It's all aboard for spooky thrills and gory spills in Ghost Ship, a slick supernatural horror from director Steve Beck (who brought us the equally polished Thir13en Ghosts) that launches itself at full steam ahead with a particularly memorable opening scene—an entire room of cruise-ship passengers are graphically sliced in half when a metal cable whips across the dance-floor.
The film then slows to a more leisurely speed to introduce Captain Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) and his salvage crew (Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades and Karl Urban), who return home after six months at sea to be offered the opportunity of a lifetime by pilot Jack Ferriman (Desmond Harrington): the recovery of an Italian liner, the Antonia Graza, which mysteriously disappeared at sea forty years earlier.
Once on board the ship—a rusting, abandoned hulk adrift in international waters—our plucky seafarers stumble across a fortune in gold bullion, but soon get that sinking feeling when they discover that the boat is haunted and it looks unlikely that any of them will ever set foot on dry land again.
Despite almost being scuppered by a plot that takes a little too much swallowing at times, and suffering from a rather uneventful middle act, Ghost Ship is still a very entertaining popcorn horror: the cast all acquit themselves well, with Margulies proving to be a particularly capable lead; the set design, gore and digital effects are all top notch; there is some welcome nudity from hottie Francesca Rettondini, who plays a very sexy ghost; and director Beck successfully steers the film back on course for an exciting and surprisingly uplifting climax, followed by a pretty neat twist ending.
The film then slows to a more leisurely speed to introduce Captain Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) and his salvage crew (Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades and Karl Urban), who return home after six months at sea to be offered the opportunity of a lifetime by pilot Jack Ferriman (Desmond Harrington): the recovery of an Italian liner, the Antonia Graza, which mysteriously disappeared at sea forty years earlier.
Once on board the ship—a rusting, abandoned hulk adrift in international waters—our plucky seafarers stumble across a fortune in gold bullion, but soon get that sinking feeling when they discover that the boat is haunted and it looks unlikely that any of them will ever set foot on dry land again.
Despite almost being scuppered by a plot that takes a little too much swallowing at times, and suffering from a rather uneventful middle act, Ghost Ship is still a very entertaining popcorn horror: the cast all acquit themselves well, with Margulies proving to be a particularly capable lead; the set design, gore and digital effects are all top notch; there is some welcome nudity from hottie Francesca Rettondini, who plays a very sexy ghost; and director Beck successfully steers the film back on course for an exciting and surprisingly uplifting climax, followed by a pretty neat twist ending.