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"Ghost Ship" recycles all the usual haunted house material, but because it's about a haunted ocean liner, it very nearly redeems itself. Yes, doors open by themselves to reveal hanging corpses. Yes, there's a glimpse of a character who shouldn't be there. Yes, there's a cigarette burning in an ashtray that hasn't been used in 40 years. And yes, there's a struggle between greed and prudence as the dangers pile up.

These are all usual elements in haunted house movies, but here they take place aboard the deserted--or seemingly deserted--hulk of the Antonia Graza, an Italian luxury liner that disappeared without a trace during a 1962 cruise to America and has now been discovered 40 years later, floating in the Bering Strait. A salvage crew led by Gabriel Byrne and Julianna Margulies sets out to capture this trophy, which could be worth a fortune.

Echoes from long-ago geography classes haunted me as I watched the film, because the Bering Sea, of course, is in the North Pacific, and if the Antonia Graza disappeared from the North Atlantic, it must have succeeded in sailing unattended and unnoticed through the Panama Canal. Or perhaps it rounded Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope. Maybe its unlikely position is like a warning that this ship no longer plays by the rules of the physical universe.

The salvage crew is told about the ship by Ferriman ( Desmond Harrington ), a weather spotter for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He got some photos of it, and tips them off in return for a finder's fee. On board the salvage tug are Murphy the skipper (Byrne), Epps the co-owner (Margulies), and crew members Greer ( Isaiah Washington ), Dodge ( Ron Eldard ), Munder ( Karl Urban ) and Santos ( Alex Dimitriades ). Under the time-honored code of horror movies, they will disappear in horrible ways in inverse proportion to their billing--although of course there's also the possibility they'll turn up again.

The most absorbing passages in the film involve their exploration of the deserted liner. The quality of the art direction and photography actually evoke some of the same creepy, haunting majesty of those documentaries about descents to the grave of the Titanic. There's more scariness because we know how the original passengers and crew members died (that opening scene has a grisly humor), and because the ship still seems haunted--not only by that sad-eyed little girl, but perhaps by others.

The mystery eventually yields an explanation, if not a solution, and there is the obligatory twist in the last shot, which encourages us to reinterpret everything in diabolical terms and to think hard about the meanings of certain names. But the appeal of "Ghost Ship" is all in the process, not in the climax. I liked the vast old empty ballroom, the deserted corridors and the sense of a party that ended long ago (the effect is of a nautical version of Miss Havisham's sealed room). I knew that there would be unexpected shocks, sudden noises and cadaverous materializations, but I have long grown immune to such mechanical thrills (unless they are done well, of course). I just dug the atmosphere.

Is the film worth seeing? Depends. It breaks no new ground as horror movies go, but it does introduce an intriguing location, and it's well made technically. It's better than you expect but not as good as you hope.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Ghost Ship (2002)

Rated R For Strong Violence/Gore, Language and Sexuality

Gabriel Byrne as Murphy

Julianna Margulies as Epps

Ron Eldard as Dodge

Desmond Harrington as Ferriman

Isaiah Washington as Greer

Alex Dimitriades as Santos

Karl Urban as Munder

Directed by

Mark Hanlon

Based on a story by

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Film review: ghost ship (2002).

Adrian Halen 09/16/2020 Film Reviews

A salvage crew that discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea soon notices, as they try to tow it back to land, that “strange things” happen…

“ Ghost Ship ” arrived in year 2002 with a title that you’d swear you’ve heard before. If I’m correct, there was sort of a trend with water horror at the time for reasons I’m not that sure of. In any event, there were a few films over the years with the title “Ghost Ship” behind them (most lesser known). Now if you were around at the time, you could have easily mistaken this for the 1980 film “Death Ship” which basically fashions the same cover (yep, check it out). No it was not a re-make, but you might say it perhaps borrowed some inspiration. The plot to the “Ghost Ship” feels awfully like the beginning to “Deep Rising” and a few others I seem to recall.

The film rose quickly above others with its pretty beefy star cast behind it. I had a feeling at the time whether it was liked or not it would still make money on that aspect alone (for the record, its gross doubled its budget of 35 million). Filmed in the waters of Australia, “Ghost Ship” was indeed a well-shot film with a great production look to it. But was it scary? I’m not that convinced.

To start things off, recent “Sucker Punch” fans can find an early performance by actress Emily Browning who plays the little ghost girl in the film (I think we’ll all agree she grew up quite nicely). The movie has actor Gabriel Byrne playing the salvage captain Murphy. Him and his team head out to sea to bring back salvaged equipment and metal parts for resell. When the group is approached by an anxious researcher (Desmond Harrington), he offers them a chance to salvage a long forgotten abandoned ship lost to the Bering Sea. The potential to earn a hefty return from the deal is too big to pass up and the crew heads immediately back out to sea. The crew consists of (Julianna Margulies) Epps, (Ron Eldard) Dodge, (Isaiah Washington) Greer, (Karl Urban) Munder and (Alex Dimitriades) Santos.

Upon locating the lost ship “Antonia Graza” (which at first appears off the radar), the team climbs aboard to claim salvage loot. Though it’s pretty evident early on that the ship is not “quite” what it seems with the weird appearances of ghosts, objects, and the occasional manifestation of the ship’s decor before it was inflicted in tragedy.

