Customer Reviews

Lost Voyage

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

There's just something about ghost ship movies that I cannot resist, so when I spotted Lost Voyage, I had to watch it. The fact that the movie is a straight-to-video/DVD release I had never heard of before made no difference. Judd Nelson was a familiar name from the 1980s, and the presence of Lance Henriksen from TV's Millennium series seemed to bode well. It's quite an interesting movie, not necessarily in a good way. There are a few moments of decent suspense, and the acting really isn't all that bad, yet the movie seemed to pose questions it never intended to answer, and the special effects are just plain weird.

As the movie opens, we see the beginning and ignominious end of the final voyage of the cruise ship Corona Queen in 1972; somewhere in the vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle, the ship disappeared into an unexplained atmospheric phenomenon. No sign of the ship was ever found  until now. After more than twenty-five years, the ship has suddenly been spotted by a fishing vessel off the coast of Bermuda. This news is particularly interesting for Aaron Brown (Judd Nelson), whose father and step-mother were among the passengers of the ill-fated cruise. He has obsessively studied the Bermuda Triangle ever since, and now he finds himself one of the first human beings to set foot on the mysterious ship in over a quarter of a century. With him are Dana Elway (Janet Gunn), the star of a paranormal based news show, and her crew, alongside a trio of salvage men led by David Shaw (Henriksen). They discover the ship to be in remarkably good condition, but no sign of crew or passengers is to be found. As you might expect, bad things start happening that try to be creepy but never really are, and the dwindling number of individuals on board find themselves in danger of heading back into whatever claimed the ship way back in 1972.

The visions that some of the characters see on board the ship supposedly represent their biggest fears or most disturbing memories, but they don't really play that well. We are treated to numerous flashbacks and mysterious new visitations by Aaron's long-dead father, but none of these personal stories seems at all important in the end. I do have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Scarlet Chorvat as the younger reporter scheming to take Dana Elway's job, and her storyline actually seemed to make a little bit of sense. The really weird thing about Lost Voyage, though, is its special effects. Things aren't really that bad until the closing scenes of the movie, when CGI animation suddenly runs amuck. Many of the climactic scenes look like the kinds of animation you would see in a computer or gaming console game; in a game, they would be impressive, but in a movie they are quite disappointingly fake; I can't recall ever seeing another movie wherein the animation suddenly took on such a peculiar look.

The real source of weakness in the movie, though, is the plot. Too many story elements are introduced for no apparent reason, almost nothing about the fate of the ghost liner is revealed, and the end of the movie is quite disappointing. To make matters worse, the two epilogue sequences make very little sense to me and only serve to reinforce the failed opportunities that seem to define Lost Voyage. Despite all of these problems, though, I cannot say I actually hated the film. It had enough potential to keep me interested, but a lot of that potential was wasted in the end.

As far as the 'B-horror' genre goes, it's *extremely* difficult to get an edge-ways past the blockbuster hits. Lost Voyage is a perfect example. In many ways it plays out a lot like a 'season primiere' of an X-Files episode or something of that nature. It has the feel of a TV movie, but overall the acting, set design, cinematography, and *especially* sound were very well created and very much attributed to a great, and spooky, envioronment. I think people spend far too much time during the movie looking for things they can insult that they miss what was going on, and it's their loss in this case.

It has an unsettling level of eerieness to it, similar to House on Haunted Hill (N. Castle). Many scenes left you silent and pondering...what...the...heck...was that? If it wasn't for the excellent sound, it probably would've lost that feel.

CGIs are used quite frequently, but they aren't the dollar-and-dime calibre work you see on made-for-TV movies. They are quite professional looking and very believable -- again, if you just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

All-and-all, excellent movie for anyone who enjoys 'isolation suspense' (as I very much do).

"Lost Voyage," starring Judd Nelson and Lance Henriksen, is a very well done B-movie. It isn't quite as good as "Ghostship," which is similar since both are about a cruise ship that vanishes and then pops up a few years later with a few "stranded" passengers. Both films feature a shady salvage crew as well. That's about where the comparisons stop. "Lost Voyage" actually manages to be very enjoyable for the bulk of its duration. However, the ending, like so many before me have stated, is just a little bit goofy and off-center.

Nelson plays a likeable guy who is obsessed with the Bermuda Triangle and the "Corona Queen," the ship that suddenly pops up out of nowhere and carried his parents to their demise back in 1972. He uses plenty of neat little gadgets to track paranormal activity on the ship in hopes of finding out more about his parents' deaths and to assist a news team hoping to bank in on the spooky cruise ship. Lance Henriksen, forever a staple of excellent B-cinema, turns in a wonderful performance as the captain of the salvage crew hoping to make a fast and fat buck off of the wreck. The rest of the cast is comprised of unknowns who all manage to turn in pretty good performances.

Things start to go bump in the night aboard the wreck, and the crew comes face-to-face with an abundance of creepy images and nightmarish visions that are intended to scare the viewer but don't quite make the cut. As the body count rises, the survivors decide to get off of the ship as quick as they can. This results in more deaths and an ending that just falls terribly flat.

The special effects are hokey at times, especially in the ending, but they hold up well thanks to a decently written script with a reasonable plot.

If you enjoyed "Ghost Ship," you might want to give this flick a try. To be honest, though, I'd just wait until this comes on the SciFi channel before I'd buy it. It's worthy of a rental. After that, the buying is up to you.

