Welcome back to Movie Recapped. Today I will show you a horror film from 2002,
titled Ghost Ship. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
The year is 1962. Aboard the ocean liner Antonia Graza, the passengers are having
an evening of dinner and dancing to Francesca's music. A little girl, Katie Harwood, sits alone,
not having fun as the others. A waiter helps her write "I'm so bored" on her little toy; afterward,
the captain of the ship asks her to dance with him, which she accepts.
While everyone enjoys themselves, someone is lifting a lever to unravel some wire.
When the spool finally snaps, it makes the wire whip on the dance floor, bisecting
all the passengers and crew except Katie, whose height's allowed the wire to pass above her head.
Forty years later, we meet a crew of salvagers: Captain Murphy, Maureen Epps, Greer, Dodge,
Munder, and Santos. They're rescuing a ship that is taking too much water, so Greer isn't sure they
can carry it on for much longer. It was also very hard to find, so Epps refuses to give up on it so
soon. Using a wire to move between ships, she enters the rescued boat and finds a punch in
the port floater. Ignoring Murphy's warnings, Epps starts working on repairing the hole as Munder and
Dodge join her to help: she hammers on a piece of metal that the men weld. Some hours later,
we learn the group was successful in their rescue when Murphy brings their pay to their table at a
bar. They're celebrating when they're approached by a man, Jack Ferriman, who wants to hire them.
Ferriman proceeds to tell them his story: he flies the Arctic Weather Patrol Flights out of
Mackenzie Bay and last month he was in the middle of the Strait when he saw something. He shows them
a picture of a ship in the Bering Sea, which he tried to contact to no avail, so he figured
it was adrift. He told the Coast Guard about it but since the ship is on international waters,
they only took note of it. He never caught the ship's name, but he saw it again a few days ago.
Ferriman only asks for 20% of the findings and promises he hasn't told anyone else about it,
Murphy asks for a minute alone with his crew. After Ferriman leaves, the crew discusses
if taking this job or not: Greer is hesitant because they've already been out for six months,
and this would take them another week - he hasn't seen his fiance in a long time. When
Murphy promises an even split, everyone accepts to go, and Greer gives in as well. They call Ferriman
over and tell him they'll give him 10%, he accepts under the condition he goes with them. They set
out in their tugboat at sunset, but it isn't until later in the rainy night that they find something.
Santos is at the wheel when he sees something on the radar, so he calls Murphy over. The radar
shows nothing when the captain arrives, so he thinks Santos imagined things, but seconds later,
the radar shows something again. Murphy calls Epps to join them and after she arrives, he tries to
contact the mysterious ship while Epps notices how it shows up and out of the radar by the second.
Suddenly, the large ship appears in front of them, so Santos has to quickly stop their boat - they
don't fully crash, but the engine gets damaged. They circle the liner to check it out and Murphy
is surprised to see the name: Antonia Graza. It's an Italian ship that was reported missing
in 1962 off the coast of Labrador, but the strange thing is there was no distress signal,
it just disappeared. Since then, every captain has been looking for her, but now she's theirs.
They bring their ship closer so they can board her. Greer, Santos, and Ferriman stay behind while
the rest of the crew goes to investigate. They take note of the condition details of the liner,
like life preserver lockers being empty and lifeboats being gone.
When they find a door, they go inside, which makes Greer lost his connection to them.
The crew walks around different rooms, commenting on the fanciness, when they hear a noise:
they follow it and find a pendulum clock still ticking that startles Munder when it strikes time.
As their laughter echoes in the ship, they move onto another room, on a nearby table Katie's old
toy moves on its own and misspells "welcome aboard". In the tugboat, Greer is bothered by
the lack of communication. But in the liner, the crew keeps going without worrying much. They enter
a lower level of the ship and keep looking around when suddenly, the floor breaks under Munder. Epps
grabs him and prevents him from falling, but he's left hanging and she's brought down to the floor.
While desperately crying for help, Epps sees Katie through the hole, but she's gone in a blink.
Luckily Dodge and Murphy catch her and pull her and Munder up before they get hurt. Moments later,
they make it to the ship's bridge. Munder finds that the compass and the helm are dead,
and Dodge notices the fuel tanks are empty: the ship must've ridden on until she was dried.