To get us engaged right from the get-go, we are taken back in the films intro to the time when the ship was in full swing (1962). In one of my favorite horror film moments, a cable breaks free slicing entirely thru the occupants who are in mid-celebration (aka the Captains Ball). This is fantastically done as each of the ship’s guests begin to fall into pieces (after an uneasy pause). If you don’t end up liking the film, you have to at least acknowledge this great intro opener.

Getting back to the story in progress, the crew happens upon a large shipment of gold bricks. This find signals instant riches for the team as they prepare to gather their claim and call it a day. However, the ship seems to have its own agenda for stranding them causing their own ship “the Arctic Warrior” to burst into flames.

Celebration turns to terror and tragedy as each slowly becomes victims to the ships dark forces. We learn a bit more about what happened with a few surprises waiting down the road about what is “really” going on.

While the movie flows rather nicely with plenty of great shots, we seem to be missing much of what we came for…….the scares. I believe perhaps that the production focused more on trying to kill off some of the crew members moreso, that they forgot to really focus more on the needed tension. The actors and cast all gel pretty well which didn’t surprise me with “Ghost Ship’s” worthy cast behind it. What I did like is that as mentioned before it has a “few” reveals in its storyline to throw at us. I think with the base of the film itself, most didn’t really see these coming. The final ending is a nice extra roundup which despite not being scary is a great rule of thumb in filmmaking…..end the movie on a strong finale. I won’t give away the ending but astute viewers will quickly associate its reveal to an old character of lore.

Horror fans will notice some direction similarities especially in relation to the other water film “Deep Rising”. To date I really haven’t seen that much in the way of scary ship films. I’ll have to throw out a small mention of the move is “Below” which in same fashion is about haunting on the open sea (submarines in that case)

“Ghost Ship” was originally conceived as a “bloodless psychological horror” that was beefed up to appeal more to genre audiences. Despite it lacking in audience scares, I’ve always regarded the film as still a strong entry into water-horror films. There is alot of action, thrills, and story to keep you engaged. In short “Ghost Ship” is still pretty cool.

Bonus Features

NEW This Isn’t Real – An Interview With Actor Isaiah Washington
NEW Dark Castle At Sea – An Interview With Producer Gil Adler
NEW Every Body On Board – An Interview With Makeup Effects Supervisor Jason Baird
NEW Audio Commentary With Director Steve Beck
Max On Set: Ghost Ship Featurette
Visual Effects Featurette
A Closer Look At The Gore Featurette
Designing The Ghost Ship Featurette
Secrets Of The Antonia Graza Clips
Mudvayne “Not Falling” Music Video
Theatrical Trailer

Ghost Ship (2002) is now available on blu ray from Shout Factory

Tags Alex Dimitriades Desmond Harrington Emily Browning Gabriel Byrne and Ron Eldard Ghost Ship Isaiah Washington Julianna Margulies Karl Urban Mark Hanlon Steve Beck

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FILM IN REVIEW; 'Ghost Ship'

By Stephen Holden

Oct. 25, 2002

Directed by Steve Beck

R, 100 minutes

The visual clichés are predictably in place in ''Ghost Ship,'' an incoherent supernatural thriller that would like to think of itself as a Halloween-ready horror fusion of ''The Perfect Storm'' and ''Titanic.'' The story follows the crew of the Arctic Warrior, a tugboat, as it tries to salvage the Antonia Graza, an Italian luxury liner that mysteriously pops up in the heaving blue-gray desolation of the Bering Sea.

The liner, which disappeared without a trace off Labrador in 1962, is a direct descendant of the Titanic. And the hardy sailors of the Arctic Warrior resemble those of the ''The Perfect Storm,'' right down to the striking similarity of the Warrior's first mate, Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies), to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's character in ''The Perfect Storm.''

The splashy opening scene relives that moment 40 years earlier when the liner met its fate. As elegantly attired dancers swirl around the ship's grand ballroom, catastrophe suddenly rains. Heads are severed from torsos and torsos from legs in a blood bath that leaves no one alive. Observing the horror is a prim little girl whose ghost serves as a kind of watchdog over the dead passengers' souls. For some reason, those souls have remained trapped in a supernatural time warp for 40 years.

''Ghost Ship,'' which opens today nationwide, is so preoccupied with delivering its effects that it doesn't bother to make sense of its story. The cleverest plunges us back four decades, as the grand ballroom spontaneously reconstructs itself out of its own rubble. Most of the others are by-the-numbers horror jolts. Canned food that looks delicious suddenly crawls with maggots. At moments of stress, blood seeps through walls and ceilings. And there are the obligatory fireballs, one of which consumes the Arctic Warrior, leaving its crew stranded aboard the ominous liner.

If the movie sustains an eerie visual mood, its screenplay is frustratingly sketchy. And with the exception of Ms. Margulies's sensible first mate, the acting (by Gabriel Byrne, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades and Karl Urban) is at best functional.

''Ghost Ship'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for gore and some strong language. STEPHEN HOLDEN

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Common sense media reviewers.

Do not board Ghost Ship.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Bad behavior all around.

Shooting, poisoning, explosions, and other graphic

Implied sex or sexually suggestive material. A man

Very strong language.

Parents need to know that this movie is extremely violent. There are numerous scenes of passengers being shot and killed. Members of the salvage crew are picked off one by one. Scary ghosts, including a ghost-girl named Katie, permeate the film. Members of the salvage crew drink, swear, and are easily swayed by…

Positive Messages

Violence & scariness.

