Ghost Ship (2002 film)

Ghost Ship

A promotional film poster
Directed by Steve Beck
Produced by Joel Silver
Gilbert Adler
Robert Zemeckis
Written by Mark Hanlon
John Pogue
Starring Julianna Margulies
Ron Eldard
Desmond Harrington
Isaiah Washington
Emily Browning
Gabriel Byrne
Music by John Frizzell
Cinematography Gale Tattersall
Editing by Roger Barton
Studio Village Roadshow Pictures
Dark Castle Entertainment
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s) October 25, 2002 (2002-10-25)
December 5, 2002 (2002-12-05) (Australia)
Running time 91 minutes
Country Australia
Canada
United States
Language English
Budget $20 million[1]
Box office $68,349,884[1]

Ghost Ship is a 2002 horror film directed by Steve Beck. The film was shot in Queensland, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. It stars Julianna Margulies and Gabriel Byrne. It was produced by Dark Castle Entertainment. Despite the title, it is unrelated to the 1952 film of the same name.

Contents

Plot

In May 1962, dozens of wealthy passengers are dancing in the ballroom of an Italian ocean liner, the Antonia Graza, while an Italian woman (Francesca Rettondini) sings "Senza Fine." Elsewhere, a hand presses a lever that unravels a thin wire cord from a spool. The spool snaps and the wire slices across the dance floor like a blade, bisecting the dancers. Only one child, Katie (Emily Browning) (who is dancing with the captain) is spared, due to the captain leaning protectively over her, and her height. The captain's face splits open at mouth level as the top of his head falls off and Katie screams.

In the present day, a salvage crew—Captain Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne), Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies), Greer (Isaiah Washington), Dodge (Ron Eldard), Munder (Karl Urban), Elisa ( Robin Tunney) and Santos (Alex Dimitriades)—is celebrating a recent success at a bar, when Jack Ferriman (Desmond Harrington), a Canadian weather service pilot, approaches them and says he has spotted a mysterious vessel running adrift in the Bering Sea. Because the ship is in international waters, it can be claimed by who ever is able to bring it to a port.

The crew sets out on their ship, the Arctic Warrior, an ocean salvage tugboat. They discover the ship is the Antonia Graza, which disappeared in 1962 and was believed to be lost at sea. When they board the ship and prepare to tow it they discover that it contains a large quantity of gold. However strange things begin to happen. Epps claims to have seen a little girl on the stairwell. Greer claims to have heard a woman singing throughout the ship. Epps and Ferriman discover the corpses of another salvage crew. They decide to leave the ship but take gold, but the Arctic Warrior explodes as the engine is started, killing Santos and leaving them stranded.

They attempt to fix the Antonia Graza and sail it back to land, but more crew members are killed. Epps meets Katie who reveals (via flashback) that the Graza's crew turned on the passengers and each other. The Graza had discovered the abandoned cruiseship Lorelei, which was carrying the gold. The sole survivor of the Lorelei convinced the crew of the Graza's to turn on the passengers in order to claim the gold. The crew killed all of the passengers, including Katie, but then turned on each other. The last officer, after killing his crew mates was shot by the singer, Francesca. Another man then joined Francesca in an embrace and walked away as a large hook swung into her face, killing her. The man is revealed as Jack Ferriman, who is actually a demonic spirit who masterminded the massacre in 1962 and may have done something similar on the Lorelei.

Epps deduces that Ferriman lured the salvage team to the Graza to repair the sinking ship, and that the best way to fight him is to sink it. She sets the explosives, but is confronted by Ferriman, who has killed the last of her crew. Ferriman describes himself as a salvager of souls; collecting souls is his job, which he says he earned by a lifetime of sin. He explains that since Katie was a child and never committed a true sin, he can't control her as he does with the evil ghosts. So long as the Antonia Graza remains afloat, he can continue to use it as a trap and keep his masters (and Satan) satisfied. After a brief struggle, Epps detonates the explosives and sinks the Graza. Katie helps Epps escape the rapidly sinking ship. She is left in the debris as the souls trapped on the ship ascend to heaven; Katie stops to thank her.