Murphy finds log documentation on a desk, which he intends to take back with him, and on another
table, Dodge finds a digital watch, which doesn't make sense because they didn't exist in 1962.
Murphy thinks they aren't the first ones to find the ship, but it doesn't matter because
it's theirs now. So he orders everyone to go back, they'll start the towing in the morning.
The crew returns to their tugboat. Ferriman asks them if they were able to find out what
happened to the liner, Murphy says it's a very good question and tells them the
story of the Marie Celeste, a ship that went through the same thing as the Antonia Graza:
she was found empty with no crew or passengers and no signs of distress, she traveled for miles
at full sail with nobody at the helm. Ferriman calls her a ghost ship, which Dodge scoffs at.
They discuss their plan afterward: Murphy wants to tug the liner along as they usually do, but Santos
doesn't think their little tugboat can pull such a big ship. Greer mentions they could anchor her
and come back later, but Dodge says that Russians could steal her from them, and Murphy points out
the anchors are gone anyway. So Greer agrees to get the engines working and drag her with the
tugboat, which will take them two weeks. But he doesn't mind, since this will pay extremely well.
Meanwhile, Epps can't stop thinking about what she saw when Munder fell. Ferriman comes
to check on her since she's been very quiet, and Epps confesses she saw a girl on the ship,
which is impossible. Ferriman tells her he also sees things sometimes when he's been flying for
too long, and she finds his words comforting. The next morning, the crew goes scuba-diving to check
on the state of the liner's hull. They confirm she has a hole and is sinking, she probably got
hit around a week ago. Back inside the tugboat, they discuss their options. The ship is caught
in a strong current loop that has been slowly pushing her towards a nearby group of rocks,
they must fix her before she gets hit again. They have three days to do it, but Munder mentions all
the things they need to work on and points out three days aren't enough. Santos also thinks he
doesn't have enough gear to fix the engine. Murphy orders everyone to do it anyway. When Greer says
he's going to call this in following marine law, Murphy forbids it, he doesn't want any guests.
Santos stays in the tugboat working on the engine while the rest of the crew boards the liner to
do a full recon before they start working on the repairs. They divide the group into pairs to work
on different areas, Greer and Murphy are together but Murphy doesn't allow Greer to enter the
captain's room with him when they find it. Munder and Dodge are going through a flooded lower level,
heading to the main engine room, when they realize they're unable to use their walkie-talkies.
Meanwhile, Epps is supposed to be with Ferriman, but she seems to be alone when
she finds a room with a swimming pool. She gets inside the pool and finds holes on its walls,
plus bullets on the floor. When she decides to leave, she starts to climb the pool stairs,
only to find Katie at the top. Startled, she falls back into the pool and loses consciousness.
In the meantime, Greer continues to look around while Murphy checks out the captain's room. After
finding the captain's hat, he checks the bathroom, where he finds blood and a razor on the sink.
The other members of the crew are finding weird clues as well: Greer sees the elevator has fallen,
and when Dodge and Munder make it to the engine room, they discover it's totally flooded.
They try to tell the others, but all they get is static on the talkies.
In the pool, Epps is waking up, unaware that the blood from her head wound is being absorbed
by the holes on the floor. She asks for Katie to wait, but the only person there now is Ferriman.
He helps her get out as a different hole on the wall starts spouting blood.
Back in the captain's room, Murphy finds a glass of whiskey and when he's about to drink it,
he looks up and finds that the reflection on the mirror is not his but the liner's captain's.
Startled, he drops the glass and leaves the room while the mirror shows the old captain again.
Meanwhile, Ferriman and Epps discuss what the bullets could mean as more holes start spouting
blood, filling the pool with it. Bodies can be seen floating as Ferriman and Epps leave.
Suddenly, Francesca's singing can be heard over the walkie-talkies. While Greer follows the voice
into a dining room, Ferriman and Epps find the central laundry, and Epps decides to check if the
vent is flooded. As soon as she opens it, a strong wave of water comes out, further flooding the room
and revealing bodies that can only be around a month old. As the door closes on its own, Epps
tries to contact Murphy to tell him they should get off this ship, but the talkies aren't working.
They try to leave the way they came in, but since it's locked now, they take a different side door.
