Cast: Julianna Marguilies, Gabriel Byrne, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades, Karl Urban, Emily Browning
Director: Steve Beck
Producers: Gilbert Adler, Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis
Screenplay: Mark Hanlon and John Pogue
Cinematography: Gale Tattersall
Music: John Frizzell
U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers
Ghost Ship is essentially a movie about a bunch of anonymous characters stuck in a floating haunted house. In general, this kind of movie can be diverting if it's put together correctly. (Consider, for example, that Ridley Scott's Alien is essentially a haunted house movie, set on a spaceship.) Unfortunately, Ghost Ship shows little in the way of solid craftsmanship. Since the primary asset of a haunted house movie is rarely the plot, this sub-genre must rely on elements like shock tactics and suspense – two characteristics where Ghost Ship falls short. Aside from an occasional, half-hearted "boo!" moment, there's nothing scary about this movie.
Recently, I reviewed another horror film called The Ring, a ghost story characterized by a strong sense of atmosphere and a really dumb story. Compared to The Ring (which is its chief box office competition during the 2002 Halloween season), Ghost Ship boasts a more solid plot but a distinct lack of creepiness. Okay, so we're startled when a guy falls through a rusted-out section of the floor, but isn't this kind of movie supposed to make us want to hide behind our seats or curl up into a ball? Horror movies are intended to be scary, but this basic tenet seems to have eluded director Steve Beck and his team.
In deference to Beck's skill as a filmmaker, I must acknowledge that Ghost Ship contains one effective, close-your-eyes-and-wince scene. It occurs early in the movie (and, for good measure, is repeated in part later), where a few dozen people are literally cut in half by a taut, thin steel cable that breaks loose. It's a gruesome, gory moment that offers the kind of visceral impact that nothing else in this otherwise hum-drum motion picture matches. If you see Ghost Ship, you'll remember the beginning and forget the rest of it.
Ghost Ship opens with a prologue set in 1962 that shows in partial detail how the Italian ocean liner Antonia Graza enters the Marie Celeste category. Some forty years later, a salvage crew led by the captain of the tugboat Arctic Warrior, Murphy (Gabriel Byrne), learns of the opportunity to bring home the Antonia Graza, which is drifting around in the international waters of the Bering Strait. Maritime law claims "finders, keepers", and Murphy isn't about to let the opportunity float away. So, accompanied by his right-hand woman, Epps (Julianna Marguilies); his first mate, Greer (Isiah Washington); his engineer, Santos (Alex Dimitriades); a couple of clowns who still think they're in high school; and the pilot who located the derelict; Murphy heads out to sea. The crew of the Arctic Warrior quickly finds the Antonia Graza and discovers that, while there may not be anyone alive on board, that doesn't mean the ship is uninhabited.
Nearly all of the characters in Ghost Ship are flat, underdeveloped, and uninteresting. Epps has the potential to become a Ripley, but she isn't given the screen time or the opportunity. Oddly, the most "human" character is one of the ghosts – a little girl named Katie (Emily Browning), who appears from time-to-time to reveal bits and pieces of the past. We also see her during the prologue, as the sole survivor of the steel cable incident. It's not a good sign when an audience feels more sympathy for an apparition than for the flesh-and-blood protagonists.
Wandering through darkened corridors and abandoned rooms is not an inherently interesting cinematic experience. It's up to the director to generate the feeling of escalating tension to remind us that something nasty might be lurking in the shadows, just out of sight. This is a sensation that Ghost Ship deprives us of. The gloomy hallways in the bowels of the Antonia Graza aren't ominous; they're just poorly-lit. The ghosts aren't malignant apparitions; they're special effects. And Ghost Ship is about as frightening as Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion.
© 2002 James Berardinelli