Le vaisseau fantôme

The third movie produced by the production company "Dark Castle" and managed by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis, "Ghost Ship" (2002) marks a step forward and constitutes a neat improvement in comparison with the two previous movies, "the House on the Haunted Hill" (1999) and "13 Ghosts" (2001). This can be checked at the level of a meticulous making and quite outstanding special effects. It is all the more positive as with "Ghost Ship", we deal with a B movie. Another good point: the change of scenery. It is a judicious choice to have replaced the threadbare topic of the haunted house by the haunted ship.

If the screenplay doesn't avoid all the Hollywood conventions, neither all the clichés of the horror film, the director Steve Beck makes up for it by shrouding his movie an atmosphere of mystery as soon as the crew discovers the ship. He's also imposing (slowly but surely) a progressive rise of the tension which reaches its climax in the end. The result: we come in for a few real moments of fright and Beck, in the long run puts the spectator in his pocket.

As far as the cast is concerned, there are two surprises. First: Julianna Margulies who for once decided to give up scalpels in the "ER" series and especially Gabriel Byrne. An ambitious actor who isn't reluctant to sometimes act in a horror movie which is potboiler for him like "End of Days" (1999) or "Stigmata" (1999).

It is a shame that the end isn't really satisfying and suits badly to the whole. But no matter, "Ghost Ship" remains a nice little horror movie whose main function is to make shiver. For this, it reaches its goal. One last thing, if the movies that come out of the "Dark Castle" production company keep on gaining in quality, maybe will they create a masterpiece one day...

NB:it borrows a bit from "shining".

Well, not bad. Not great, but not bad. I am a big fan of horror movies that aren't all about the horror but are more about a good, well thought out storyline. Think "Sixth Sense". While Ghost Ship pales in comparison, it has enough elements in it that satisfies me for me to give it a thumbs up, albeit a hesitant one.

Set and production design ... brilliant. It's incredibly difficult to not believe it's being filmed on location on a real decrepit, falling-apart ship. Inside and outside, it's filled with lush visuals that draw you into the movie. But i'm jumping ahead of myself.

The beginning is awesome. I love it. Never before have I been so impressed by the first couple of minutes of a movie, like I have been with Ghost Ship. Although the 'dramatic pause' after the event goes on for a bit too long (it doesn't really build up tension because you know what happened) the effect still works well overall and the special effects and acting are pretty damn good. Very nice. As is all the gory stuff in the movie.

Katie is brilliant. The first close-up we get of her, she looks cold and wet and although not frightening, she looks seriously spooky. Initially, I was mentally preparing myself for her to be heavily involved in the 'scares' of the movie, but was pleasantly surprised at her innocence throughout the movie, revealing later on exactly why she is the way she is.

The acting is solid enough - not brilliant (with exception of Katie, who does a very good job of tensing things up again - more so than any scare tactics) and the direction is pretty good, with the focus being on the right things and the pace of the movie consistent.

I do feel not enough attention was paid to the history behind the back-story of the ship's strange events (i.e. the "Lusitania" and how the gold came to be on the ghost ship itself) as well as a suspiciously obvious lack of character background for some of the characters, although the lack of it doesn't really detract from the movie itself, but makes you realize how important these details can be after watching the movie.

Emotionally I swayed through the movie. Many times I was thoroughly engaged to it, and you feel like a part of the world. At other times I felt totally disconnected as the actors didn't do enough to keep my attention. But then, something would happen that would raise my eyebrows just a bit.

Speaking of that, the scene where Katie takes Epps 'back' and shows her what happened - wow! I must say that I love that scene ... the camera work is awesome and the acting from the many extras is outstanding. But once again, it is what happens to Katie that is utterly harrowing. It's not often that I utter "Oh my God ..." in a soft shocked whisper as my mouth refuses to close. That scene packed a punch that lasted a long time.

On the other hand, the scene near the end with the people in the cargo room was totally rushed, with just too much happening and too many switches and deaths and, well, the message is obvious but it occurs with seemingly minor character such as Francesca that didn't seem to (at the time) make any significant contribution to the story. Having said that, after re-watching, I see how Francesca fits into it, based on the motive of the characters and the flow of the story. But it just seems a bit over-the-top ... not in violence, but in concept.

The thing that killed it ... the ending. Awful. Did they run out of money? Time? I just didn't get why it had to end like that. Sequels aside (how can there be a successful sequel? The 'Antonio Graza' sunk ... so would there be a different boat? Hmmmm...) the ending feels totally pointless. I didn't get it, and I didn't like it either. Do the bad souls leave the ship and go to another ship in the near future??

Having said that, I think the whole 'souls' thing is a bit ridiculous, because despite it tying in with the movie's concept, it seems to justify having strange occurrences on the ship, rather than having the strange occurrences justify the reason for the ghosts. I hope that makes some sense.

At the risk of looking at this too deeply for a horror flick, I think that there's more to the gold than just being 'stolen gold' - in my mind, the movie is not about the ghosts, or the gold, or the ship. It's mostly about pure greed - which the gold represents, and the evil in people which will never die. Which is the only reason why the ending could be as it is, in my eyes, since 'evil' walks out with the gold, to trap some more people into 'being evil' and therefore 'selling his soul' - note that the gold has no markings AT ALL and the tracing numbers have been 'filed down' - does the gold even exist??? After all, it was pure greed that got the crew out there in the first place, even though there was a good chance that they'd leave with nothing of significant value despite the attached investment of time and money but without being 'intentionally' greedy.

Anyway, those are some questions that I wasn't too sure about after watching the movie, even after another viewing. So, overall, pretty decent. But more work needed to be put into the ending and the character development ... even if it added an extra 15 minutes. It would turn a goodish movie into a solidly good movie.

6/10 is too low, 7/10 is too high. 6.5 but promoted to 7 because of that awesome opening and 'flashback' scene.

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.

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.

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.