Shooting, poisoning, explosions, and other graphic death scenes that include a woman being attacked and a cable slicing a large group of people in half.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Implied sex or sexually suggestive material. A man is lured to his death by a smoldering topless ghost.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

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Parents say (5)
Kids say (8)

Based on 5 parent reviews

It's so goood!!!!

What's the story.

If there is one thing characters should know in horror films, it's that entering an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere is never a good idea. The characters in GHOST SHIP of course ignore this simple rule, resulting in a bloody confrontation that leaves only one member left standing. Things go horribly wrong for a salvage crew assigned to recover a passenger ship missing since 1962. Despite such odd occurrences as the appearance of a ghost girl, the team continues to explore the ship. The crew finds what seems like a fortune –- boxes filled with gold bars. Of course, nothing in horror films comes without a price.

Is It Any Good?

Ghost Ship has virtually no redeeming qualities. The plot is tired and poorly developed, the character development is sparse, and the gory scenes (including one that features a cable slicing 40-50 couples across a dance floor) do not even appear that scary. There is absolutely no reason to watch this movie unless you have a hankering for seeing people get sliced, diced, dismembered, and shot. Definitely NOT for kids.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the ideas of greed and honor depicted in this movie. At what point does the crew's greed become problematic? Why does Epps refuse to leave behind her crewmates and defend Murphy even after he attacked her? Families may want to discuss the filmmaker's decision to cast a woman in a role that is traditionally assigned to men.

Movie Details

In theaters : October 22, 2002
On DVD or streaming : March 28, 2003
Cast : Gabriel Byrne , Isaiah Washington , Julianna Margulies
Director : Steve Beck
Inclusion Information : Black actors, Female actors
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Horror
Run time : 91 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong violence/gore, language, and sexuality
Last updated : November 15, 2023

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The Ending Of Ghost Ship Explained

Maureen Epps and the crew of the Arctic Warrior look at a map.

2002's "Ghost Ship" is a spooky horror flick that, while not a classic, is most remembered today for its terrifying opening scene , which sees a slew of rich people killed in an unforgettably unique fashion that must be seen to be believed. Looking back, though, " Ghost Ship " also offers a truly nail-biting climax, as well, where salvager Maureen Epps (Juliana Marguiles) is the last woman standing on a derelict and haunted cruise ship.

The story begins with Epps and the crew of the salvage tugboat Arctic Warrior approached by a Canadian weather service pilot named Jack Ferriman (Desmond Harrington). He shares with them that he discovered a mysterious vessel floating about — a vessel which is fair game for anyone to lay a claim to. For the crew, the potential for profit is too great to pass up, and lured in by the promise of easy money, they soon finds themselves marooned on the Antonia Graza (the eponymous ghost ship), fighting for their lives.

This being a horror movie, things don't go well. By the film's end, Epps is the sole survivor of the crew, having been the only one able to resist the many temptations aboard the vessel. Because the ship isn't merely haunted by ghosts, but overseen by a powerful demon on a mission from Hell, who is determined to bring out the worst in people. The twist: that demon is revealed to have been Ferriman. And while Epps is able to defeat him and destroy the ship, the ending scene undercuts the heroism with a brutal wake-up call.

Ghost Ship brings out the worst in people

Ferriman tells Epps that they're not so different: while she salvages ships, he salvages souls. He tempts them with their desires — for instance, his action of luring the crew of the Arctic Warrior with the promise of gold on the ship to ensure they'll be trapped, as he sabotages their ship, thereby ensuring that they'll all be trapped on the Antonia Graza. He reveals he killed one half of the crew and passengers, then corrupted the other half, and set them on each other in a frenzy of carnage. Now their souls are bound to the Graza, and anyone he corrupts is similarly marked. One by one Epps' crew mates succumbs to the temptations of the ship, but she throws a wrench into Ferriman's plans by not only refusing to be corrupted, but destroying the ship in an act of heroic self-sacrifice.

Epps is rescued by a passing cruise ship and taken to shore, where she's placed in an ambulance for a trip to the hospital. Her relaxation is disturbed when she sees the boxes of gold being loaded onto the cruise ship by members of the crew — the exact same boxes that she had encountered on the Antonia Graza.

As the last of the crates are loaded, the familiar figure of Jack Ferriman passes by the ambulance doors. Epps screams, because she realizes the cycle is about to begin again.

In Ghost Ship, demon work is a business

Ferriman stands as a unique example of a horror movie villain: unlike Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger, Ferriman doesn't have a burning drive to torment his victims or punish them for some perceived slights. He's simply there to place temptation before his prey and watch them hang themselves.

Ferriman uses the gold to tempt the avaricious members of both the Graza and Warrior's respective crews, and if that doesn't work he'll use other sins (gluttony or lust, for instance) to corrupt his prey and then strike, killing them and adding them to his quota of souls. In his confession to Epps, he's shockingly matter of fact about the whole matter, making it clear that to him, this is simply a matter of business — albeit, Hellish business — rather than pleasure. The torments he has inflicted on the spirits on the ship, and on Epps and her crew mates, are just part of his job.

