So I thought I'd kick off Halloween week by reviewing an actual horror film. It is underrated and not many people actually know of it, but you're missing a trick, so let me introduce you to Ghost Ship.
I won't lie, I stayed up when I was quite young and watched this with my parents. They told me not to but I was adamant that I could handle it. At first it was a case of oh it's just gore BUT THEN, ghosties everywhere and not just the scary type, these were malicious b**tards intent on helping The Salvager collect enough souls to take back to hell. Since then, once rediscovering it in my teen years, it has been in my list of favourite horror films. It is pretty cheesy and predictable I won't lie, but at the same time I don't see many horror films based on ships and in allegiance with hellish men so it gets points for originality.
One of my favourite claims to fame is that time I reviewed this film on Instagram a few years back, and the guy who played Greer (Isaiah Washington) commented saying he was glad I enjoyed the film. My stomach did flips and I was so damn happy, that was when I knew I made it even though no one actually reads these. I do it for myself.
There was actually a point in my life that I watched this movie so much I ended up having a really weird dream which inspired a novel I've been working on for like the last 4 years. I won't spoil any of the details because knowing me it will never actually come to pass to warrant telling you about it, but it was a nice bit of inspiration none the less.
Speaking of weird points in my life, shout out to the people I weirded out in sixth form media studies due to my tolerance of horror. The flashback scene was one of my favourites to study and it creeped out my friends so much that I actually knew the words to 'My Little Box' by Gabriel Mann, it is a good song and I still listen to it to this day.
Believe it or not for an underrated film it has some big names in it, and I guarantee you'll recognise these faces. Karl Urban, Emily Browning, Desmond Harrington, Julianna Margulies, they are my main guys like come on, big names, should be a big movie!
So I'd like to fill you in on some crucial plot details but minus spoilers. So we start out with a group of 'salvagers' who basically drag in ships which are abandoned or lost at sea and sell them for scrap or fix them up to make a profit. They come across this guy in a bar who persuades them to fix up this massive cargo/passenger ship which has been lost for decades. It's falling apart, it's been off the radar and is basically fair game. This ship is huge, it means big bucks. So they take on this project, upon arrival they see it's worse than imagined, they need some serious repairs.
The plot then basically resembles something similar to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, apart from the fact it is a boat rather than an island. Our salvaging heroes get picked off one by one in increasingly suspicious circumstances and our main lady is plagued by the appearance of a young ghost girl.
We then hit my favourite part, the flashback. Our baby ghost shows our main gal the gory history of the ship and the reason behind it, suddenly it all makes sense and it's a rush to save her father figure who has been locked away by the bad guy who was floating under their noses all along.
I will leave it there, you'll have to watch it to find out what happens in the end. One hell of a plot twist though, did not see it coming the first time around. F***ed me up.
You know when you watch a film and you immediately feel like you need a sequel? Yeah I got that. THE ENDING THOUGH. I need to explore this once more, I need answers. I need our leading lady to kick butt and save some souls. If ever there was another ending that infuriated me more than The Lovely Bones, or Mom & Dad, this would be it. Just fyi going forward, don't ever talk to me about The Lovely Bones. I watched it once back in 2015 and I have been angry about it ever since. I have never cried so much and yet been so furious in my entire life. I hate it. You want horror? Watch or read that.
Let us get back on topic then, to the bright and breezy horror, Ghost Ship. I mean that with the utmost sarcasm but I would take this over The Lovely Bones any day. I won't lie, it was only sitting here today, Googling the correct spelling for some of the cast members that I realised Karl Urban was in the film. I knew Emily Browning, loved her in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I hear she is in American Gods (forced myself to watch the first episode and then lost interest, sorry), but despite the fact I do like a bit of Mr Urban, and his facial features are super recognisable I still somehow failed to make the connection. It was a case of yeah he is familiar but I can't place him. Only watched Thor: Ragnarok with my brother a little while ago too, that should have jolted the memory, but no. I am an idiot.
I have that morbid curiosity with horrors that most people have. But with my background in the media industry I also love to know what brought on this idea. What prompted this masterpiece? What nightmares make you tick? Upon further research it turns out this plot was not the original approach for the movie at all. According to the internet it was actually supposed to be a psychological thriller based on 4 members of a salvage crew who basically go insane and kill each other off after being stranded. After a ton of rewrites we ended up here and despite the negative reviews the film as spored I, for one, am really happy this was the end take. I much prefer watching this plot unfold than cabin fever. Maybe it's because I'm old school, I'd take a slasher over mind games any day.
On that note then, lets get down to it. You could draw comparisons here to Halloween or Scream, they are your typical slasher, but this movie is more than that. There literally is nowhere to run, you are stranded on a ship in the middle of the damn ocean, if the inevitable realisation that you are going to die does not terrify you, then I don't know what will. I would not want to be trapped with an evil powerful ghost, that will murder me, with 0 chance of escape. If I was forced into this situation I would try to live as long as possible until I was totally consumed by the negativity of the situation and then end my existence on my terms, my issue with that is 1. I could have survived, and 2. It is a win-win for demon man, my death is what he wants, my stubbornness of doing it on my own terms would not help my cause.
Yeah anyway, I am going to give Ghost Ship a tidy little 7/10. I honestly don't think this film is as bad as people say it is. I don't understand the negative hype. It's like Percy Jackson (the first one, admittedly the second was pretty s**t) and the original Lara Croft movies, I liked them! Watch these movies for what they are, 90 minutes of entertainment. It might not have been what you wanted, or done the original medium justice, but people did their best, that was someones hard work to bring us a tiny bit of joy or at the very least a distraction from the disappointment of our own lives. Give them a break.
On that note, with my mini rant now over (I really want to be in this industry but man I don't know if my mental health could cope with people sh**ting over other people's hard work), I would like you all to stay safe, have a wonderful Halloween, eat lots of sweeties and enjoy lots of spooky sh*t. I am taking full advantage of my explicit content warning and am reveling in the fact I can swear, it has been a really bad week.
Have fun my darlings! Drink, be merry, and Happy Halloween!! (for Saturday)
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