1980’s cult curiosity Death Ship makes its 4K debut. Do you dare come aboard?
“Those That Survive The Ghost Ship Are Better Off Dead”, and those that survive a viewing of Death Ship are gonna be real confused why that one guy died in the net. 1980’s Death Ship makes its way to 4k, courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Death Ship is a real interesting one. Melding a few different genres (disaster movie, haunted house movie, Nazisploitation) Death Ship is both an incredibly unique genre exercise, that also consistently grinds its own gears to a halt.
Opening on a cruise ship disaster, Death Ship follows a group of seawreck survivors as they come across the cursed vessel. Leading the crew is 2nd-in-command Trevor Marshall (Richard Crenna), along with his family, an assortment of survivors from the wreck (including an incredibly young Saul Rubinek), and an immobilized Captain Ashland (George Kennedy). They board the vessel in search of sanctuary, but quickly find that the vessel appears to hold malicious secrets, secrets that start to kill. Can the survivors find help in time? Or will the cursed ship, along with its new maniacal captain, Ashland, doom them all?
Death Ship has a lot going for it; namely, the atmosphere. This is a very spooky movie, with the ship standing in for a classical haunted house. The massive black structure, surrounded by forever seas, isn’t that far off from some broken down Victorian Manor in the middle of a marsh, filled with all sorts of hidden evils. The hallways are long and dark, the rooms filled with cobwebs and dust. Sometimes music echoes in the distance; sometimes the sounds of German shouting.
The ship here is an eerie place, which begins to cause waking nightmares for those aboard it. The way these nightmares are edited, blinking moments of surreal and disturbing images, makes everything feel off kilter, the boat blurring the lines of reality and nightmare. They are evocative and effective, and when everything begins to spin out of control in the 3rd act, and those images of violence and brutality begin to come true, is when the film truly becomes something a bit other worldly.
It would be a lot easier, though, for these frightening moments to shine if it wasn’t for the laborious plot. We spend the majority of the second act essentially spinning our wheels. After a quick initial death onboard the Death Ship, it’s about 30 minutes before anything of note really happens again. A good portion of that time is spent either exploring the boat, or watching the boat set up its early Scooby Doo gags.
This type of slow burn might work a bit better if the cast was actually bought into the situation they’re in. Instead, everyone kinda just acts like there is nothing strange going on. No matter how many objects move on their own or traps are set or people die or obvious Nazi literature is left around, everyone just keeps focusing on getting settled into their new (cursed) home. It just makes the stakes feel no existent, up until no one is able to ignore what’s happening (when the actual killing starts).
Still, even when it drags, there is still enough interesting camera work and editing on screen to make this a worthy enough watch. Hell, just George Kennedy having a ball playing a villain is worth the price of admission, even if you start to ask yourself “shouldn’t there be more death on this Death Ship?” about half way through.
Specs:
A derelict Nazi Torture Vessel has never looked better, thanks to a new HDR10 Master, from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative.
For special features, you’re setting sail with a pretty loaded cargo. There are 3 different audio commentaries, including one with director Alvin Rakoff, and 2 additional commentaries from film historians (one from Paul Corupe and Jason Pichonsky, the other from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson). Additionally, there is a documentary of the making of, a featurette with Katarina Severen (of Katarina’s Nightmare Theater), an isolated score, and a short story script & two theatrical trailers.
While this might not be a “jewel in the rough”, there’s a lot to like here; the creepy atmosphere, the incredibly dark backstory, and the two leads doing their damndest to oversell the concept. For those who love those late 70’s/early 80’s spooky ghost pictures (or at least loved them when they were on MST3K), this is right up your alley.
Out Now!