While Epps does successfully manage to thwart his plans for the Graza, it's clear from his appearance in the aftermath that his demonic superiors have set Ferriman on another "salvaging" job, one that will likely lead to the exact same outcome as the poor Antonia Graza. In "Ghost Ship," the business of evil is temptation, and business is always booming.

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Movie Review

Home > movie reviews > ghost ship, review by tom foster.

Believe it or not, GHOST SHIP contains one of the greatest openings in recent horror movie history. So much so that, while I tend to steer clear of spoiling any endings, this time I can't even spoil the fantastic beginning. It reminded me of another recent film that bowled me over with an incredible first five minutes. But that film wound up being a horrid little film called THE CONVENT .

When you open a film, you set a standard. THE CONVENT could not meet it's own standards. Sadly, neither can GHOST SHIP .

After the prologue, we get to meet a rag-tag salvage crew, celebrating their latest haul at sea. The group is made up of the same unwashed but charming working stiffs we've become enamored with since Dan O'Bannon gave us DARK STAR and ALIEN . There are a couple familiar faces here. Gabriel Byrne plays Murphy, the group's leader and a recovering alcoholic. His second-in-command, Epps (Julianna Margulies - wonder if she misses ER yet?) sees Murphy as a father figure and the crew as her family. The reasons why are never made quite clear but it would have been interesting.

And hey, isn't that Ron Eldard in the crew? He was in two of my favorite films from 1996 - SLEEPERS and THE LAST SUPPER . Then he did a sitcom with Rob Schneider and we never heard much from him again, save for some supporting roles. More proof that Rob Schneider is hazardous to your health.

Anyway, a young pilot named Ferriman (Desmond Harrington - THE HOLE , WRONG TURN ) breaks into the celebration with a business proposal. He has found what seems to be a ghost ship, floating in the Bering Sea, just waiting to be plundered and returned to port. The name of the ship is the Antonia Graza.

The Antonia Graza has become one of a handful of legends in maritime lore. It set sail in 1962 and was never heard from again. When our salvage crew goes out to see the ship, they find everything they would need to set themselves up for life. Treasures, vintage materials for museums and a substantial stash of gold. They also find evidence of a massacre on board. They find everything except bodies.

Before you can say "Mary Celeste," Epps is seeing an extremely pale little girl who seems to be trying to warn her of something. Too late. The salvage crew becomes trapped on the ship with some roaming spirits who, for some reason, seem hell-bent (no pun intended) on adding the crew to their number.

GHOST SHIP is the third production from Dark Castle Entertainment. It is also the first film not to follow their model of remaking the films of William Castle.

Steve Beck fills the director's chair for the second time. He previously directed 2001's THIRTEEN GHOSTS . Seeing that film was a very frustrating experience for me. It had one of the eeriest sets I'd seen in a while. It had an excellent design for the creatures, courtesy of KNB Effects. The effects guys even had the good sense to create some beautiful back stories for the creatures. But all depth of character was cut out. Instead, we had the same generic people, including one particularly offensive racial stereotype.

But worse yet was the direction in THIRTEEN GHOSTS . Beck did not let any suspense build. Instead, he chose strobe effects, jerky camera movements and many jump cuts. The effect was that it looked like a fine music video by Slipknot or some other nu-metal incarnation. But it made for a blah horror film.

Beck almost corrects his mistakes in GHOST SHIP but finds himself falling into the same slump as the film wears on. Like he did with the caged spirits of THIRTEEN GHOSTS , Beck creates a detailed and poignant back story for the events surrounding the Antonia Graza. But all of this is still left in the background (for a few more snippets of this backstory, check out some of the DVD extras).

We keep losing track of characters for extended periods of time. At times, they end up on opposite ends of the ship, not that they didn't have time to cross the whole thing twice over since we last saw them. The script (by Mark Hanlon and John Pogue) manages to avoid stereotyping it's characters, but fails to infuse them with any personality to make up for it. Hence, aside from Murphy and Epps, we have a cast of disposables and we can't feel too affected by seeing them diced into chum.

Now onto Beck's direction. After the opening, he seems to be consciously holding back. In fact, a lengthy search of the ship is quite dull until one character has the good sense to stumble on a weak bit of floor. The film continues to go through a bunch of dull patches for the most part. Beck revs things up towards the third act, but winds up using the same motor that powered THIRTEEN GHOSTS . A flashback sequence tells what happened on the Antonia Graza. Believe it or not, Beck could have actually topped his killer beginning with this montage - one that should have been an amazing sequence, filled with plenty to make us jump. Instead, Beck's camera and editing does all the jumping for us. Using yet another disposal nu-metal track, the jerky motions and strobe editing come back in full force and completely ruin anything that could have made the sequence great. It was a huge let-down.

Most of the performances are fine, particularly Byrne and Margulies. But Desmond Harrington, in one of the more important roles, is just plain wrong. He seems too young and willowy to handle everything that's happening. The little touches he adds to his character, seem out of place. It's as if he wasn't getting enough direction regarding his performance and he was trying to accommodate for everything. When the crew found the gold, his incessant giggling was dancing on my last nerve. I sincerely hope he is better in this year's WRONG TURN , a project that seems to have some positive buzz.

Not everything in GHOST SHIP is a misfire. The opening is great, and it manages to recapture some of that magic with one beautiful shot towards the end and an effective last sixty seconds.

