The Ghost Ship

Director - Mark Robson (Isle of the Dead, Bedlam)

Starring - Richard Dix (Devil's Playground, The Thirteenth Hour), Russell Wade (The Body Snatcher, A Game of Death), and Edith Barrett (I Walked with a Zombie, Alfred Hitchcock Presents)

Release Date - 1943

Genre - Mystery/Thriller

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The next few days is going to have me taking a trip to decades long since passed thanks to Warner Bros. and their archive collection releases.  A few weeks back they sent over several releases.  The first I was able to dig into was Night Shift which was a fantastic early 80s comedy that I truly enjoyed.  However, the other releases takes me back even further.  The second release was the early 60s with Children of the Damned before venturing into the 40s with a Mark Robson double feature.  The first film in the set was 1943's The Ghost Ship.  This was a first time watch and I couldn't wait to dig into it.  Like always, I want to thank Warner Bros. for sending this one over.  

     The film follows Tom (Wade) who signs on to be third officer of a ship.  At first he finds himself at home among the crew but things take a dark turn when several of the crew members turn up dead with mysterious causes.  As the bodies pile up, Tom suspects that it is active captain on the boat.  This allegations causes tension between the two and with more and more people dying it causes a ripple between the crew and Tom while the real killer is getting away with murder.  

     They don't make movies like they used to.  A lot of the modern horror and thrillers are often labeled as mysteries but they rarely deliver the mystery aspect anymore.  They are predictable and lack any sort of mystery and atmosphere that these classis films do.  They are more focused on jump scares instead of the mystery aspect.  The Ghost Ship was able to deliver just that but the repetitive storyline made it a bit redundant and dull.  It was solid for the most part but painfully mediocre.  The acting in this one is great.  The characters are not that memorable but this is one of the few instances where I've seen a film that was so consistent throughout.  The cast is fantastic and everyone does an amazing job but the characters are all the same.  It's a sea of faces with no personalities to make them stand out.  The story for this one has so much potential but is stretched way too thin.  It's barely over an hour but in that run time we get a set up that repeats itself without delivering anything worthy to the film.  Once we find the first death we are stuck in a cycle of deaths, that are fairly lackluster, and they do very little to further the story.  Sure, it adds a body count but they are not fun or graphic deaths that makes the film worthwhile.  The only aspect of the film that I appreciate is how it kept the mystery aspect going without ruining the reveal.  The tension and suspense worked very well with the story to make it work but so much needed trimmed from the film.  Finally, the film does have a bit of a body count but don't expect deaths that will stand out to you.  They are mostly done off camera with no real imagination tossed into them.  Overall, The Ghost Ship is a a fantastic looking mystery thriller but the story is like watching paint dry.  It has some moments and is solid for a first time watch but there is a reason this one is rarely discussed in horror circles.