After drifting on the open sea for some time, Epps is found by a cruise ship and taken back to land. As she's loaded into an ambulance, she sees the battered crates of gold being loaded onto the cruise ship by Ferriman and the crew. He glares at her and carries on; she screams as the ambulance doors close.

Cast

Production

The film began life as a spec script called Chimera by Mark Hanlon.[2] Originally, the film, as written, was a relatively bloodless psychological thriller as opposed to a more blatantly supernaturally themed movie. Most notably, much of the film's gore is absent from the screenplay. The film would have focused on four salvage crew members who end up stranded aboard the ghost vessel they are scuttling (the titular Chimera); over the course of one night, each member - whether it be from panic, cabin fever, or supernatural forces - goes insane and plots to kill the other three members of the crew.

In Chimera[2] Murphy is the "main killer" and the ship sinks as it runs on the rocks. Murphy and Epps survive till the end but while the ship is sinking Murphy runs to take gold ingots. The weight and also the lost time bring death to Murphy. Like in the final version, Katie helps Epps to escape.

Over time, the script underwent rewrites, and the psychological aspects of the script were all jettisoned in favor of making the film a slasher. It has been suggested that "The cast signed on based on this (original) draft ... and were sadly disappointed to find the script had been radically changed by Joel Silver and associates when they arrived to begin shooting."[3]

Release

Box office

With a reported budget of $20 million, the film opened to number 3 at the box office with only a little more than $11.5 million in ticket sales as Jackass: The Movie dominated the cinema releases. The film grossed over $30 million in North America and had and international gross of over $38 million, earning a total of $68 million worldwide.[1]

Critical response

The film received mainly negative reviews on its theatrical release. Review aggregate website, Rotten Tomatoes, rates the film at 13% based on 122 reviews. The consensus states that "With a plot as creaky as the boat, Ghost Ship fails to deliver the scares".[4] Similarly, Metacritic gives the film a score of 28/100 based on 25 reviews and rates the film as "generally unfavorable".[5]

The The Washington Post calling it "A fresh setting for terror shenanigans". The Chicago Tribune called it "An adequate horror movie for the Halloween season". Roger Ebert stated "It's better than you expect but not as good as you hope". The Detroit Free Press declared "It may just scare the pants off you".

Website Bloody Disgusting listed Ghost Ship's opening massacre as #13 in their list of "The Top 13 Kills in Horror Movie History".[6]

Soundtrack

Ghost Ship Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by John Frizzell
Released November 5, 2002
Genre Soundtracks
Film scores
Length 73:33
Label Varèse Sarabande

A soundtrack, including original music composed by John Frizzell, was released on the Varèse Sarabande label on November 5, 2002.[7] The song "Not Falling" by Mudvayne is featured in the movie. Though not included in the official soundtrack, "Senza Fine" is sung in the film by Monica Mancini.


References

  1. ^ a b c "Ghost Ship (2002) - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ghostship.htm. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  2. ^ a b "Ghost Ship - by Mark Hanlon - First Draft". Dailyscript.com. 1953-01-29. http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/ghost_ship.html. Retrieved 2011-09-24. 
  3. ^ First draft screenplay of "Ghost Ship" (formerly "Chimera" ).
  4. ^ "Ghost Ship - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghost_ship/. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  5. ^ "Ghost Ship Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/ghost-ship. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  6. ^ "The Top 13 Kills in Horror Movie History!". Bloody Disgusting. November 14, 2008. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/14345. 
  7. ^ "Ghost Ship Soundtrack (complete album tracklisting)". SoundtrackINFO. 2002-11-05. http://www.soundtrackinfo.com/title/tracks.asp?ghostship. Retrieved 2011-09-24. 

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