A cruise ship comes into collision with an unknown black vessel, the familiar faces survive and end up on aforementioned seemingly unmanned ghost ship. When the video certification act came to pass in 1984, "Death Ship" (rated X) was removed from the shelves, never to be released again in the UK. Your prudish sensibilities will be very disappointed. I saw this movie at a drive as a double feature with Scanners, I thought both films were great, but then I saw this film on video about ten years later,and I understood it a lot better. Ok, we've already stated the fact that I LOVE b-movies. The ship collision near the start of the movie, that sank the cruise liner carrying the survivors, was caused by the Death Ship in its ghostly mission to search for more victims. The cast did a pretty good job. N.B. A film needs more than that. A review of the movie Death Ship. It's certainly not the only horror film on the IMDB list for co-writer Jack Hill, who wrote and directed Spider Baby, as well as Switchblade Sisters, Foxy Brown, Sorceress and so many more. This movie has a lot of 80's slasher cheese to it--I will freely admit that--but overall I think it is a pretty good movie. VIRUS in 1999 (rogue ship seemingly abandoned, which when boarded proves to be an unpleasant experience) and this year's GHOST SHIP, an even closer related caper, which has even ripped-off the original POSTER with only subtle alterations. With George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes. This is the lone horror film on a resume that including more than a hundred television works. Metacritic Reviews. Alvin Rakoff is a Canadian television, stage, and film director who has spent most of his career working in England. It is good enough to be added to any horror fans video library. That the ship seems to have a mind of its own and that unseen crewmen seem to be just around the next corner compliments the aire of uncertainty and mounting claustrophobia which builds as the one time survivors fall prey to the forces of the ship. One scene in particular, when Nick Mancuso falls into a water filled hold of the ship only to be scooped out in a net full of rotting corpses is the stuff of nightmares! As far as obscured horror titles are concerned, Death Ship is definitely one worth checking out. The isolated setting is elaborated rather professional by director Alvin Rakoff. Death Ship (1980) – Review. A luxury liner collides with a mysterious ship and sinks, leaving nine survivors, including the captain (George Kennedy). Just a burning need for blood. But what this film does better than those other films, is that I manages to maintain atmospheric. [9 June 1980, p.B1], The movie degenerates from the merely farcical to the appallingly tasteless...As the end draws mercifully near, one character proclaims: "This ship Watch it if you are a die-hard horror fan or b-movie fan. Oh yeah, George Kennedy actually gave an award winning, creepy performance as the captain who wanted to take over the Nazi Freighter. Once again, the charm of movies like "Death Ship" passes by on many people. Those of you who did see DEATH SHIP on its maiden release and would like to catch up with it again might want to invest in a region-free DVD player if you do not currently have one (the Zenith DVP615 is a nice portable unit that is easily alterable to Region 0 by Googling it). The ship itself was very creepy and quite atmospheric. Except for one grisly, chilling scene too horrible to describe, this one was an unintentionally funny stroll. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game - Complete Edition, Death Ship unfortunately turned out to be about as frightening as "The Love Boat." Ten people trapped on a ghostly... death ship, A movie where George Kennedy drinks sewage. Death Ship. And pity the poor actors -- George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes; it's the TV-jeebies. - 75% hells_unicorn , November 23rd, 2012 But Death Ship … The theam and the creepy ship were enough to scare me once again. Sadly, these days B.Traven and his many novels have been assigned to relative obscurity in the world of literature and politics. The off-kilter, but downright fixed premise is cut and dry (as the original idea, before the story/script was chopped and changed around was originally penned by cult exploitation filmmaker Jack Hill) with it projecting a Gothic haunted house atmosphere aboard an ominous looking rust-bucket ship endlessly travelling the high seas with an sinisterly deranged twist behind it. Death Ship. There are other flaws - plot loopholes, dodgy acting and one extraordinary moment of bad editing/continuity. Richard Crenna was also good in his role. I don't know if it was the film in the cameras or some other technical aspect but todays films are just too clean and polished. Creepy! That disc had included a disclaimer citing the film lab that housed the original camera negative closed in the late 1980's and the aforementioned resources were "lost" as a result. It's got a freaky plot (Nazi-ghosts floating around the oceans and torturing survivors of a horrible shipping disaster), and an amazingly chilling atmosphere. It isn't like I haven't seen cheesier horror flicks than this one in my life. Alvin Rakoff's direction makes the most of the location and the climax is well-managed. Nothing ever touched her. If Death Ship were made today, it would probably be a "Made for TV movie". I give it a 9. Episode 4.6 “Death Ship” Original air date: February 7, 1963 Writer: Richard Matheson (adapted from his short story) Director: Don Medford Rating: 6/10. So glad this turned out to be waaaay better than I was expecting it to be. Considering it has been awhile since I saw it last (then I recently rented it). Boarding the ship results to be a big mistake since the tragedy that overtook the lives of crew and captain lingers and starts to affect the present passengers. The actores are great, and the fact that I have seen George Kennidy in other kooky horror films that are much worse then this one, makes this one of his best works in this kind of film (see "Just Before Dawn"!). It begins with a pseudo-creepy introduction