“Ghost Ship” Blu-ray Review
There’s a certain level of expectation one has from a film with a title like Ghost Ship and a tag line like “Sea Evil.” That level, of course, is zero, so anything it can do to impress is immediately added to the “positive” side of things to think about when this movie comes to mind. Sadly the list for this film is incredibly short and as much as I wanted to get into a haunted ghost ship (it’s a rather trite story element, but it still works, I think, and they certainly had a great atmosphere to work with), I was ultimately led astray by the films eventual explanation of the story and the ridiculously dumb ending.
Synopsis
Danger dead ahead! Dark Castle – makers of the updated House of Wax and House on Haunted Hill – invites you to take a cruise on Ghost Ship. Julianna Margulies, Gabriel Byrne and Isaiah Washington are aboard a mysteriously adrift luxury liner hexed by a seafaring collector of souls. “It may just scare the pants off of you” (John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press).
Yes. It may scare the pants off of you, but it likely won’t. The thing that gets me into the mood of a horror film more than anything is its setting. Being held up in a mall to fight off zombies or being stuck inside of a hotel to ward off…well, more zombies (hey most good location based films involve zombies) make for great scenarios because they “trap” the individuals with no way out. It also gives a sense of security if they all stay together in one room (so you can yell at the stupid ones for disserting the group). So Ghost Ship definitely has a good premise going for it in that it keeps the crew in one area before killing most of them off.
But as good as the setup and early elements of the film are (that opening massacre was still quite a sight to see, even seven years later), it just doesn’t hold up in any other area. Nor did it ever, truth be told. The film was simply too reliant on angry ghosts working as a story element and while I can buy into the paranormal and what not when it’s used as the sole plot device, here it just…doesn’t work. The film is set up as something other than that and when the big reveal kicks in you are left with an empty feeling.
Reading about how the film was originally conceived, as a psychological thriller rather than a straight up gore fest, just makes me all the more disappointed with this film. What could’ve been a moderately entertaining brain twizzler ended up being a run of the mill splatter romp. It’s a shame because the actors here all do a solid job with the material…it’s just ultimately a big waste of everyone’s time because nothing good comes of the film.
I had hoped I’d get something out of this one but…there isn’t anything to take away from it. I still really liked the opening to the film and anytime you explore a dark ship with flashlights and hear voices can make for a good time. But more than anything it was the ending that killed this one for me. The transportation of whatever supernatural mumbo-jumbo was going on in the ship can suddenly be transferred to land and…I don’t know. I stopped caring when the credits rolled. I figured I’d get nothing out of this film and aside from the cool mass decapitation intro, I was right.
Overall a film worth a Rental if only to bolster the Halloween season. Other than that? You can Skip It.
The Blu-ray
The film arrives in a standard Elite Blu-ray case with the usual inserts (update your firmware!). Extras are all ported over from the previous edition and the VC-1 encoded transfer was surprisingly good. There was a bit of softness to it but the harsh blacks and blue hues throughout the film were always pleasing to the eye. Some grain was present as well but overall a solid transfer, which is matched by its Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track which offers some gruesome sound effects and occasional LFE output to shake the room. Nothing overly amazing in anyway, but still a solid mixture nonetheless.
Extras include:
• Max on Set: Ghost Ship {AKA Documentary)
• Secrets Of The Antonio Graza featurette
• Visual Effects Featurette
• A Closer Look at the Gore
• Designing the Ghost Ship
• Club Reel: Not Falling
• Theatrical Trailer
Not a whole lot in the extras department but this isn’t exactly a film that screams the need for multiple commentaries or overly long documentaries, either. If you own the previous release then you can stick to that one. If you’re a newcomer…well, give it a Rental. The moody setting and brutal opening are worth one viewing at least, I suppose.
Ghost Ship is now available on Blu-ray.