Meanwhile, in the dining room, Greer finds a piano on the stage, and on top of it,
an ashtray with a cigarette that is still lighted and has lipstick on it. He also admires a picture
of Francesca, unaware that she's watching him from afar. Back to Ferriman and Epps, they're moving
through a hallway when Ferriman suddenly enters a room, excited to find an old car. Epps tells
him they should go, but stops when she realizes there's something moving under a pile of mailbags.
They kick the bags off and open the box under it, revealing a bunch of rats that startle Epps and,
most importantly, many bars of gold. As they leave the room, Epps tries to contact Murphy again,
but on the talkie only there's only static and a strange voice that calls out her name and asks
for help because it's cold. They keep moving and find the galley, Epps decides to open the fridge
even if Ferriman warns her not to. She enters the fridge and is suddenly jumped on by two
people inside meat bags that chase her out and back to the galley. These people turn out to be
Dodge and Munder playing a prank, Epps interrupts their laughter by telling them about the bodies
and the gold. Moments later, the whole crew has reunited and gone to the cargo hold to open the
rest of the boxes. They all contain gold bars, and the crew immediately starts celebrating their
newfound fortune, but Greer is worried they may be insured. Dodge points out the markings have been
filed down, so the owner must've wanted the bars to be untraceable. Greer thinks it's stolen then,
and Murphy thinks this may be why the ship disappeared. Munder says that explains 1962,
but the bodies they've found are recent, which causes Greer to confess he heard a woman singing,
making the others laugh at him. Epps proposes to call the Coast Guard, but Dodge points out
they could equal trouble if the gold truly was stolen. Murphy reminds them that anything found in
international waters is finders keepers, so they agree to take the gold and leave the ship behind.
Greer and Santos go back to the boat while the others get the boxes ready.
As an invisible force opens a propane tank in the boat's engine room,
Katie appears in front of Epps and warns her to stop what they're doing, but it's too late.
Another ghost pushes Katie away as Greer starts the boat, causing the engine room to explode.
Santos catches fire and jumps into the water right before the rest of the boat also explodes.
Desperate to help, Epps jumps into the water too and manages to rescue Greer while Ferriman
appears by her side, having found Munder. Santos is nowhere to be seen, but Katie's observing from
afar. A few moments later, the crew is back in the liner. While Epps tends to Greer's wounds,
Dodge gets angry at Ferriman for not having investigated this ship better and tells him
it's his fault Santos is dead. He intends to punch him, but Greer stops him. Afterward, Epps
goes to the deck, where Murphy is sitting alone and blaming himself. She tries to comfort him,
but he just silently leaves. Epps returns to the room with the others and tells them they
should try to repair the ship so they can return home or at least survive until they're rescued.
Greer would rather build a raft, but Munder thinks it's not a good idea,
and he asks Epps to wait until morning to start repairs under good light, which she accepts,
but Greer doesn't. He doesn't think Epps can guide them through this and keeps on complaining,
causing Munder to insult him. Greer punches him for it, and Ferriman and Dodge have to drag him
away. As it gets late in the night, we see Katie dancing around the swimming pool, Murphy returning
to the captain's room to grab the whiskey bottle, Epps finding Katie on the passengers' list,
Ferriman hanging out in the communications room, Dodge and Munder competing to see who tries the
old food first, and Greer drinking and talking to a picture of his fiancé in the dining room.
While Dodge and Munder discover the food is in good condition but has worms in it,
Epps walks through a hallway trying to find Katie. All the doors suddenly close around her except for
one, where Epps can hear humming. She enters the room and finds Katie's toys, clothes and drawings,
but when the closet suddenly opens, she finds her body as well. Meanwhile, in the dining room,
Greer watches how the room puts itself back together and people appear around him,
including Francesca on the stage. Back in the captain's room, the whiskey bottle is moving
and wakes Murphy up, only for him to find the old captain sitting across from him and offering him a
drink. Back to Greer, he's being approached by Francesca, who kisses his cheek to seduce him.
He decides that since this isn't real it won't count as cheating and he can go along with it, so
he kisses her on the mouth. In the meantime, Epps retrieves a locket from Katie's body and opens it,
finding pictures of her parents. She's about to close it when Katie appears behind her,
asking her not to close it because she hasn't seen it in years. After some chitchat,
Epps tries to give her the locket back, but it goes through Katie's ghost hand.
