Steve Beck (1)

This underrated film of a ship found adrift at sea is a blend of modern horror and old-fashioned storytelling. It moves the familiar haunted house story to the ocean with more emphasis on atmosphere and story than most present day horror films. Other than a somewhat gory opening scene the viewer must see as background, there is an understated atmosphere and old-style performances which make this one work well.

When a close-knit salvage crew led by Gabriel Byrne agree to go treasure hunting based on photos of an unknown ship drifting deep in the remote Bering Sea, they have no idea what lies ahead. Even the hardened Murphy (Byrne), who has seen strange things at sea, is shocked when what appears and disappears in the dark chilly sea on their radar screens turns out to be the Italian luxury liner Antonia Graza, drifting like a dark and elegant ghost. She is a maritime mystery, vanishing without explanation or trace decades before.

Epps (lovely Julianne Marguiles) is the first of the crew to realize something aboard the ship is very wrong, when she sees a sweet young girl who cannot possibly be there. Director Steve Beck does a nice job capturing for the viewer the sense of eerie wonder and anticipation exploring a dark, drifting ship deep in the ocean, thousands of miles from nowhere. As the crew begin to explore the Graza, tension builds and we feel a sense of doom. So does the crew, but just when they are ready to boogie out of there, gold is discovered.

The elegance and style of the original voyage is nicely captured in flashbacks, and adds dimension to the dreary present day salvage operation. Despite the fact this is a horror film of sorts, it is set design rather than special effects which drive it, and make it fun to watch. Marguiles does a nice job, as does Italian beauty Francesca Rettondini in her all-too-brief flashbacks. Emily Browning, as the young Katie, trying to protect Epps and her crew because she is not like the “others” is also very good.

The gory flashback which opens the film is more shocking than bloody, but still way too much for younger audiences, as is some language and the overall atmosphere. The opening scene does, however, elicit in the moviegoer empathy for young Katie, who may be the only hope for the salvage crew.

Ghost Ship has style and is told in an almost — minus some language and the aforementioned gory scene —old-fashioned manner. While some elements en route to an uncomfortable ending may be predictable, it is done with understatement and visual flair for the most part, making this a scary-fun film in the genre for those who enjoy a good ghost story set at sea.… (més)

Arthur Kriticos hasn't been doing well since his wife was killed in a fire. He and his remaining family barely get by, and their current apartment is small and crowded. He's shocked and cautiously thrilled when a lawyer drops by to tell him that his family has inherited a house from his deceased uncle, Cyrus Kriticos.

Cyrus was a ghost hunter who, at the time of his death, had been in the process of capturing and caging several ghosts. As Arthur, his teenage daughter Kathy, his young son Bobby, and his housekeeper/babysitter Maggie all tour the house, they're unaware that they're about to be trapped in Cyrus' greatest accomplishment, a house-shaped cage with mysteriously moving parts and a bunch of violent ghosts.

I will admit that this movie isn't great, but it does have its good points. First, the house is absolutely amazing, even if it's completely unbelievable as a place where anyone would actually want to live (my first words upon seeing it would be "Instead of living here, could we just sell it and its contents?"). Second, Tony Shalhoub does an excellent job with just about nothing. Characterization in this movie is paper thin, but he manages to bring Arthur to life nonetheless. Third, I like that the movie didn't end in the slaughter of most of its main characters. I know there are lots of horror fans out there who'd probably hate the movie's relatively low body count, but I actually like it when decent/innocent people manage to survive. Even if their survival doesn't necessarily make sense. ::glances meaningfully at one particular character::

Still, this isn't a great movie. The house and its existence is one of those things you can't think about too hard, or you start noticing all the many things that don't make sense. I barely paid any attention to Cyrus' reasons for building it in the first place, but later I found myself wondering if he'd actually lived there. If he hadn't, why furnish it so nicely and expensively? If he had lived there, how could he stand it, what with its glass walls and ghosts in the basement?

The psychic, Dennis, dropping by to see what Cyrus had done didn't really make much sense either. He'd been established as someone who'd only gone after those ghosts because Cyrus had essentially forced him to. I'd have expected him to be too fearful or too focused on his own survival to voluntarily step into Cyrus' lair, even considering what he knew about Arthur's connection to the house. And, by the way, Matthew Lillard's acting was...weird. Was he trying to sound as bizarre as possible during scenes where Dennis was upset, or was that just his best effort at acting upset?

I also thought Maggie's character was disappointing. Her presence didn't make much sense. How was Arthur paying her? It was clear he didn't have much money, and I had difficulty believing that she'd work for free. Her last line, especially, made it sound like she probably wasn't a friend of the family. Arthur clearly wasn't happy with her housework and cooking. The only thing she seemed to be good at was dealing with Bobby, who'd reacted to his mother's death by becoming fascinated with anything to do with death.

I've seen this movie often enough now that I can't really say for sure anymore whether it's scary. In my most recent rewatch, there were only a few scenes that put me on edge: a couple scenes in the basement and the scene in the bathroom with Kathy and the Angry Princess. The movie's gore is pretty much limited to the first scene in the junkyard and the lawyer's death. (Is it just me, or did a lot of horror movies in the early 2000s like using that effect where someone is quickly sliced into two or more sections? I can think of two others besides this one that do this.)

There was one bit that bugged me, not because it was particularly gory (it wasn't), but because of the way it was shot. Kathy, Arthur's teenage daughter, was attacked by a ghost. The ghost shredded her clothes, and viewers were given a brief glimpse of part of one of her breasts. It seemed unnecessary and inappropriate. A similar scene happened later on with Arthur, but unlike Kathy's scene it didn't have any sexualized elements.

All in all, this is one of the few horror movies I've seen that I'll willingly rewatch, despite its mediocre story and characters. I like it, more than it really deserves. I think it's primarily the house that pulls me in, and maybe Tony Shalhoub, a little.

Extras:

- Audio commentary

- Documentary, "Thirteen Ghosts Revealed" - Interesting, since I knew nothing about the history of this movie going in and didn't know it was a remake. I liked the bit about the ghosts' makeup, but it needs a giant warning for the close-up of a contact lens being put in one of the actors' eyes. Gah.

- Ghost Files: A Haunted Houseful of Poltergeist Profiles - This is a must if you like the movie, even though Cyrus does the commentary and is occasionally nasty and cruel. Each one of the movie's ghosts has a detailed backstory, revealed here. I do wish this feature had had some kind of "view all" button, though.

- Tricky Excess Club Reel

- Theatrical trailer

- Cast film highlights

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (més)