Finally, a breath of fresh air. There's been downpours of such "horror" films like Darkness Falls, They, and Secret Window, and it's nice to see a movie that sets up its characters in a chilling manner, slowly letting us get to like them, and then the horror turning on us in a subtle yet horrifying manner that gives us nightmares. The movie I'm talking about hasn't actually come out yet, and will probably never be released. I'll bet you thought I was talking about Ghost Ship, right? Ghost Ship is not a movie like that; in fact, it's the complete opposite of what horror films were in their peak in the 70s and 80s. That doesn't automatically mean it's a terrible film. It's just not great.
A salvage crew at sea spots a 40 year old cruise ship out in the middle of nowhere. The b-list and z-list actors go aboard to search for whatever treasures may be aboard. But it's a ghost ship, so various horror-related things occur to them, as they die (you guessed it) one by one.
The opening scene is a great one-setting the mood (which is quickly broken) and then some gore that isn't over-the-top. In fact, it's pretty funny, and I was amazed that they didn't go all out. But then it becomes typical new millennium horror fare. The characters are all underdeveloped, there's the bad-ass woman, there's the captain of some Western European descent, there's the two buffoons, there's the person trying to hit on the bad-ass woman, and there's the mole/traitor in the midst. You can combine those, if you want. The misadventures of these characters are strictly by-the-books, with some creepy surroundings and a few jump scares, but nothing really more. The special effects are generic, and everything comes down to some silly conclusion that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Wait, was I describing Ghost Ship, or was I describing every other horror movie that has come out recently?
On the other hand, the movie has some cheesy fun to it. You wait to see what sort of improbable happenstances occur, with some sort of schadenfraude to it. You don't care about the characters, so you wait to see how they're going to be killed next. It's fun, for the most part, if you can leave all of the nautical mumbo jumbo behind and just go for an atmospheric if hardly scary ride through the ghost ship. Incidentally, the scariest part of the movie is actress Julianna Margulies's eyebrows. But, why not give Ghost Ship a try? It's enjoyable, and you might actually be scared by it (well, probably not).
My ratings: 5/10
Rated R for strong violence/gore, language and sexuality.
A salvage crew at sea spots a 40 year old cruise ship out in the middle of nowhere. The b-list and z-list actors go aboard to search for whatever treasures may be aboard. But it's a ghost ship, so various horror-related things occur to them, as they die (you guessed it) one by one.
The opening scene is a great one-setting the mood (which is quickly broken) and then some gore that isn't over-the-top. In fact, it's pretty funny, and I was amazed that they didn't go all out. But then it becomes typical new millennium horror fare. The characters are all underdeveloped, there's the bad-ass woman, there's the captain of some Western European descent, there's the two buffoons, there's the person trying to hit on the bad-ass woman, and there's the mole/traitor in the midst. You can combine those, if you want. The misadventures of these characters are strictly by-the-books, with some creepy surroundings and a few jump scares, but nothing really more. The special effects are generic, and everything comes down to some silly conclusion that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Wait, was I describing Ghost Ship, or was I describing every other horror movie that has come out recently?
On the other hand, the movie has some cheesy fun to it. You wait to see what sort of improbable happenstances occur, with some sort of schadenfraude to it. You don't care about the characters, so you wait to see how they're going to be killed next. It's fun, for the most part, if you can leave all of the nautical mumbo jumbo behind and just go for an atmospheric if hardly scary ride through the ghost ship. Incidentally, the scariest part of the movie is actress Julianna Margulies's eyebrows. But, why not give Ghost Ship a try? It's enjoyable, and you might actually be scared by it (well, probably not).
My ratings: 5/10
Rated R for strong violence/gore, language and sexuality.