I had such high hopes for Ghost Ship. It opens with a peculiarly stretched older version of the Warner logo (the one with the ugly, polluted looking orange clouds), and then, as we see an opulent luxury liner circa 1962, the orchestra breaks into a beautiful quote of "Senza Fine," a song which most people will remember from the 1965 version of The Flight of the Phoenix, which may lead them to believe this ship is time traveling along with transporting its ghostly manifest (the song actually was an Italian hit in 1961 before it came stateside). And then there is one of the more bravura openings to a horror thriller in recent memory. As the deck band continues on with the song (that Henry's daughter Monica Mancini providing the voice for the singer), we see someone jiggering with a taut metal cable which then snaps, literally slicing and dicing its way through the dancers on board. Only a young girl, too short to be hit by this makeshift blade, is spared. It's gory, funny and horrifying all at the same time. Unfortunately it's one of the last innovative moments that Ghost Ship offers. In fact, I can almost imagine the pitch for this film: "let's do a haunted house movie. . .only we'll put it on a ship!" Thus what passes for creativity in Hollywood is greenlit.
The Antonia Graza, circa 1962.
The film picks up in present time with the hardscrabble crew of the Arctic Warrior, a salvage ship manned by a cast of characters including Captain Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) and his first mate Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies), whom we're told is like a daughter to him. There is also a quartet of guys helping out, all of whom should have just been costumed, a la the original Star Trek, in red shirts—you know going in to a film as nuanced as this (not) their days are numbered. It doesn't take long for them to be recruited to explore a ship drifting in the Bering Strait. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out it's the remains of the liner we saw in the opening scene, now strangely rusting and deserted, but filled with otherworldly phenomena that seem malevolently intent on killing everyone, but only after scaring them merely half to death.
Ghost Ship has some great elements, that can't be denied. The production design is fantastic, with some of the most elegantly lit scenes in recent memory, beautiful multi-colored dapples of what is supposed to be reflected water aboard the slowly sinking ship. There are also some fun special effects, as when crewman Greer (Isaiah Washington) drinks a bit too much and then has a vision of the ballroom reconstituting itself back to its glory days. The entire film has a nice, suitably dark feel that helps to support the overall feeling of menace, and some of the ghost effects are suitably luminous and creepy.
And yet it is all just so damnably stupid and predictable. First of all, anyone with half a brain (and you know who you are) is going to have one major clue about what's really going on from one of the supporting characters' tell all surname, especially if you're a fan of mythology. Let's just say it's a "surprise" not even at the level of Angel Heart's Louis Cyphre. And once the setup is underway, director Steve Beck has the really odd habit of cutting between several characters' scare-athons, robbing each of them of any real shock value. The denouement is also something of a mess, with several unexplained elements. This "Moishe the Explainer" segment, which is visually quite arresting due to being framed as a vision the Margulies character experiences, is ruined by the completely off putting Hip Hop soundtrack which accompanies it, something all the more incomprehensible since these events she's witnessing are playing out in the early 1960s (there's that time traveling feeling again, albeit more understandable this time).
Byrne and Margulies make an appealing enough lead duo to root for, but their characters are so stereotypical any attempt to invest some reality in them by these actors is largely for naught. Captain Murphy is a reformed alcoholic, so how long do you think it will take him to find some conveniently tempting available liquor on board? Epps is a tough as nails woman doing a man's job, so guess who is going to be the last person standing as the film winds to its close? The rest of the supporting cast, including Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington and Karl Urban, does what they can with roles that are cardboard cutouts of various horror film tropes.
Unfortunately, the biggest ghost haunting Ghost Ship is the spirit of better horror films past, a spectre that this movie can never quite escape.
What Ghost Ship the film lacks in originality, it partially makes up for in some of the most luscious cinematography (by Gale Tattersall) in recent memory, photography that this Blu-ray's VC-1 encode reproduces with stunning results. As mentioned above, the lighting in this film is fantastic, with gorgeous dappling effects that shimmer (in a good way) and fill scenes with a ghostly ambience that the film's story only haltingly is able to convey. A lot of this film is dark, dark, dark, and this Blu-ray's black levels and contrast are top notch, with a depth of detail and clarity in even the most deeply shrouded segments. Colors are lifelike and well saturated, and the special effects literally shine with a glow that helps to offset the patent ridiculousness of the script. Occasionally the superior resolution of the BD does undercut some of the less successful special effects, as in the establishing shots of the liner next to the salvage tug. No artifacting was noticed and overall this is an extremely sharp and satisfying visual experience.
Similarly, Ghost Ship's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound mix, while not as bombastic as you might expect from a horror film, offers superb clarity and some very nicely immersive moments. The opening scene offers not only the gorgeous "Senza Fine" but some very nice whip pan aural effects as the metal cable does its dastardly work. Later on, in our introduction to the Arctic Warrior crew, surround channels are in full swing as they struggle to maintain control in a desperate situation. Water effects are especially impressive throughout the film, and a couple of literally explosive moments will give your subwoofer a nice workout. Throughout the film dialogue is crisp and clear, nicely directional and always mixed well with both the underscore and great sound effects.
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Warner Home Video has announced that they will bring 'Ghost Ship', 'Contact', and 'Number 23' to Blu-ray on October 16th. Technical specs have not been announced at this time, though you can expect to see 1080p VC-1 video accompanied by a Dolby TrueHD soundtra ...
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