Lost Voyage

If you don't go into it with overly high expectations, nor expect there to be a particularly rigorous logic to what unfolds, this reasonably entertaining five or six star flick is worth a look, especially for fans of the Bermuda Triangle sub-genre of supernatural thrillers.

It must be harder than it looks to make a movie set aboard an ocean liner. Gritty dramas ("Souls at Sea"), thrillers ("Across the Pacific") or oceanic tearjerkers ("Titanic" & its predecessors") have scored, but among ghost stories set aboard ship, the nearest to the mark have been "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" & "Pirates of the Caribbean"--and it's generous to count either one of them. "Lost Voyage" doesn't really try very hard but is simply another installment in the Bermuda Triangle genre. Florida paranormal researcher Aaron (Nelson) learns that the cruise ship Corona Queen, which vanished in 1979 with his father & new stepmother--inspiring him to become a ghosthunter--has reappeared in the Triangle. She's in the middle of a growing tropical storm, of course, which may sink her at any time. Though proclaiming his reluctance, he inevitably brings his ectospotting-gear (once again, Man bites God with Gear) on a salvage mission. They're led by veteran, no-nonsense seascrounger Shaw (Henriksen) & backed by a TV station that sends both washed-up anchor Dana (Janet Gunn) & catty star reporter Julie (Chorvat), with nervous cameraman Randall (Richard Gunn) caught between the rivals. Hard-edged, good-hearted sea mechanics Dazinger (Kober) & Fields (Sheppard) round out the fateful team with occasional but much-needed comic relief. Of course the Corona Queen is just as she was before but passengers & crew are gone--or are they? Will the team find its answers, prevail or escape before the intense storm overcomes the drifting liner? Or will their own personal demons & rivalries tear them apart? The carelessness & cheapness that plague most SciFi Channel originals are largely absent from "Lost Voyage," which features a story of unusual depth (the characters must each face personal demons as well as supernatural foes & their own rivalries) even if it is predictable. A competent cast helps, too. Nelson's Aaron is a driven, fearless nerd, not unlike Richard Dreyfuss's Hooper in "Jaws," but more suitably somber here. Henriksen, the greatest sci-fi/action character actor since Harry Dean Stanton, is as solid as ever, bringing both believability & color to the tale. Stuntwoman Gunn is capable enough as the alternately bitter & optimistic TV reporter whose devotion to her craft usually overcomes her selfish ambition. The effects are pretty good, not spectacular enough to overwhelm the story & actors, used sparingly enough to enhance rather than distract. If you've never, ever heard of the Flying Dutchman, the Marie Celeste or the Bermuda Triangle, you'll find this movie enjoyable enough as a ghost thriller. Otherwise it's crushingly predictable, offering absolutely nothing that hasn't been done many, many times before in literature & film. "Lost Voyage" teases us early on with parapsychological mumbo-jumbo but that part of the story trails off into nothing. Even the great spooky-spoof "Ghostbusters" helped us out with that ("That's a BIG Twinkie"). There's an inherent pathos to ships, especially big ones, a sense that they're irrevocably tied to the times in which they sailed. They are machines yet somehow alive, servants yet grandly awesome. "Titanic" made so much money because it captured that theme & used it well. A pity that no nautical ghost story has yet been able to do the same.

From the way Lost Voyage sound and looks, it looks like two movies fused together, and the two movies are The Triangle and Ghost Ship. Lost Voyage is not bad, not bad, at all. Lost Voyage stars a great cast, featuring Lance Henriksen and Judd Nelson. The movie involved a cruise ship called the "Corona Queen.", which disappeared in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. After 25 years, the ship returns. But, the ship did not returns..... alone. On board, seven people will encountered evil forces and spirits on the Corona Queen. Lost Voyage plays it out like a ordinary haunted house movie. This movie is a scary, yet creepy version of Ghost Ship, As for UFO Pictures, this is a modern good, well-directed horror movie that dares you to venture onto the haunted cruise ship alone. The movie is not jam-packed with clichés, but also developed a intense atmosphere and that atmosphere is stays in it's own place as the picture ventures into the heart of darkness on the ship. Lost Voyage has some good performances from Lance Henrikson and Judd Nelson. As haunted ship movies goes, Lost Voyage is a good one. ★★★ 3 stars.

I rented this unsure of what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. The movie flows well enough and has enough creep factor to satisfy a small craving. The basic premise involves a young man named Aaron whose father and step-mother disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. When the ship suddenly reappears twenty-five years later, Aaron is intrigued as to what happened and ventures out to the Triangle to investigate. Lance Henricksen and Judd Nelson are standouts in the movie and are quite good. The rest of the cast are unexceptional and competent at best. My only real gripe with the movie is with the big ending scene. It's over-the-top and a case of a good idea with poor execution. Overall, not bad, but I really only recommend it for those without really high expectations that are only looking for a little mindless creepiness.

I was kind of bored with this movie at the beginning. The acting by some of the characters isn't the best, to say the least. However, after about 30 minutes, things start to pick up. It wasn't a bad movie. The special effects, especially at the end, had me gripping my pillow without realizing it. ;-) Not many movies can garner that much suspense, but this was one of the more unique Bermuda triangle movies. Just wish it would've had a better plot... 6/10