Death Ship

A group of people survive a horrible sinking at sea, only to be rescued by the film’s title, the Death Ship, a haunted SS ship that causes people to go insane and starts killing them one by one in different, violent ways. Yes, this is the basic plot of the Death Ship, a Canadian/French production. The plot, as you can tell, is no different from your typical haunted house film, although I must admit that the movie benefits from it’s creepy location. The ship where the film takes place does look like an empty shithole, and is very similar to the space ship in Alien, at least in the areas below. The other memorable aspect of this film is the acting. When I put it on I had no idea that the film was filled with known and talented actors, and I was glad to see them. The stand-out is George Kennedy, famous for playing Captain Ed in the Naked Gun films. Here, he plays a bitter sea captain who later gets possessed by the evil ghosts of the old Nazi captain. He’s an asshole when he’s normal but he turns really vicious when he gets possessed. We also get Richard Crenna from the Rambo films playing a good guy, and that’s always good. Then there’s the obligatory t&a, given to us by British actress, Victoria Burgoine. She is really good-looking and has the greatest nude/death scene I’ve seen in a long time: she drowns in a shower full of blood! If you know me, you know I’ve got a thing for naked women covered in blood, so this made me very happy. And when George Kennedy throws her over, she looks great dead. As for the death scenes, they’re hit and miss. The sequence with the shower full of fake blood is by far the best, but there are some other interesting ones. One of the sailors gets himself thrown into a net full of fish, and another is picked up by a hook then thrown overboard until he drowns. As you see, they’re not very memorable. George Kennedy has a cool death scene, however, but I don’t want to reveal too much about it. Let’s just say he loses one of his limbs in a very, very painful way. In closing, this is a very accomplished and well-made ghost story, very typical of it’s time but entertaining as well. I recommend it.