Le vaisseau fantôme

Ghost Ship is by no means the worst horror i have ever seen in fact some parts of this film are quite entertaining, the problem seems to be some of the poor digital computer special affect that make this film look like a bit of a B Movie. Some of the affects are good expecially the opening scene where we see the crewe of the ship killed by a steel rope.The acting is ok and the characters are good so that when they are picked off one by one ,you care. There are a lot of question left unanswered though and in stages the scenes apear to have been put in any old order . If you like Horror and dont want a film you have to think about too much then i sugest you give this a go. 6 out of 10.

With visions of riches spinning in their heads, a group of irritating boat salvagers set out to explore what's left of a luxurious passenger ship lost for over forty years on the high seas. Given that this film is a horror flick, the viewer understands from the beginning that the ship has an array of spooky surprises waiting for our adventurous fools.

The initial problem with this film is the salvagers themselves. They are not remotely interesting. They are stereotyped, stick-figure characters inserted to advance the preconceived horror plot.

As a ghost story, "Ghost Ship" lacked suspense, at least to me. The film's gore and hokey supernatural element were overdone, too obvious and direct. To create suspense, the filmmaker needs merely to hint at the presence of a lurking terror, and to slowly build anticipation, on behalf of characters we know and care about. This film thus suffers the same problems that plague so many modern films ... lack of character development and lack of subtlety. The unfortunate irony here is that the film's huge budget allowed the filmmaker to spend money on explosions, stunts, and other elements that actually lowered the suspense.

On the other hand, the set pieces were impressive, giving the ocean liner and the tug boat a sense of visual authenticity. And I liked the plot twist toward the end.

In summary, the film's concept was intriguing and the story had potential. But an absence of sympathetic characters and an overemphasis on expensive cinematic gimmicks combined to lower the suspense, and render a film that was fat and impersonal.

OK, ghost story. Not great movie, but it's enough solid that could have been great if it has a good script and I think this film looks like a bit of a B movie. The story and twist are good enough. I loved the opening scene, it was unexpectedly good. That scene was the only good thing about it and it's almost like they used their entire budget in that scene. The acting is OK and I didn't care for any characters except Emily Browning's ghost character which she was really likable. But overall, it was just an okay film with good story. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

I'm rather pleasantly surprised after seeing Ghost Ship…I expected it to be a lot sillier, more dumb and inferior than it actually is. Still a long way from being a good horror film but a step in the right direction, to say the least. Cast and crew paid attention to building up a horrifying atmosphere instead of attacking the audience with lame and violent killing scenes. That's an effort that gets my appreciation. The vicious opening sequence is professional horror… a scene that grabs you by the throat and demands your complete attention and curiosity for the rest of the movie. The high quality level is held up a little while longer but unfortunately it loses his grip during the second half. For as long as the mysterious, deserted ship is portrayed as a complete riddle, the film is fascinating, interesting and beautifully shot. As soon as a few plot-aspects are clarified, Ghost Ship turns into a mediocre and predictable thriller…I'm convinced that, with a slightly more intelligent script, this could have become one of the better horror-thrillers since the new Millennium. Now, it's only regarded as a reasonable and decent effort that lacks a bit of talent. Nonetheless, the settings and decors make it worth watching. The graphic decorations aren't overused, so it remains a beautiful experience to observe at least once. Gabriel Byrne is acting far below his normal standards and yet he's still great! All the other cast-members are pretty uninspired and forgettable. I'd describe Ghost Ship as a nice waste of time. If you have the opportunity, I advise you to search for an 80's horror title called `Death Ship'…a terrific piece of trash of which Ghost Ship borrowed a lot of ideas.

Sean Murphy and his crew are the top salvage experts in the land (well, sea). They have just completed one big job when a pilot, Jack Ferriman, comes tot them with a ship that he has spotted in remote, international waters. It hasn't responded to distress signals and it seems fair game if Murphy will give Jack a cut and let him come along. Murphy accepts and they set off. The fact that the ship doesn't show up on radar doesn't ring any alarm bells with the crew, who board the ship to find a deserted vessel ripe for the pickings. However she has sustained damage and has days before she will sink forever. Diver Maureen spotted a young girl on board is only the first of several strange things to occur and soon the crew find themselves in deeper than they planned.

Opening with a scene so brutal and gory (made all the worse for me knowing it was coming) that I literally couldn't watch, this film had me hooked at the same time as having me worried that this would just be a big gore fest with nothing else to it. Indeed this is what I had heard, having only read negative reviews for this film. However for the majority it avoids this by being spooky, atmospheric and engaging. The plot isn't anything amazing but it does the job. Many reviewers have said it turns rubbish in the final thirty minutes but to me it was still effective even if it did resort to genre by being gorier and more obvious. It will never win any awards for originality or anything else but it is an effective genre movie that avoids the b-movie schlock of stuff like Deep Rising.

Because it is mostly about atmosphere, the cast are only so-so as they are given little to do. Byrne is a good presence but is slumming it so obviously that he should probably have had a slot in his character's back with a studio exec feeding it every few minutes of screen time. Margulies is better as she has more to do and is a more interesting character; she can work at this level and does. Eldard has some terrible lines but does OK with Urban. Washington is better than this but is quite interesting and has a good screen presence. Harrington plays it so obviously that it is hard not to see him coming, which was a bit of a shame. The direction is good and the design/feel of the film is probably better than the material deserves – nicely building up tension and atmosphere as it goes.

Overall then a good genre movie. Better than b-movie stuff, it uses the gore sparingly for the most part and builds up to things well. In the end it may go just where you expect it to and not do anything that special but I found it quite enjoyable for what it was and, in the words of the advert, does exactly what it says on the tin.