Another refreshing change is that you expect to be treated to endless scenes of people seeing ghostly apparitions, screaming and running away. They don't. It does not take people long to realize things are not right on the Antonia Graza, and what's going on defies all rational explanation. After two sightings, Margulies actually seeks the little girl out as if to say, "Who is this poor kid? Why is she bugging me? And most of all, are we in as much trouble as I think we are?" It's a nice switch from the standard routine and GHOST SHIP should be commended for at least remedying this clich� in a convincing manner.

Still, GHOST SHIP winds up being a wholly mediocre experience. I've seen the film once and have absolutely no desire to ever sit through it again. It's a far cry from the rather impressive updating of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL in 2000.

It's predictable, frustrating and at times, boring. And for everything in GHOST SHIP 's favor, there?s just no sailing around that iceberg.

Reviewed by Scott W. Davis

Cast & crew
User reviews

A salvage crew discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea, and soon notices that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board.
In a remote region of the Bering Sea, a boat salvage crew discovers the eerie remains of a grand passenger liner thought lost for more than 40 years. Once on-board, the crew must confront the ship's horrific past and face the ultimate fight for their lives. — ahmetkozan
The film opens aboard an Italian ocean liner, Antonia Graza, in May 1962. Dozens of wealthy passengers enjoy dancing in the ship's luxurious ballroom while a beautiful Italian woman sings "Senza Fine." Away from the party in an outer room, a gloved hand pulls a switch that unravels a thin wire cord from a hidden spool. Suddenly, the spool snaps and the wire slices across the deck (dance floor) like a blade, bisecting the dancers. A number of them remain alive for several seconds before grasping that they have been cut in half. Only little Katie, dancing with a ship's officer (the Captain), is spared, thanks to her small stature and to the captain leaning down on her when he saw the wire snap. Seeing the fate of the other dancers, she looks up at the officer's face. He looks back at her sorrowfully, as his face splits open at mouth level and the top of his head falls off. Katie then screams, the view from the outside of the ship zooms down underwater, and the film cuts to the present day. A salvage crew has retrieved a sinking ship in the open ocean. They bring the ship into port and receive its salvage value from the authorities. While celebrating their success at a bar, Jack Ferriman, a Canadian Air Force 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 whomever is able to bring it to a port. The crew soon set out on the Arctic Warrior, a small tugboat. While exploring the abandoned ship, they discover that it is the Antonia Graza, an Italian luxury liner that disappeared in May 1962 and was believed to be lost at sea. The ocean liner's disappearance was well known at the time. When they board the ship and prepare to tow it to shore, strange things begin to happen. Maureen Epps claims to have seen a little girl on the stairwell while trying to save a crewmate from falling through the floor. Greer claims to have heard the singing of an unseen songstress in various places on the ship. Epps and Ferriman discover the corpses of another team of salvagers in the ship's laundry room. The crew decide to leave the ship but take the large quantity of gold that they find on board. Their tugboat explodes from a tank of propane that mysteriously is opened as the engine is started, killing Santos, who was trying to fix the boat, and leaving them stranded on the ghost ship in the Bering Sea. As they decide to attempt to fix the Antonia Graza and sail it back to land, more and more crew members are killed, as they discover more dark secrets about the ship, including bullet holes in the pool, and a skeleton hanging by a noose in a wardrobe. Maureen Epps meets a young girl named Katie who was seen at the beginning of the movie dancing with the Captain who reveals a dark secret: the crew turned on the passengers and each other in an attempt to get the gold that the ship carried. It is revealed that the skeleton hanging from the noose is Katie, who was on her way to New York to be with her parents. Katie takes Maureen momentarily back to the past, where Epps finally sees what had happened. While the numerous dancers were sliced by the wire, the chefs in the kitchen were murdered and the crew began pouring rodent poison into the evening's food. The food was served, and it is obvious that people begin to succumb to the poison as their mouths dripped with foam. The crew begins taking the lives of the rest of the passengers, including Katie, as it dawns that it was Katie's skeleton Epps found earlier. The murderous crew also line some passengers by the pool and shoot them (accounting for the shell casings and bullet holes). As the crew begins to take the gold, one crew member (an officer) walks out of the small compartment where the valuables are stored. He takes a look at Francesca, the ship's sultry ballroom singer, who is also standing there dressed in a shimmering red satin strapless ballgown, turns around, and viciously murders his fellow crewmates out of greed with a submachine gun. Francesca then shoots him in the head with a pistol. At last, a man walks up to Francesca and they embrace. As he walks away, the singer looks up and sees a large hook swing into her face, killing her. The man burns a mark into her hand, and it is revealed that he, the mastermind of the attack, was Jack Ferriman, an evil spirit. After this enlightenment, Epps decides to blow up the ship, but is confronted by Ferriman, who has killed the last remaining of Epps' crew. He states the obvious - by using the gold as bait, he has taken multitudes of souls to his masters; he has been doing this for a long time, and considers himself a "salvager" of souls. He guided the salvagers there merely to effect repairs. They fight for a short amount of time before Epps manages to blow up the ship, "killing" Ferriman. She is left in the debris as the souls trapped on the ship ascend to heaven; Katie stops to thank her. Epps is discovered by a large cruise ship and taken back to land. The last scene shows Epps in the back of an ambulance at the docks. She looks out the back of the vehicle from her stretcher and sees the battered crates of gold being loaded onto the cruise ship by the her former crewmen, followed moments later by Ferriman. He glares at her, and carries on, her screams cut short by the ambulance doors closing and the fade to the end credits.

