The Ferryman

There are quite a few good ideas here and the actors involved must have a great time when they shot the movie. But that's not all I can review, otherwise the movie would have ranked higher. Talking about the actors: Although we have at least one great actor here, the overall performance is sometimes not really good. And by the way, any kind of nudity that might be or might not be in the movie, didn't make any difference in my rating/review. (a nod to a friend of mine, in case he's reading! ;o)

But apart from the (sometimes) overacting, the other two flaws are the (holes in the) script and the odd editing! So it's not too bad (there a few really good scares here), but overall it's not more than mediocre!

I've read some pretty scathing reviews of 'The Ferryman' online; most actually have quite clever titles like 'Don't pay The Ferryman,' 'Ferry Awful' and 'Throw it overboard.' Despite finding those titles amusing, I have to disagree.

The Ferryman doesn't exactly rewrite the horror genre; its place lies firmly in that massive middle ground of a billion other low budget horror movies that the average horror fan watches when there's nothing else on TV in the hope that this one might actually be quite good. Most aren't, but, in my opinion, The Ferryman is at least watchable enough to keep the average horror film entertained for an hour and a half.

It's about a small boat, containing six twenty-somethings, sailing to Fiji. Sadly, the pleasant holiday ambiance is cut short when they rescue a mysterious strange from a stricken boat - and, as we all know, picking up mysterious strangers is never a good idea.

I won't go into too much details about the plot as you may not know which direction the film will take, but, like I say, although The Ferryman is nothing spectacular, it's not as bad as some people seem to be making out.

In New Zealand, the couples Tate (Sally Stockwell) and Chris (Craig Hall) and Kathy (Amber Sainsbury) and Zane (Julian Arahanga) come to the yacht Dionysus to sail to Fiji Islands in a romantic trip. The skipper Big Dave (Tamer Hassan) and his girlfriend Suze (Kerry Fox) welcome the quartet with their beloved dog Rolex. On the second day, the Dionysus receives a distress signal in Morse code and Dave head to a mysterious fog to help the ship. They find a fishing boat adrift and Chris and Zane row a small boat to the vessel to avoid reefs. They find a crew member (John Rhys-Davies) near death and they bring him to Dionysus. Sooner they discover that the man is possessed of a demon and he uses a dagger to cheat death and switch bodies with his victims.

"The Ferryman" is an underrated horror movie based on the legend of the Greek mythology of Charon or Kharon, the ferryman of Hades that carried the souls across the River Acheron to reach the world of the dead. His payment was a coin in or on the mouth of the dead person. In the introduction of "The Ferryman", there is a narration in off telling that "in ancient times there was the legend of the Ferryman. He took the dead to be judged into the afterlife and his prize was a coin in their mouth. If anyone tried to cheat death, they would also be cheating the Ferryman and they could never escape for the Ferryman would hunt them forever." The screenplay combines the foregoing legend with "Dead Calm" and "Fallen" and the result is a good gore film. In the end, I was surprised since I had the lowest expectations based on the IMDb Rating. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Vingança do Demônio" ("The Revenge of the Demon")

Three couples embark on a six day romantic boat journey to Fiji and their differences ensure that personality clashes abound.However all that is put to one side when they encounter a seemingly abandoned boat in dense fog.They find a living stranger on board and rescue him,however the terrifying consequences lead to plenty of gore.It seems that the ship is deserted apart from the mysterious sailor lying half-dead under a tarpaulin(played by horror regular John Rhys Davies).Rhys-Davies' body is actually home to a being who can shift between bodies swapping souls.This soul-swapping is achieved with the aid of the magic dagger-if he stabs somebody with it,he instantly becomes the victim.He's doing this to avoid a demonic entity called 'the Ferryman' who has been chasing him through thousands of bodies over many years.In "The Ferryman" each victim in turn becomes the killer.The killer always has a snakelike tattoo on their back,which is the symbol of infinity.During the first 40 minutes the action moves slowly and the legend of Ferryman is slightly confusing.Still I enjoyed this quite exciting,gripping and bloody horror flick.7 out of 10.

Reasonably good and old-fashioned scary demonic horror from New Zealand, "The Ferryman" occasionally succeeds in combining the claustrophobic atmosphere of "Dead Calm" with the 'do not even trust your loved ones'-suspense factor of "The Shining". This film features one of the most solid basic horror-premises in years, as it revolves on the ancient Greek myth of the ferryman who – according to the legend – needs to be paid in order to guide newly deceased souls over to the other side. For centuries already, one man always managed to escape death by constantly shifting into the bodies of unsuspecting tourists and seamen crossing the waters surrounding the New Zealand islands. He uses an uncanny old dagger to transfer his spirit into a new host and his unfortunate victims die in the old body. When a tourist yacht with six passengers on board rescues and old and sickly man during a storm, they don't realize their lives are endangered as he now has six vital and healthy bodies to choose from. The first 40 minutes of "The Ferryman" are a bit slow and uneventful, mainly because director Chris Graham spends too much time on the overly detailed and slightly redundant character drawings. We're getting rather useless information regarding the three couples' backgrounds and history. A good thing, however, is that none of the characters is your average slasher-stereotype. They're all realistic and likable (at least, most of them) people and not just dumb high-school students on their way to an island-party, or something. As soon as the eerie old man – another great role for John Rhys-Davis – plants his dagger in the chest of his first victim, "The Ferryman" turns into an exciting and spectacular horror film. Some of the death sequences regretfully take place off screen, but others are pretty gruesome and cruel. The titular ferryman only appears briefly at the beginning and the end of the film, but he's a traditionally nasty-looking monster with a rotting face and a hoarse voice. The inescapable location of a yacht in the middle of the open sea and often stuck in thick fog banks adds a great deal the atmosphere and the photography is beautiful. The last sequences on board the yacht, and particularly the ingenious epilogue, will undoubtedly please even the most skeptical horror fan. Recommended.