While in the dining room Francesca gets Greer to follow her by taking off her dress,
in the captain's room Murphy starts talking to the captain's ghost. The captain shows him pictures
of a ship they rescued two days before the Graza disappeared, it was that ship that had the gold.
Murphy recognizes her as the Lorelei and from the tales, he knows there were no survivors on her.
But the captain shakes his head and shows him a picture of the one person that was aboard,
causing Murphy to curse. In the meantime, Greer continues to follow Francesca around while Epps
gets an explanation from Katie. She says all the ghosts are trapped there because when the
ship has all the souls she needs and fills her quota, they'll be ferried. She doesn't
get to say where they'll be ferried because suddenly, blood starts appearing on the ceiling.
Katie says "he" doesn't want her to talk to Epps and asks her to get off before she disappears.
Meanwhile, Murphy has entered the pool room, looking for Epps, but he keeps seeing Santos'
ghost everywhere. Back to Greer and Francesca, she's finished undressing and Greer comes closer
to touch her, but he goes through her and falls into the elevator shaft, instantly dying. In the
hallways of the ship, Epps has found Ferriman and together they come across Murphy, who can
only see them as Santos trying to attack him. This causes him to defend himself and fight Epps, but
Ferriman manages to knock him out by hitting him from behind. A moment later, after reuniting with
Dodge and Munder, together they lock Murphy in the aquarium for their safety. As the morning comes,
Epps is watching Murphy in the tank, and the other three come back saying they couldn't find Greer.
Epps asks them to stick to the plan and try to fix the boat. A moment later, Epps, Dodge and Munder
go diving into the engine room, and after forcing the door open, work on fixing the hull. They
think it'll hold, so they get out and test it. The ship is indeed working now, and Epps moves to the
bridge to steer her, noticing how the current is taking them to the rock faster than they thought.
She goes back to Dodge and Munder and tells them to keep control of the drift while she goes down
below to see if she can find Greer. When she makes it down there, she finds Greer's body
and Katie again. While the men discover a clog in the engine room, Epps is touched by Katie to show
her memories of what happened. The ship's crew killed all the passengers through various methods,
then they turned on each other when the time came to divide the gold. The last standing officer
was approached and killed by Francesca, who in return was tricked and killed by the mastermind
behind all this: the Lorelei's last survivor, Ferriman. He's also the one that caused the boat
explosion and, Epps is learning now through these visions, filled the aquarium to drown Murphy.
Upset by this news, Epps runs to check on her captain, but it's too late: the vision was true.
Back in the engine room, Munder is diving to fix the clog while Dodge takes the wheel at the
bridge. Epps shows up then and tells him about Murphy, Ferriman soon follows but she decides
not to say what she knows. After giving Dodge a gun she found in the lower levels, she leaves to
check on Munder, asking the other two not to leave the bridge. In the engine room, Munder is crushed
by the ship's gears, and Epps arrives to guess what happened when seeing the blood in the water.
Meanwhile, on the bridge, Ferriman taunts Dodge by calling him a coward for doing everything Epps
says but still won't confess his feelings for her. He tries to leave the room and Dodge shoots him to
stop him. Back to the engine room, Epps is setting up explosives when she's approached by Dodge.
He gets angry when he discovers she wants to blow up the ship, but Epps is suspicious because
he hasn't asked about Munder. Dodge laughs and reveals he's Ferriman, who took Dodge's place
after killing him. Ferriman is a demonic spirit whose job is to fill the ship with souls and,
once she's full, takes the ship to hell. He offers her to live in exchange for the ship,
but she doesn't accept, so he makes a beam hit her and send her to the water. He jumps after her and
tries to drown her, but Epps finds a crossbow on the floor so, after pushing Ferriman off her, she
shoots the detonator, causing the ship to explode. All the souls are freed and Katie appears in front
of Epps to guide her to the surface. Epps swims up and holds onto some rubble for hours until a ship
arrives to rescue her. The movie ends hours later, with Epps back on land and being loaded into an
ambulance. When she opens her eyes, she notices some officers loading the gold into another
ship and Ferriman following them. She tries to scream, but the doors are closed on her face.