In 1962, a catastrophic event occurred aboard the ocean liner MS Antonia Graza. The ship was never seen again.
Forty years later, Sean Murphy (Gabriel Byrne), the captain of the salvage tug the “Arctic Warrior”, and his crew, Maureen Epps (Julianna Margulies), Dodge (Ron Eldard), Greer (Isaiah Washington) Santos (Alex Dimitriades) and Munder (Karl Urban) are approached by Jack Ferriman (Desmond Harrington). Ferriman tells them that he is a weather service pilot that saw what looks like a derelict ship adrift in the Bering Sea. The photo he took shows an overhead view of a large luxury liner. Realizing that the salvage of the ship could be worth millions, the crew agrees to check it out.
When they reach the ship, they find that it was the Italian liner, the MS Antonia Graza. The ship was reported lost in May of 1962. They go aboard to inspect the damage. They find that the ship is taking on water and heading for some rocks that will sink the ship if they can’t get the engines running.
As soon as they board, strange things begin happening. Epps sees the ghost of a young girl, Katie Harwood (Emily Browning). Murphy sees the ghost of the captain (Bob Ruggiero). Everyone begins to get freaked out and want off the ship. Before leaving they find boxes of gold bars, and of course, decide to take the gold with them. Before they can off load the gold, a gas valve on the tug mysteriously opens causing an explosion. Santo is killed, the tug is sunk, and everyone else is trapped on the ship.
As the trespassers begin to get killed, Epps once again sees Katie and begins a dialogue with her. Through Katie, Epps sees the shadows of what happened that fateful day when everyone aboard the Graza was murdered and how nine boxes of gold ended up aboard.
“Ghost Ship” was released in 2002 and was directed by Steve Beck. It is a U.S. and Australian horror thriller with paranormal aspects.
For some reason everyone trashes the film, but everyone also is fascinated by it. I had fun with it. It’s full of action and mystery as well as explosions and interesting and intricate death scenes. There is a nice eerie atmosphere and some decent special effects. It is everything you would want in an action-packed film. The movie also has one of the best and most horrific opening horror scenes I’ve ever seen.
The plot is simple but the film itself is involved. There are some plot holes but that’s nothing new with paranormal stuff. The ending has a twist that is a little ambiguous, which I wasn’t crazy about, still, I really enjoyed it.
Jack’s last name, Ferriman, harkens back to mythological times and the river Styx.