"Lost Voyage" spends so much time building up the audience that when we finally get the payoff, we're underwhelmed. Done by the folks at UFO and City Heat Productions, this film is sort of like "Event Horizon" in the ocean. However, it lacks the visceral scares and weird gore effects that "Horizon" so effortlessly pulled off. A cruise ship goes missing in the late 70s in the Burmuda Triangle and suddenly reappears present day. Judd Nelson and Lance Henrikson are among the people who get to investigate it. What ensues are a few minor scares, but mostly some confusing camera angles that suggests the director got squeamish and backed off on the gore. Big mistake. Instead, the movie is only mildly scary and the characters too undeveloped to care for. Rent it only if you're having a B-movie marathon.

If I hadn't rented this movie myself, I would have thought I was watching a late-night, made-for-TV movie on USA Network. The main characters are all played by has-been TV actors, none of whom really did much to enhance their parts. Maybe it was just the terrible dialogue. Judd Nelson had better lines in "Suddenly Susan", which says something about how terrible this movie was. Normally, I would have said that 90 minutes was not long enough to develop the plot and let the audience get to know the characters, but in this case, I just kept looking at the clock to see how much sleep I was losing.
For a movie about a ship, you'd think they'd actually have real shots of a ship. Instead, it appears that they took footage from a video game. Even the helicopter that transported the characters to the ship was fake. And the scene inside the Chinook helicopter was very inaccurate. There is no way the characters could have heard each other over the roar of 2 rotor engines. They should have had headphones on. And the special effects of the Bermuda triangle and the ghosts in the final scene were not gripping at all. In fact, there was no suspense in this movie.
It is easy to see why this movie went straight to video. Save your money and go see "Ghost Ship" instead. Oh, by the way, there are no special features on the DVD and if you want captions, the only choice is Spanish.

A young boy loses his dad and new stepmum in a bizarre cruise ship disappearance. Twenty five years later, the boy has grown up to become Judd Nelson, parapsychologist. If ths isn't odd enough, he also discovers that the lost ship has re-emerged in the Bermuda Triangle! With the help of a film crew and Lance Henriksen, Nelson boards the drifting vessel. Soon, creepy "accidents" begin to plague our heroes, and several deaths occur. The cast runs around the ship, dying one by one. Then, the finalé comes. Many ultra-cheeezy CGI ghosts are unleashed, causing far more laughter than chills. THE END. LOST VOYAGE isn't terrible, it's just nothing spectacular... P.S.- Don't let the "R-rating" fool you into thinking that LV is a gory creepfest either. Aside from a couple of F-bombs and a scant amount of blood, this could have easily been rated PG-13...

I happen to like ghost ship movies, too. I saw this and decided to get it. Others here have described the plot, so I won't go into that. I found though that the plot was rather wobbly at best. Unlike "Ghost Ship", where we know the souls are trapped onboard and that there's an evil force that wants to add the heroes to the deceased passenger list, here we have no idea what exactly is taking shots at our intrepid adventurers. In "Ghost Ship", those who were taken in by the allure of illicit gold lost their souls. Here there's no criteria. There are times it seems like it's ready to take off, only to sink (pun intended) back into a mediocre plot. I didn't mind the ending, although it's just as unbalanced as the rest of the story.

As far as "ghost ship" movies go, this one's surprisingly creepy and effective. Although some of the plotting is vague and undefined, the story manages to scare up a few jolts. Judd Nelson plays Aaron Roberts, a paranormal investigator, whose father and stepmother were among the passengers of the Corona Queen, which disappeared in the infamous Bermuda Triangle in 1972. 25 years later, the ship mysteriously reappears, and Nelson is asked by a pretty tv journalist (Janet Gunn) to accompany him to the ship. His curiosity, plus a visit from a ghostly specter, propel him to do so. Heading the salvage is Lance Henriksen, stalwart and semi-malevolent as ever. Reliable supporting actors Jeff Kober and Mark Sheppard tag along, as do Richard Gunn and Scarlet Chorvat. Once on the ship, weird things start happening and soon we know what will ensue. The CGI effects are obviously "staged" but they have a dreamlike, ethereal quality that fits the atmosphere of the movie. Director Christian McIntire (Antibody) uses lighting and music effectively, resulting in a spooky little tale.

before i saw this movie my opinion on ghost ship movies was lower than the low!!! i mean the actual movie named "GHOSTSHIP" was the best i had seen yet and that had a couple of good murder scenes but that was it the rest of it just flat out STUNK!!!!!!BUT!! this one(LOST VOYAGE) was a little unique it took off in many different directions to confuse you wich made for some good spooky/unsettled/goosepimpley scenes (kind of like"THE SHINNING")IT HAS SOME FLAWS BUT NOT ENOUGH TO RUIN IT!!!!!JUDD NELSON WAS GOOD!! everyone else did a decent acting job. at the end of the movie you may not completely understand what just happened but sometimes thats exactly what movies are supposed to do (CONFUSE YOU/ MAKE YOU FEEL UNSETTLED!!!!!)ANYWAY THIS MOVIE IS THE BEST GHOST SHIP MOVIE THAT IVE EVER SEEN(strait to video/tv or not!!)its more creative then any big budget crap like "GHOSTSHIP"./ TRUE HORROR SPOOK FANS WILL ENJOY "LOST VOYAGE" GO GET IT!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I had high hopes for this flick, but I was very let down. Judd Nelson is pathetically unbelievable. His acting is horrible compared to his performance in "Breakfast Club", which says a lot. Lance Henrikson does a fair job, and his character is somewhat convincing, but any role the man portrays screams "Millennium" (former TV show). The DVD itself has no special features that would set it apart from a VHS copy, save the digital audio track. The only reason to watch this movie to show your friends that, although "Freddy Got Fingered" really is the worst movie ever, you've found a serious contender for a 2nd place finishing.