", or even the original "Dracula", or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", then you should avoid taking a ride on the "Ghost Ship". This film lacks all of the elements of a good horror movie: plot, suspense, chills, a creepy atmosphere, and logic; and it has all the elements of most modern horror films: lots of special effects, blood and gore, and MTV-style music and filming techniques. The plot (such as it is) goes like this: in 1962 a luxurious Italian passenger ship, the "Antonia Graza" is serenely sailing the Atlantic. In a single night, however, everyone on board, save one, is killed (usually in the most painful, gruesome, and bloody way possible). Of course, the ship then vanishes without a trace. Forty years later the ship suddenly reappears over 5,000 miles away in the Bering Strait. The salvage team literally collides with the ship on a stereotypical "dark and stormy night" (and there's loads of stereotypes and cliches in this film). The salvage team boards the ship, and naturally things soon go terribly wrong: they begin to see the ghosts of the dead crew and passengers; their salvage tug explodes, trapping them on the ship; and then the salvage team begins to die horrible deaths, just as happened in 1962. Eventually only one member (Julianna Marguiles, as the team's tender-but-tough "mother hen"), is left to confront the villain who started the killing back in 1962. The paint-by-numbers plot allows you to figure out what's going to happen long before the hapless salvagers do, and the ending is so convoluted that it resembles "Titanic" meets "Ghost" meets "The Exorcist". Particularly absurd is the five-minute "flashback" scene near the end in which we see what happened to the "Antonia Graza" on that fateful night in 1962. The scene is shot to resemble a MTV music video, complete with the soundtrack. I almost expected to see the "Smashing Pumpkins" or "Dave Matthews Band" in a cameo, singing away while everyone is being slaughtered. The only scary thing about this movie is that some top-notch actors (such as Marguiles and Gabriel Byrne) agreed to appear in this mess. Bottom line: if you like lots o' blood and gore, special effects, cardboard characters, and no plot, then you'll like this movie. But if you like classic horror films, then don't get aboard the "Ghost Ship".

I am continually amazed that multimillion dollar films that spend so much on decent actors and special effects, can't spend a little more time or money on more carefully considered screenwriting. As Shyamalan pointed out about making The Sixth Sense, you have to have rules that you follow throughout, or the viewers will feel unfairly manipulated. Do you pass right through the ghosts like they are holograms, or are they real enough to touch and feel or to manipulate and carry real objects? Make up your mind which one is true and follow that rule. Will all the souls be liberated if the ship sinks, or not? Are people killed off because they have allowed themselves to be manipulated into succumbing to one of their weaknesses (that would be clever), or can the ghosts just kill whoever they want anytime (much less clever)? It is a cheap trick to switch back and forth on these things, especially under the pretense of a "surprise ending."

In short, what could have been a pretty good idea with equally good acting and effects, instead flounders in mediocrity because of cheap plot shortcuts. Average and watchable if you're a horror movie fan who can accept these faults, not worth it if you're not.

The beginning was good, I agree, nice way to get rid of lot's of people. The cast was good as well, but the movie was not scary!... I mean come on, I was expecting a horror, and i got to see like what, 3 ghosts that looked like normal people?
Oh yea and the twist in the end wasn't that shocking. Not a horrible waste of time and money, but still, I was expecting to see a horror, and what i ended up feeling was sea-sick.

Any movie that can make you slide to the edge of your seat and cover your eyes in the first 5 minutes is going to be a good one, guaranteed! This movie is one of the best horror films that I have seen come out in a long time. The special effects are top notch, the acting is incredible, and the plot is good. I wanted to see this movie in the theatre, but just never got around to it. I bought it the day it came out and watched it as soon as I got home. I swear, I had to get up and turn the lights back on to watch it. One of the best things about this movie is that everything comes full circle. There are no loose ends just lying around. On the predictabiliy scale, this movie doesn't even rank. You never know what is lurking around the corner or sitting in the next cabin. The sets in this movie are among the best and rank right in there with the sets from The Haunting and Titanic. This is a movie I will definitely watch over and over and keep enjoying for a long time to come.