Rating: 
Summary: Better then I hoped it would be
Review: The title says it all,another film by Dark Castle Entertamint that I felt and thought that it didn't rely on gore like House On Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts did,there is gore in the movie but not enough it relys on the spooky sounds and images.I really enjoyed this film for many reasons,spooky,fun,good score and pretty good acting.Go see it and you'll like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad
Review: This movie didn't start off great (I guess I'm not a fan of blood and gore.) After that, it does get better, and there are a few exciting scenes. Some of it manages to be entertaining. I don't own Ghost Ship, but I've seen it in the theater. I recommend just renting it instead of buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the price of a matinee
Review: Julianna Margulies (of past ER fame) and Gabriel Byrne (Stigmata, The Usual Suspects) turn in respectable performances in the fairly average scary movie, Ghost Ship, directed by Steve Beck. It's worth the price of a matinee if you can't resist the seduction of shipwrecks, ghosts, and the sea. Ghost Ship is about the Antonia Graza, an Italian luxury cruise ship that blipped off of radar in the 60s. An elegant ballroom scene aboard the doomed vessel opens the film. This scene has a perfect 60s look and feel to it, which initially made me wonder if I were in the wrong theatre. It was a far cry from what the previews led me to expect. But I was in the right place. Not very long into the movie, we see a gruesome piece of what happened to the crew and passengers. Beck does a respectable job holding viewer interest as the story progresses, inserting more pieces in the puzzle until everyone sees exactly what happened to the original passengers and what's going on now. As the intrigue begins, Gabriel Byrne (Murphy) is the captain of the Arctic Warrior, a salvage ship. His crew looks a bit young and not nearly alcoholic enough to be true sea dogs, but they have one thing in common with other salvage teams: the love of treasure. International maritime law states that it's "finders, keepers" out there, so when Murphy's crew is presented with a chance to make a big score, the tired but greedy crew decides to climb back aboard the Arctic Warrior and head off to the Bering Sea to find the Antonia Graza and return with her treasures. Once aboard, the team splits up to explore the ship and sure enough, the fun and suspense begin in earnest. They discover her great treasure, but when they try to offload the booty from the Antonia Graza, it's clear she has other plans. That's when it gets ugly. There are a lot of dead things on this ship, and she desires that the living would soon join her other dead captives. I loved the atmosphere of this flick, with its greenish hues and dark, creepy set. There's night, rain, mystery, the sea, and a pretty tore up ship. Although the ship was never submerged, it looks as though it's been through quite a battle, with its wiring pulled out and hanging from the ceiling in practically every shot. I know sea air is corrosive, but dang! There's also a bit of gratuitous language, usually an early tip-off to a lack of purposeful dialogue. Fortunately, when things start happening, there's less swearing and the dialogue moves the story forward.
The editor deserves a tip of the hat. Ghost Ship runs about 75 minutes, just the right amount of time to develop the story and lead to its conclusion without getting submerged in subplots that go nowhere. This movie sticks to the main theme of creepy ghost ship, how it got that way, and what the current captives must do to get out with their lives. Ghost Ship has all the standard creepy special effects and a few stunts that rival those on Fear Factor. There are several very cool, original special effects as well, and the ending is a lot of fun. Like any scary movie, the plausibility gap is often wide, but the story moves along at a fair pace, keeping you interested to the end. I thoroughly recommend Ghost Ship if you're in the mood for this sort of fare. Bon Voyage!
Rating: 
Summary: Yikes! Not Even a "Good" Bad B-Movie!
Review: Although I disliked the other Dark Castle remakes - "House on Haunted Hill" and "Thirteen Ghosts" - I was willing to give 2002's entry into the studio's canon a whirl simply because of the premise. The trailers don't really leave much to the imagination: a salvage crew goes after an ocean liner that's been adrift for 40 years, and the ocean liner is haunted by ghosts. Even with this paper-thin premise and a tagline ("SEA EVIL!") that almost guarantees a movie you can chuckle about while hiding under the seat at the same time, "Ghost Ship" falls flat on all counts, being neither scary nor much of anything to mock appreciatingly. Like I said, the story is that a salvage crew is going after an ocean liner that has been adrift for 40 years and has bumbled into international waters near the Bering Straight. They are from some small Alaskan town, which apparently has enough salvage opportunities to run no less than six successful businesses of this type (one of MANY glaring plotholes). When a weather pilot shows up with pictures of the liner adrift, the crew decide to go for it after a thirty-second debate that passed for character development (example: "but what about my wedding?" "Ah, the money is worth it.") So after a minimal amount of dialogue, the crew is off. Once aboard the ship, creepy things start to happen (duh). It's only a matter of time before they are trying to salvage themselves instead of the boat. This negativity isn't to say that "Ghost Ship" doesn't have its good points. The black guy wasn't the first to die for once (although that honor went to the other token racial minority). The sets are really nifty, producing a great feeling of decay and squeezing in a tiny, rusting space (for all of a minute). And the opening sequence, which takes place in the past, is one of the best (and most gruesome) mass-death scenes ever done - clever, in that "gross!" kind of way. And, for a B-movie, the dialogue wasn't half-bad. Alas, the film was doomed before it came out of the starting block by the absolute lack of characterization, a lack of any real scares - most of them are the "things jump out" kind of fright, the abandonment of the mood-creating devices thirty seconds into the exploration of the ship, and an ending that seems completely out of place in a horror film. Not to mention that fact that the Bering Sea is one of the coldest waters on Earth, and if someone were to fall in, they would become a Popsicle faster than Leonardo DiCaprio spat out his final speech in "Titanic." Bottom line: avoid it, unless you have to complete your Dark Castle library. Final Grade: D
Rating:
Summary: 88 Minutes of My Life I'd Like to Get Back
Review: If there were any doubt at all that stories about haunted ships and doomed sea voyages are best found in pubs on the wharf or around a campfire, or in the folklore of sailors, a viewing of GHOST SHIP should settle the question.
