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Review of the film "Ghost Ship"

Tue Jun 24 2025

Ghost Ship: When Haunted Houses Set Sail

The Lumière brothers’ train was arguably cinema’s first ghost, emerging spectrally from the screen to terrify early audiences. Recognizing the power of ghosts to instill fear, the film industry began mass-producing haunted house narratives. Ghost Ship, as I recall, was among the first to transpose this popular trope onto a maritime setting.

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The ill-fated luxury liner “Antonia Graza,” vanished in 1962, isn’t so much a Flying Dutchman as it is a floating haunted castle. The plot unfolds predictably for seasoned horror fans. We anticipate the bleeding walls of cabins, lounges, and pools, skeletons lurking in closets, and some unfortunate soul meeting their end via a falling corpse, prompting screams from the on-screen characters. The film’s success hinges on the director’s ability to build suspense and the screenwriter’s capacity to make sense of the nonsense they’ve created. Unfortunately, Ghost Ship falters in both these areas.

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Let’s overlook how an unguided vessel drifted from the Atlantic to the Bering Sea, on the opposite side of America. The crucial point is that a mysterious individual discovers it, silent and unlit, and proposes that the captain of the salvage vessel “Arctic Warrior” seize this floating Klondike. From their initial boarding, it’s clear that something is amiss on the “Antonia Graza.” Pale girls roam the deserted decks, smoldering cigarettes linger in ashtrays, murdered singers perform, and half-empty glasses of whiskey sit undisturbed. The audience is terrorized not only by ghosts but also by the antics of the salvage crew themselves.

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The Problem with Predictability

If the sole purpose of the film is to scare, it quickly becomes tiresome, leaving the viewer craving something fresh, perhaps a clever twist or a mind-bending revelation akin to The Sixth Sense. But such intellectual engagement is absent. No amount of wisdom could explain the absurdity concocted by the writers.

Director Steve Beck seems to believe that dark corridors, eerie creaks, and terrified expressions are enough to send shivers down the audience’s spines. He employs the standard horror toolkit, pushing the visuals to the point of surrealism, but to no avail. Without compelling characters, noble motivations, or a DiCaprio-esque figure to rescue a Winslet-like damsel, the film lacks genuine life. And who cares if mannequins explode?

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A Promising Start Gone Awry

The film begins promisingly: a cruise ship ball, a singer in red, gentlemen in tuxedos, ladies in elegant gowns – all abruptly bisected by a steel cable, resulting in severed limbs, torsos, and scalps. After such a shocking opening, one naturally expects more.