track filled with minor-key keyboard melodies and a recording of a sailor sending a message to a mysterious ship he meets at sea. DEATH SHIP turned out to be my Halloween 2004 movie without even intending to have it be the feature of the night. © 2021 METACRITIC, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. Maybe I shouldn't be so picky though. View all reviews for Carach Angren - Death Came Through a Phantom Ship Black metal for non-black metal listeners. George Kennedy was good as the Captain of the cruise ship. A lot of them are cheesy, badly acted, and have horrible plots. "Death Ship" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, based on a 1953 short story with the same title by Richard Matheson. "Death Ship" was obviously produced on a flimsy budget, as the cost-conscious opening shipwreck demonstrates - we're not talking James Cameron here! Originally released on DVD in England in 2007, Death Ship had at the time had been transferred from a print that was not perfect and contained a few sporadic imperfections but was believed to be the best surviving source material. | Professionally wanting as this may be, film-makers have re-worked the concept twice now. Here a full review of the excellent Horror movie DEATH SHIP. Awards Ok, so its not real believable, but the concept is scary as hell! To sum up, Death Ship is a voyage that most viewers will want to pass up. 156 reviews The Death Ship tells the story of an American sailor, stateless and penniless because he has lost his passport, who is harassed by police and hounded across Europe until he finds an 'illegal' job shoveling coal in the hold of a steamer bound for destruction. One of the lamest death scenes I've seen. Just ask the guys who developed the campaign for "Ghost Ship" They obviously thought so too! As a nightowl, I keep watching it. People have all but forgotten it. The most striking aspect to the film for me was its ominous looking poster artwork (which would be reused by the similar in plot 2002 'Ghost Ship') of a skull transpiring from the front of ramshackle ship. But, when it made its limited run on cable, I watched it by myself in the middle of the night with no lights on. Notable Video Game Releases: New and Upcoming. Released theatrically by Avco Embassy, DEATH SHIP languished on VHS from Embassy before Nucleus Films released a stacked DVD in 2003 utilizing a so-so quality master. Nevertheless, I think it's an effective film because the basic idea is strong and there are some good creepy moments. I've been on the look-out for this film ever since. The castaways enter into the rare German ship and after encounter themselves trapped and they figure out that things are not as they should. Anyways the movie itself was actually interesting. It still kept me guessing at certain parts. Do not watch this movie if you only like good movies and good acting. Also, it has one of those great endings where you know that the evil Death Ship is out there looking for more BLOOD! Under appreciated classic horror film was one of the last to put mood before blood. The film concerns about a passenger luxury liner is crashed by a strange freighter . Death Stranding is dense, complex, and powerful, steadfast in its belief in the power of love and hope when faced with overwhelming adversity. A decent horror flick...for the most part, Ship of Death: The Haunting of Unspeakable Acts from the Past, Some castaways from a passenger luxury cruise are trapped inside a mysterious freighter on open seas. I first began my relationship with "Death Ship" when I were a lad growing up in the Heart of England - we had a little video library in our village that had quite a nice selection of horrors and I was always fascinated by the garish, ghoulish box art... Oh, and there were few as ghoulish as the spooky cover of "Death Ship", which I vividly remember recreating with pencil sketches in my schoolbooks. Prev: Hulk Next: Exploring The Guardian >> I love B movies, so I try to give these obscure flicks some attention in the hopes more people will check them out. An abandon, rusty, Nazi torture ship, roaming the seas, looking for victims. The images of the abandoned ship, guided by unsettling noises really chills you. A spooky, trashy anomaly set adrift in an ocean of cinematic slasher films during the early '80s, Death Ship is the kind of movie people stumble upon late at night on TV and spend years trying to track down again. The undertones and references towards the Nazi reign are eerie and photographed in viciously black and white. Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtwvuVTisFo His second series, featuring DI Peter Shaw, has been more of a slow burner. She gets in the shower and starts freaking out when the water turns to blood. In essence, it's a traditional haunted ship story, but on watching the viewer realises they're exposed to a minor horror classic – a film that is a hundred times better than the Gabriel Byrne-starrer GHOST SHIP made twenty years later. This has the most gratuitous shower "blood-booby" scene imaginable - everything that Terror Tuesday should be. On the good side, the ship is an effectively creepy (if poorly lit) location and the solid cast acquits itself nicely, particularly Richard Crenna and George Kennedy. It already has got the things it really needs: tension, a fair amount of effective horror and great music. The only reason I find myself talking about this movie is that it seems to have wound up on many late night reruns lately. Sure it's trashy and shot ugly, but it's FUN! A group of three space explorers face a dilemma, when they explore a crashed ship, that looks very similar to their own. DEATH SHIP turned out to be my Halloween 2004 movie without even intending to have it be the feature of the night. Strictly second-string city. User Ratings About the only gripe I have with the movie is the death scene of Victoria Burgoyne. Or, more accurately, a wrecked cruise ship no longer carrying all our protagonists--they're adrift. I recently broke down and picked up a really neat UK release on DVD and so got my first look at the film in a decade or so. This movie is very