Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The ragtag crew of a salvage boat run across an old abandoned ocean liner that turns out to be haunted by the unrestful spirits of people who were all murdered on it back in 1962. Director Steve Beck relates the enjoyable and involving story at a steady pace, adroitly crafts a pleasing spooky atmosphere, and stages the shock scenes with flair and skill (the boffo grab-you-by-the-throat gruesome opening multiple murder set piece packs a wicked punch!). The inspired script by Mark Hanlon and John Pogue offers a few neat twists as well as a valid reason for why the salvage crew can't simply just leave the ship once they realize something is seriously amiss. The sound acting by the tip-top cast helps a lot: Gabriel Byrne as crusty captain Murphy, Juliana Margulies as the gutsy and resourceful Epps, Ron Eldard as the rugged Dodge, Desmond Harrington as antsy greenhorn Ferriman, Isaiah Washington as the easygoing Greer, Alex Dimitriades as smartaleck Santos, Karl Urban as the scruffy Munder, and Emily Browning as helpful ghost girl Katie Howard. The luscious Francesca Rettondini slinks it up nicely as sultry singer Francesca. Kudos are also in order for the excellent art direction, Gale Tattersall's glossy cinematography, and John Frizzell's shivery score. An on the money fright film.

Credit where credit is due. The concept of this film: a salvage crew are hired to recover a 40 year old lost Italian cruise ship that mysteriously disappeared. Had this this film been a psychological horror, it would have been better.Unfortunately, this film has been made like a typical horror with clichéd characters, bad acting and poor dialogue. The main actor Julianna Margulies even admitted later on she agreed to be in this movie because of the original script and was disappointed when she arrived she was going to act out a completely different script. This does not surprise me, there are some elements of good. One example is Gabriel Byrne's character is a recovering alcoholic. We are told that he doesn't drink in a bar scene early on and he stops himself from drinking whiskey (I think it was whiskey anyway) on board the ship only to drink some after the loss of a crew member. It's a shame that this was not developed as it would have given the character depth.Another good element was the relationship between Murphy (Gabriel Byrnes) and Epps (Julianna Margulies). This too is very undeveloped. The relationship between the characters were undeveloped at the cost of trying to make this film more popular. A terrible shame as this would have let the audience develop a bond with the characters rather than a typical horror where there is usually a game of seeing who's next to be slaughtered.As for the supernatural elements, the villain's main goal is to collect souls, so why couldn't he have killed them off a lot sooner? A psychological horror would have made this film a lot more interesting and believable. At most the supernatural should have been implied. Having all "supernatural" encounters have a rational (i.e. hallucination) or supernatural explanation leaving the audience to decide for themselves is also preferable. Overall, I would only recommend this film in the sense that it's interesting from speculation perspective.

I saw this back in 2005 and it was pretty scary then...I guess now this film is not as scary as some today. In a way it could be a fictional version of what would have happened had the titanic not sank and had instead floated for a couple decades. It starts with a ship recovery crew that is sent out to find a ghost ship that has been afloat for awhile and the passengers have disappeared. Soon after they board the ship one of the crew died. Throughout the movie most of the crew dies. Some of them do have a gruesome death like one person got a hook through their head. Another thing that happens throughout the film is people start saying former passengers and how they died. In the end th main leader is injured and taken to shore and one of her former crew members is seen boarding another ship just like the former one and is seen carrying gold aboard. I forgot to mention that crew member is a ghost who was on the ghost ship and I believe he haunts the gold aboard both ships.

This is a nice ghost flick with a great cast. Among the leads are the always watchable Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies and a young Karl Urban. The story is about an experienced salvage team that encounters a still floating abandoned Titanic-like ship and wants to bring it home. What they don't know is that the ship is haunted and one by one the crew members lose their lives.The story starts in great fashion with a shocking massacre on deck but when the crew finally meet the ghosts (and when they start explaining things) it all goes down. What a pity. I liked the movie sets and actors in this story. Some scenes even reminded me of Kubrick's The Shining - and that's a compliment.About two minutes from the end you think that you have been watching a okay but not classic ghost story but unfortunately the last surprise spoils the whole film. Don't you hate that when that happens?7/10