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Ghost Ship Review

24 Jan 2003

Ghost Ship comes from the crew who delivered the remakes of The House On Haunted Hill and Thirteen Ghosts.

Though not actually a remake, it might as well be, since it scrambles elements from those earlier retreads plus bits 'borrowed' from the 1980 picture Death Ship (which had an identical poster) and Jamie Lee Curtis salvage killer robot flick, Virus.

For a while, the formula works. The opening mass splatter is exuberantly overdone; Gabriel Byrne can sell ominous sea-story monologues like no-one since John Houseman in The Fog; the little girl spook is appealing; and the rotting luxury hulk is an infallibly cinegenic setting. But then the supporting cast starts blundering into predictable deaths, with the black guy (Isaiah Washington), who keeps talking about getting back home to be married, obviously high on the 'doomed' list.

Movies | 25 10 2001

"This Is No “Love Boat”"

What You Need To Know:

GHOST SHIP staring Gabriel Byrne and Julianna Margulies is the tale of a boat salvage team that is lured to the remains of a long lost luxury liner floating in international waters. When the team finds unmarked gold on the ship, they think they’re filthy rich. Little do they realize that the ship is a holding tank for souls eventually to be carted off to Hell. Captain Murphy and his mates are to be the next souls salvaged. The crew encounters one strange thing after another and is gruesomely harvested one at a time by the ship’s demonic host. Who is the host? How did he get them there? And, will anyone escape?

GHOST SHIP has very high production values. The set, art direction and special effects are top notch. There is one scene where the ship’s dilapidated ballroom reassembles itself around one of the characters which is nothing short of fantastic! The storyline, within the context of the movie, is believable and plenty creepy. Unfortunately, the combination of extremely scary violence, over-the-top gore, strong occult elements, false religion, heavy foul language, and brief nudity calls for viewers to avoid taking this cinematic cruise

(OOO, FR, B, LLL, VVV, S, NN, A, M) Very strong occult worldview with menagerie of souls collected on ship by demonic character where greed is the negative motivating force and its bad fruit seems to be the “moral” of the story as well as demonic character marks his victims palms with a brand, and freed souls depicted as balls of light floating to the heavens; 32 obscenities (including two insults referring to homosexual acts), crude references to female breasts, eight profanities, vomiting, images of maggots; very strong, scary violence such as people cut in half by cable and slowly and gruesomely fall apart with lots of blood, straight edge razor and lots of blood in sink, woman falls from ladder in empty pool, pool absorbs a drop of her blood then fills with bloody water and dead people are floating in it, dead bodies wash through port hole in ship, tugboat explodes killing one man and seriously wounding another, man punches another in the mouth, skeleton found in closet, burnt dead man from tugboat returns and beats up the captain, man falls down elevator shaft and is impaled on beams, another man is ground up in the ships gears with bloody water and a disembodied head, a drowned body floats in aquarium, cooks seen slaughtered on ships floor while imposter cooks add rat poison to food, people shown cut in half again, people mown down by machine guns, little girl hung in closet, man shot from point blank range in forehead, woman fights demonic man hand to hand, and explosion; no sex depicted but naked woman seduces man to his death, and man says it can’t be considered cheating on his fiancé if he has sex with a ghost; upper female nudity and classic mural of nude woman seen in background; champagne used in celebration, whiskey used to sooth nerves; no smoking; and, greed and theft.

More Detail:

GHOST SHIP is the tale of a boat salvage team that is lured to the remains of a long lost luxury liner floating in international waters. A Canadian airforce pilot brings the ship, missing since 1962, to their attention while the team is celebrating their latest salvage recovery at a local bar. He shows them photographs he has taken while flying over the Bering Sea near Alaska. He’ll tell them where it is if he can come along and if he is promised a major cut in the profits.

The crew’s captain, Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne), convinces the salvage team leader, Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies), and her crew to go on one more mission with him because it could be worth millions of dollars. In fact, once on board, they discover a stash of gold bars with all markings filed off to make it untraceable. The captain assures his crew that, since the boat has been missing for 40 years and was recovered in international waters, the booty is all theirs. They’re rich!!

Little do they realize that the ship is a holding tank for souls eventually to be carted off to Hell. Murphy and his mates are to be the next souls salvaged. The crew encounters one strange thing after another and is gruesomely harvested one at a time by the ship’s demonic host. Who is the host, how did he get them there, and will anyone escape?

GHOST SHIP has very high production values. The set, art direction and special effects are top-notch. There is one scene where the ship’s dilapidated ballroom reassembles itself around one of the characters – fantastic! The story’s premise, within the context of the movie, is feasible and plenty creepy. Unfortunately, the combination of strong extremely scary violence, over-the-top gore, strong occult elements, false religion, heavy foul language, and brief nudity calls for viewers to avoid taking this cinematic cruise.

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Directed by Steve Beck

After discovering a passenger ship missing since 1962 floating adrift on the Bering Sea, salvagers claim the vessel as their own. Once they begin towing the ghost ship towards harbor, a series of bizarre occurrences happen and the group becomes trapped inside the ship, which they soon learn is inhabited by a demonic creature.