dark, lots of shadows. The teeth were terrifying, but watch it for the shower scene ! A crewless Nazi torture-ship malevolently hunts down and sinks Caribbean pleasure cruisers. DI Shaw and DS Valentine find themselves with 60-year-old case on their hands following an explosion on Hunstanton beach. No -- less. Doesn't matter... a film like Death Ship doesn't depend on great acting. Along with 1981 sci-fi / horror 'Galaxy of Terror' (which only a couple months back I saw for the first time), 'Death Ship' has been at the top of my must see list and finally it was fulfilled. However, for the rest who aren't as picky, this is a great chilling movie. "Death Ship" is a 1980 horror film starring Richard Crenna (Rambo series) and George Kennedy (Naked Gun series). Except for one grisly, chilling scene too horrible to describe, this one was an unintentionally funny stroll. “The Death Ship promises something for everyone, set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance,” well, maybe Alvin Rakoff’s aquatic horror film is a little light on romance but it does have something for everyone. It was also a perennial renter. George Kennedy plays the retiring captain of the cruise vessel while Richard Crenna appears as the up-and-coming captain. George Kennedy and Richard Crenna definitely are decent actors, although they're not really showing it here. However as time has passed, the screenings have been reduced to odd ball commercial TV screenings, if its screened at all. DEATH SHIP originated as a screenplay by Jack Hill (SPIDER BABY) titled “Blood Star” – who receives story credit here alongside David P. Lewis (KLUTE) while TV director John Robins (HOT RESORT) receives script credit – which frankly would have to have been more interesting than the final product. We rented it and I have VERY vague recollections of it not being very good but I never got round to see it as an adult. That is probably why late 70's and early 80's horror/splatter movies still stands today. Working at a video store in the late 80's I saw this film rent better than many "better" films. Yes the beginning ship collision is poorly done but nothing afterwards is. But, after additional viewings and understanding that there is a creepiness to the film and some good ideas. It kept me spellbound and wondering what was going to happen next. Siersdorfer also led Bainton to a 32 page German booklet written in 1954 by Otto Mielke, entitled“Das Totenschiffin der Südsee” or “Death Ship in the South Sea.” Mielke seemed to know a lot about the Ourang Medan’s route, cargo, tonnage and engine power and even, allegedly, the Captain’s name. The former Nazi crew influence, tempt, and manipulate the survivors in chillingly macabre ways to … And... she dies. A mysterious ghostly freighter rams and sinks a modern day cruise ship whose survivors climb aboard the freighter and discover that it is a World War II Nazi torture vessel. The mysterious roving Nazi "death ship" that picks up the survivors of the rammed vessel(including George Kennedy and Richard Crenna) is perfectly creepy--all rust on the outside and dust covered rooms within. Don't expect logic, just a bunch of fun. I remember seeing this at a drive in. By the time I was old enough to go rent it, the copy had mysteriously disappeared from the videostore. The only thing that bothered me was the way that the initial ship collision was shown--no one bothered to explain how the 8 survivors got off their doomed ship or why a group spread out all over their ship would manage to get together on the lifeboat (and oddly they all seemed to know each other before the crash)! Oh, and one of the coolest original movie posters ever designed! But a Ten Little Indians plot soon takes over which is as rusty as the evil vessel. The story was inspired by the legend of the Flying Dutchman. George Kennedy stars as the captain of an excursion liner who is facing retirement with less than a dignified attitude, who's boat is rammed by an old Nazi freighter that apparently acted as a sort of floating death camp, complete with a medical atrocities ward. And surely this film has all those right elements for a b-movie. Death Ship unfortunately turned out to be about as frightening as "The Love Boat." | Released by Avco Embassy in early March stateside, critics hated it and audiences failed to come aboard; it only brought in about a third of its $4.5 million dollar budget. Sure it's a low budget horror b-movie but what it lacks in budget and script it makes up for in very uncanny and eerie atmosphere. Many was the night that this played on HBO and other pay services that I stayed up late to watch. When I was a kid I hated this movie. One of the most notorious "bombs" of the 1980's, DEATH SHIP actually turned out to be one of the most interesting movies I've seen in a while for a couple of reasons. And pity the poor actors -- George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes; it's the TV-jeebies. The whole haunted Nazi ship thing was really creepy (especially with the spooky ship used to make the flick). I'll try to find a copy of it at Hollywood Video and see if the . I miss those. At least, until the silent tomb of DEATH SHIP lets them onboard. FAQ Death Ship (1980) Cast: George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes, Kate Reid, Victoria Burgoyne, Jennifer McKinney, Danny Higham. The name George Kennedy both on the cover and on the credits linked the two facts together. External Reviews Review of B. Traven's The Death Ship. It creeped me out pretty well. Scorpion was able to use the American interpositive for their 2012 DVD and Blu-ray as part of the Katarina's Nightmare Theater line. Around that same time I saw on television just a few little fragments of a French-dubbed horror movie taking place on a ship. However, these few good elements are not enough to counteract the film's overwhelming sense of boredom. Good enough. Creepy and exciting movie about some shipwrecked lead to remains of a deserted ghost ship that's been missing for more than 40 years , since WWII, it is packed with good actors and slick direction . 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