In
the midst of a 1962 pleasure cruise, the passengers and
crew of Italian luxury liner the Antonia Graza are
systematically slaughtered and left in pieces by a gang
of terrorists. Forty years later, the ship is spotted
drifting in the Bering sea.
Fresh off a
six-month journey, an Alaska-based seafaring salvage
team lead by Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) and Epps (Julianna
Margulies) are approached by a Canadian weather spotter
(Desmond Harrington) who noticed the derelict vessel on a
flyover. Tempted by the possibility of untold riches, the
crew takes on the job of tracking down the ship. Once
aboard though, strange things start to happen, beginning
with Epps's sighting of the ghost of a little girl. After
the team finds a cache of gold, all hell breaks loose, and
the angry ghosts make themselves known--and begin
destroying the intruders one by one.
Purely and simply a floating haunted house tale, GHOST
SHIP is a creepy thrill ride that compensates for its
lack of originality with some creepy art direction and a
number of very grisly special effects. Director Steve
Beck (13 GHOSTS) keeps things appropriately dark, and
coaxes suitably world-weary performances from Gabriel
Byrne and Julianna Margulies, who makes an appealing
heroine!!