Ghost Ship ** (2002, Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard) – Classic Movie Review 2037

There’s some fun to be had from director Steve Beck’s soggy, cheap-looking 2002 B-movie horror thriller in which a salvage crew finds a long-lost 1962 ghost ship in the Bering Sea. They prepare to tow back to dry land the passenger ship that is floating lifeless in the remote region, with gory consequences.

Gabriel Byrne stars as Captain Sean Murphy, bringing considerable authority to the piece. Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades, Karl Urban, Francesca Rettondini and Emily Browning are in the strong ensemble star cast.

Written by Mark Hanlon and John Pogue, this Dark Castle offering is always adequate, and mostly entertaining. But, with this cast and production, and Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis producing, you feel that something of more quality was originally intended – maybe.

It’s certainly helped by its rich soundtrack, with original music composed by John Frizzell, which was released on the Varèse Sarabande label on 5 November 2002. The song ‘Not Falling’ by Mudvayne is featured in the movie.

The film began life as a spec script called Chimera by Mark Hanlon, originally written as a relatively bloodless psychological thriller. Cheap looking it may be, but it cost $35million. It is unrelated to the 1952 film of the same name or the 1943 The Ghost Ship.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2037

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