Gabriel Byrne Julianna Margulies Desmond Harrington Ron Eldard Isaiah Washington Karl Urban Emily Browning Francesca Rettondini Bob Ruggiero Jamie Giddens Alex Dimitriades Boris Brkic Iain Gardiner Adam Bieshaar Cameron Watt

Director Director

Producers producers.

Gilbert Adler Joel Silver Robert Zemeckis Stephen Jones Susan Downey Richard Mirisch Daniel R. Chavez Bill Draper Craig Forrest

Writers Writers

Mark Hanlon John Pogue

Casting Casting

Lora Kennedy Fiona McMaster Tom McSweeney

Editors Editors

Roger Barton Rebecca Weigold

Cinematography Cinematography

Gale Tattersall

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Colin Fletcher Jennifer Leacey

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Danny Baldwin

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Steve Richards Bruce Berman

Lighting Lighting

Shaun Conway Zac Murphy

Camera Operator Camera Operator

John Trapman

Production Design Production Design

Graham 'Grace' Walker

Art Direction Art Direction

Richard Hobbs Charles McGuinness Jim Millett

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Claudine Clark Christian Huband Kate Lovejoy David Nimmo Jac Charlton Beverley Dunn Steve Goldenberg

Special Effects Special Effects

Patrick Carmiggelt

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Andy Cadzow Naomi Mitchell Dale Duguid Matt Linder

Stunts Stunts

Danny Baldwin Ric Anderson Gulliver Page Nick Lawson

Composer Composer

John Frizzell

Sound Sound

John Roesch Andrew Lackey Ken S. Polk Richard Adrian Dane A. Davis Paul 'Salty' Brincat Julia Evershade Gregg Rudloff Alyson Dee Moore Linda Lew

Costume Design Costume Design

Margot Wilson

Makeup Makeup

Anita Morgan Nadine Wilkie Jason Baird Scott Patton Nikki Gooley Christopher Allen Nelson Steven Boyle

Village Roadshow Pictures NPV Entertainment Dark Castle Entertainment Ghost Ship Films Pty. Ltd. Warner Bros. Pictures

Australia USA

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Italian Spanish

Releases by Date

22 oct 2002, 01 mar 2003, 25 oct 2002, 30 oct 2002, 08 nov 2002, 15 nov 2002, 20 nov 2002, 22 nov 2002, 05 dec 2002, 13 dec 2002, 01 jan 2003, 11 jan 2003, 17 jan 2003, 23 jan 2003, 24 jan 2003, 31 jan 2003, 14 feb 2003, 20 feb 2003, 21 feb 2003, 07 mar 2003, 13 mar 2003, 14 mar 2003, 21 mar 2003, 26 mar 2003, 27 mar 2003, 28 mar 2003, 03 apr 2003, 11 apr 2003, 15 apr 2003, 24 apr 2003, 15 may 2003, 19 jun 2003, 31 dec 2008, 15 dec 2021, 02 jul 2003, 22 feb 2006, 09 jun 2010, releases by country.

Theatrical 16
Theatrical 12+
Premiere Night Visions Film Festival
Theatrical 12
Physical 12 DVD
Physical UMD
Digital 12 VOD
Physical 12 Blu-Ray
Digital 16 Netflix
Theatrical 18

Netherlands

New zealand, philippines.

Theatrical Manila
Theatrical Davao
Theatrical M/18

Russian Federation

Theatrical 18+

South Africa

South korea.

Premiere R Westwood, California

91 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Helen_S ★½ 22

What a demented opening! Shame the rest was crap.

Review by single white femalien 48

in my factual opinion every straight man would fuck a sexy titty ghost and you can't convince me otherwise!

Review by Jorge Pinarello ★★½ 15

Domingo 10 de la mañana. Me desperté puesto y dispuesto a ver El Maestro (Bradley Cooper narigón) Ya no se puede dilatar más esa situación. Me preparé el mate y las galletitas y prendí la tele para poner netflix. Pero, pero, pero… justo en América estaban dando Alf. Y encima estaban dando el capítulazo de La Cucaracha. Me tuve que quedar viendo. Nadie en su sano juicio engancha el capítulo de la cucaracha y lo saca. Después dieron otro donde el señor Ochmonek invita a la familia a unas vacaciones y Alf se cuela metiéndose adentro de una valija. Ese no está tan bueno pero lo vi igual. Cuando terminó Alf empezó un programa de reciclaje. Me preocupa un poco…

Review by Ian West ★★½ 3

I was 17 when I stumbled out of my friends station wagon, cloud of smoke billowing behind me, as I shuffled toward the local shit house amc on opening night to see Ghost Ship . I remember having a decent enough time, but the intro has been the only thing I’ve remembered since that night.

I know it’s been talked about to death, but that opening really is killer—that music starts and those beautiful opening credits (the pink text might be my fav) leading to an swanky upper class Holocaust of severed bodies is a bold intro and I love it. It’s also a prime example of cinematic premature ejaculation and that’s always a bummer. The rest of the movie wasn’t…

Review by DeepSpace9mm ★ 5

Ghost Ship: ⭐

The nap I took while watching Ghost Ship: ⭐⭐⭐

Review by Sam Thompson ★★

The opening was awesome but when we jump forward to present day it becomes a dumb cheese fest that is so obviously a movie from the 2000’s.

It’s premise evokes a lot of potential but it’s execution doesn’t fully reach the heights it could. The characters are weird and are always aggressively talking to each other for some reason. I had some fun with it but it’s a huge meh.

