The Ghost Galleon

I saw this movie for the first time about 15 years ago under the title of "Ship of Zombies". Some of the special effects aren't very good i. e. ( certain scenes of the ghost ship from a distance look like a toy boat.)The ship itself when it gets boarded looked spooky and eerie enough and the models in the movie were nice to look at ( Cathy ). Not a bad late night movie to kill time with.

Horror of the Zombies otherwise known as The Ghost Galleon is the third movie in the Blind Dead franchise and presently the lowest rated on IMDB.

I loved the first film, I found the second rather disappointing and this deserves its place as the lowest rated.

It tells the story of two women out on the ocean who run into a huge galleon. Upon investigating they fall afoul of the Blind Dead and their employers come looking for them.

The ship setting was a great idea and had limitless potential but sadly the whole thing is a real sorry swing and a miss.

For a start everything looks shoddy, the sfx have taken a step backwards and look terrible. The ominous charm of the franchise is all but gone and truth be told very little actually happens and our ocularly challenged undead friends are barely on screen at all.

I can't believe such a great franchise is nose diving so badly, I can only hope the finale ends it on a high but it's not looking good.

The Ghost Galleon is a weak entry and an all round pretty lame film.

The Good:

Some great ideas

The Bad:

Timeline is still confusing

Very dull

Lacks everything that made the first movie so effective

Some beyond bad sfx

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

A petrol fueled motor boat cannot move out the way of slow moving incoming traffic

Religious scientists, still the most baffling oxymoron

Although one wouldn't know by the title,this is the third entry in the Spanish Amanda De Ossorio directed Blind Dead series,and as usual doesn't really have anything to do with the others except the Blind Dead themselves,those scary skeletal Templar knight zombies. This film is often considered the worst of the series,and it's certainly the tamest in terms of gore,but it's actually a very underrated film.

Skillfully exploiting it's main setting-a ghostly ship,Ossorio really manages to turn somewhat unpromising material into something quite effective. Yes,the plot hardly exists-some people are stranded on a ship inhabited by the Blind Dead,and that's really it,but the build up is ominous,the interior of the ship is made into quite a frightening place even without the Dead,and the Dead themselves,even shorn of their horses,are extremely creepy. Ossorio doesn't really get round the problem of the Dead being extremely slow moving yet able to catch their victims,but the climax of the film features the most effective shots of the Dead in the series,rising out of the water,looking truly spooky.

Hardly a classic,and there's no getting away from the unconvincing models of the ship,but this film really works very well within it's limitations.

I was so surprised to find this in a video store, seeing as that I hadn't seen it around anywhere else. I jumped to the chance of renting it, not wanting to wait for whenever Anchor Bay decided to release it. (Seeing as they had already released "Tombs of the Blind Dead" and it's first sequel).

Two models, Cathy and Lorraina, are (for some not quite clear reason) sent out to sea on a boat for a publicity campaign of some stunt. They soon come along an old-time galleon in the midst of darkness and fog. Lorraina boards and is heard screaming, and soon, Cathy follows, and the Templars come for her, too. Meanwhile, Cathy's best friend Noami (not, Naomi, as I figured, but Noami) is searching for her, and soon gets herself into trouble with Sergio, who was behind the publicity stunt. She demands they go off and find the girls, so with the help of a professor, Noami, Sergio, photographer Lillian, and Howard (whom I forgot the involvement of with the subplot) head out to sea to find the girls. They soon find the galleon, and board, only to soon be greeted by the Templar knights from the dead, and they discover they are trapped in another dimension (!) and must defeat the curse of the knights and escape.

It's a miracle I remembered all those characters' names!

A pretty good movie, suspenseful Templar attacks. The galleon is creepy-looking, but so obviously fake, it's funny. It looks like it belongs in one of those old claymation shows from the sixties and seventies. The acting is what you would expect from a movie like this, and the music is the classic chanting that always sets a good atmosphere. The only problem with this is that it wasn't milked for all it was worth. The story seemed short, and a bit weak at times. And understandably so. How much story could there be! Still, though, an alright movie, with a creepy ending. One odd note, the sound suddenly disappeared the last ten seconds of the film. Was that intentional? It could have been, but it seemed a little odd. I don't know, could have been the copy of the movie I got.

Overall, I recommend this for Blind Dead fans, if you can find it. Not as drawn-out at "Tombs" and not as exciting as "Return" (except "Return"'s horrendously flat ending!) but still a good film.

The Knights Templar, the hooded blind dead brought to life so vividly in Tombs of the Blind Dead and The Return of the Blind Dead by Amando d'Ossorio, are back to reek their vengeance upon the living. This time the setting is a galleon from the 16th century that only appears to small watercraft. The plot is pretty typical as a pair of models on a boat hook up with the galleon as it comes out of a consuming fog and mist. They disappear and others go after them. We eventually learn that the ship is centuries old traveling in its own time field. The prey, as with most Ossorio films, is filled with beautiful, bikini-clad women warbling out their death-screams, thus alerting their predators of their whereabouts. Atmosphere over plot to be sure here, and the film does pretty good as a suspense vehicle. The special effects...well they are not too special. The ship is quite effective in close-ups and mid-shots, but long shots reveal that it is nothing more than a model. The acting is pretty typical of such films, but certainly not detracting in any way. All in all this is a fine edition to the Blind Dead series....not the best...but entertaining nonetheless.