The movie seems lost between two directions - mindless gore-shocker or atmospheric supernatural yarn. The result is that neither aspect of the story is developed well at all.
There are some neat visuals, which earned the film an additional star from me.
However, even Gabriel Byrne - and a glimpse of one stunningly beautiful naked woman - can't save this thing.
A huge disappointment...
Rating: 
Summary: Super Scariest Movie Ever!
Review: I loved this movie as soon as I saw the commercial. I can't wait till it comes out tomorrow! I'm a totally horror maniac ( not that kind of maniac), and when I saw this movie. I wanted to go right after school. I'm only 13, but horror movies are my life!
Rating:
Summary: Predictable, somewhat entertaining
Review: Thirteen Ghosts director Steve Beck returns to helm this Dark Castle flick which begins with an awesome display of makeup and digital trickery and a foreboding atmosphere, but the plot is loaded with cliches and is rather predictable who's going to get picked off next. When an ocean liner, missing for the past 40 years, mysteriously re-appears, a salvage crew (led by Gabriel Byrne) is offered to bring her in. Ghost Ship's presentation is slick to be sure, and I really wanted to like this movie, but it leaves you wanting so much more out of it. The cast also includes ER alumni and off-screen partners Julianna Margulies and Ron Eldard, as well as Wrong Turn's Desmond Harrington, Isiah Washington, and Karl Urban who looks like he just walked off the set of Lord of the Rings (which he most likely did). All in all, this is worth a look for horror buffs, but don't expect anything special.
Rating:
Summary: Cheap tricks = mediocre film
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Abandoned Ghost Ship in the Bering Sea? Keep it there.
Review: When I saw the trailer to Ghost Ship I was instantly hooked. A 40-years-lost cruise liner inhabited by ghosts both good and bad finally rediscovered by a crew of unexpecting boaters on a mission.
I didn't manage to see it in theaters, but one night my friend (who had seen it) and I were browsing shelves at Blockbuster and when I came across the movie I was very much inclined to rent it. Although against my friends' better judgement, we rented the movie. My friend was right.
The beginning of the movie started out on a beautiful, elegant cruise ship, with a formally dressed crew and lots of music and laughter. But unexpectedly, (I'm not gonna tell you how xP) all of the passengers wind up having died a very gory and extremely painful death, except for one lone little girl.
Fourty years later, that's when the boat crew comes in. They had been sent out to find this beautiful lost ship. Indeed, they did. One by one, members of the crew are dying, due to evil that still remains on board the ship, for the duration of the movie. Until only one characters are left, (the female character of course), and the very mysterious one the rest of them did not know very well. The little girl, who you now find out died a horrible and gruesome death as well, is a "good" ghost, unlike the rest of the unlikely crew, tells the female character that the must escape.
After the little ghost girl tells a story, there is a lengthy montage where you find out exactly how the rest of the crew died, including the girls' (in the beginning they only show you one way), complete with the type of music you would find on a racing video game (which I really didn't get because it was supposed to be set in the 60s). The montage, to me, was literally just a showcase thrown in by the directors as if to say "ha, look how much blood and gore we can throw in in three minutes!"
I don't really want to give away the ending, but I can tell you that it involves the mysterious guy being evil, the female character floating on a plank of wood Titanic-style, all the tortured souls of the ship being released into heaven, and the ship (also Titanic-style) sinking into the depths of the sea.
I have to admit, I liked the twist they added in the very end scene. But overall, I should listen to my friend more often.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad, but Not Great Either
Review: Ghost ship, brings to the screen the story of a salvage crew as it stumbles across an abandoned Italian cruise ship, in the vicinity of the Bering Sea, that has gone missing since 1962.
The major setback is in relation to the acting (or lack of it), which is just average, while the choice for lead actress was poor at best; this film does not seem to be her thing. She is unrealistically "tough" and not very likable. Overall, she is not convincing in her role.
Another weakness is in relation to the very poor dialogues, for which the writers are to blame.
Aside from that, the setting and the plot are pretty good!
The film combines drama, action, and adventure making it rather enjoyable, as long as you're in that kind of a mood.
|