The tagline is ‘SEA EVIL.’ Seriously, cmon Hollywood. Like I know ‘Ghost Ship’ is a maritime term for an actual vessel with no living crew onboard, but for a movie title it just sounds like a film by The Asylum.

Review by DreamScape40 ★★★½

Ghost Ship is my guilty pleasure. Love anything related to boats, ships, cruise lines, etc. Title alone is what peaked my interest since its release.

Opening sequence alone is crazy bizarre and unexpected and the breakdown of the event later in the film.

Love the cast: Keep forgetting that Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) plays the little girl.

Sexy Karl Urban. Still cringe from the canned beans/worms sequance

With a fun sound track.

End credit song: Not Falling Performed by: Mudvayne

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2MfxAp6FLg

Review by Brianna

i’ve never seen a movie whose first 10 minutes so staggeringly eclipse the remaining 80 it’s actually impressive

Review by shookone ½ 2

absolute shite. zero atmosphere, a horrible constructed narrative, faceless characters (despite having descent actors on board, what in gods name did drive Gabriel Byrne to do this?), and on top of it this is utterly racist - the existence of a sex-driven black character and a stupid hispanic bogan (both dying early of course) is pretty unimaginable in a big budget flick 20 years later. hollywoods worst of the worst.

Review by Justin Decloux ★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

This isn't so bad! The beginning is the best part (of course), but the ship is fun to look at, and the ending delivers some surprising flashback gore.

The reveal that the villain is some middle-management demon schlub who's really bad at his job made me laugh out loud.

This would have really come together if it ended with a Gabriel Byrne-shaped cloud looking and smiling before a SHASH CUT TO CREDITS led us into a rap about Ghost Ship (sung by Korn)

Review by 𝚮𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖉𝖊 ❤️‍🔥 ★½ 22

The way hamfruitcake and I debased ourselves for Karl Urban today by rewatching this trash.

If Butcher was the one who tried to fuck that ghost...he would simply succeed.

The opening still holds up. And Emily Browning plays a damn child ghost here and her character still has more personality than what she was given in Sucker Punch .

Review by Peter Burt ★★★

The tagline for this movie is ‘Sea Evil’ and that should give you a hint as to why I like it

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Ghost Ship Reviews

No All Critics reviews for Ghost Ship.

Colin's Review

Music, Movies, TV & More

“Ghost Ship” (2002)

Capitalizing on the circa-2002 commercial success of The Perfect Storm , Cast Away and The Titanic comes Ghost Ship : a lazy movie about a haunted ocean liner. The tagline “Sea Evil” should tell you all you need to know. A few more notes on Ghost Ship :

Directing – The Warner Bros./Dark Castle Entertainment partnership yielded quite a few horror movies in the early 2000s, including House on Haunted Hill , Thirteen Ghosts , Gothika , House of Wax and Ghost Ship . Steve Beck directed two of them ( Thirteen Ghosts and Ghost Ship ), but the films mostly belong to executive producers Robert Zemeckis, Joel Silver and Gilbert Adler. Ghost Ship is like a Tales from the Crypt episode stretched out to 90 minutes, complete with dingy settings, bad special effects and uninspired jump scares. But, hey, at least that opening scene — in which the passengers of the MS Antonia Graza are all decapitated by a cable — is kinda cool.
Acting – The cast of second-tier actors (including Julianna Margulies, Gabriel Byrne and Isaiah Washington) is occasionally serviceable but is brought down whenever they have to show real emotion. The dialogue is often laughable (not their fault), but so are the deliveries (that’s on them). That’s why, so often, there are scenes of the crew just cracking jokes and laughing. It’s the most genuine acting they can do.
Writing – All in all, not a bad concept: haunted house genre goes nautical. But then it tries to become an action movie (a team of “badass” shipwreck salvagers finally meet their match!) … and a mystery movie (who killed the MS Antonia Graza ?) … and a supernatural thriller (one of the characters turns out to be the Devil?!). Anyway, the storyline lacks logic, the dialogue sets new definitions of inessential, and the entire film constantly doubles back on its own implausible rules. You can’t have a mystery movie without a mystery, and you can’t have a scary movie without scares. The screenwriters (Mark Hanlon and John Pogue) could’ve learned a thing or two from Scooby-Doo .
Music – At times the orchestral score by John Frizzell is elegant, providing a much-needed atmosphere to a film that seriously lacks it. But then I’m reminded of the opening credits sequence , which is intentionally cheesy for no reason — I already know I’m watching Ghost Ship ; the pink font and the schmaltzy music ain’t gonna “trick” me. And I’m also reminded of the “revealing” flashback, which contains a hilariously out-of-place industrial rock song called “ My Little Box .” And I’m finally reminded of the film’s conclusion, which uses Mudvayne of all bands to make the last scene appear “epic.” What a godawful mishmash of sounds.
Ending (SPOILERS) – The grand reveal of one of the characters being a demonic entity isn’t properly explained. Then again, Ghost Ship for the most part leaves logic on the poop deck. So, the Devil is susceptible to dynamite? Well, yes and no, because he returns on a different boat the scene after he is blown up. And then Maureen Epps (Margulies), our sole survivor, shouts “NOOOOO!” as the film cuts to the end credits. Did Steve Beck rip off this ending from Scary Movie ?
Quote: “A ghost ship.” – Dodge