Ghost Ship Movie Download

4 / 10

Extremely derivative; the set design is the only good thing about this
Good old Dark Castle. This is the production group that brought us the remaked likes of the below-par HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (the sum of the parts being far greater than the whole of the movie) and the above-par THIR13EN GHOSTS (a film that actually managed to be consistently scary). Their third film, GHOST SHIP, is not necessarily a remake of one such film, but it’s not the first film with that title. Instead inspiration seems to come from the 1999 sci-fi horror film VIRUS and the 1980 B-movie DEATH SHIP, with George Kennedy. Sadly, GHOST SHIP is a clichéd and predictable “cast run around corridors getting killed” type-thriller with almost exactly the same set-up as the previous two films Dark Castle has produced, but with even fewer genuine scares or surprises.

The film plays out various uninteresting incidents with monotonous regularity. The opening sequence is the best in the film. We are introduced to a bunch of upper-class twits dancing on board a cruise liner sometime in the 1960s. There’s a foxy lounge singer on the soundtrack and some romantic lettering spelling out the titles. Think you’ve got the wrong film? Think again. The passengers find themselves massacred by a wire, which flies across the ballroom and cuts them into little pieces in a scene which reminds one of the Canadian indie hit, CUBE. The effect is simple, unbelievable, but astonishingly gruesome, and a real jolt to the system. A shame then that things go downhill so quickly.

GHOST SHIP is a film with a lot of spooky appeal. It’s atmospheric and the creaking, mouldy corridors of the long dead ship make for a great setting, I’ll give you that. Thumbs up to the set artists and production designers. Unfortunately, the matter-of-fact plot plays out exactly as you would imagine: the salvage ship “mysteriously” blows up, trapping the characters on board; body parts are found floating in the water and then mysterious, miscellaneous ‘haunting’ type things start happening. Blood runs out of walls, history replays itself, a naked ghost leads a womaniser to his death at the bottom of a lift shaft (?). Techno music has a habit of playing at inopportune moments and there’s an effectively spooky little ghost girl hanging around like the twins in THE SHINING, except this time she’s “good” and played with skill by newcomer Emily Browning.

By the time the end of the film comes, things aren’t even scary anymore. When one character is revealed as a monstrous demon, they couldn’t even be bothered to have any makeup. The whodunit aspect of the plot is lamentable and the finale, although boasting an impressive explosion, is empty-headed and severely disappointing. The less said about the ridiculous shock ending the better. Watch out for the dozens of plot holes and inconsistencies that the movie offers. I never knew you could carry a bar of gold around in your back pocket; I didn’t realise trouser belts were that strong.

The cast is a mixed bunch but generally uninteresting, thanks to the unlikeable characters. Gabriel Byrne is here, but who knows the reason why. Although he easily lends gravitas to the proceedings he seems understandably bored and unstrained by the material. Julianna Margulies’s feisty female heroine is a predictable Lara Croft-style adventurer and utterly banal, while the the comic relief from the likes of Ron Eldard and Karl Urban is a bore. Elsewhere we see actors from NEIGHBOURS (!) hamming it up as gory zombie ghosts and a token black being led to his death in a stereotypically racist moment. GHOST SHIP, aside from the copious amounts of atmosphere, is an extremely boring and unnecessary film that adds nothing new to its genre. Dark Castle need to pull their finger out and make a film with some actual plot to it next-time, instead of creating a movie which rips off a dozen others in the process.Read More