Death Ship (1980)

Fresh and Exciting

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Back in the 80s, when attention spans lasted longer than fractions of seconds and politically cliche was not the story arc everybody was doing--a horror movie painting nazi's as the villians (not the 'social warriors' of today's modern day nazish censorship we see in hollywood) was made. It had a unique plot, great effects for the time, good acting and and cinematography / atmosphere. 20 or so years later, it and other films like 1984 which predicted the dystopian era we presently live in today--become reality; and classics like this hidden gem: 'Death Ship (1980)' are seldom discovered, or worse--censored out of existence to protect the naive optimists from the counter balance reality and universal truth that threatens their fragile paradigm mutating egos.

"Death Ship" follows a group of survivors (including a captain, a young couple, an older woman, and two children) who find themselves forced to board a ghostly abandoned ship after their luxury ocean liner sinks. Little do they know, the ship they've boarded was a Nazi torture ship, and the old captain is about to take charge of his newfound passengers.Clearly an influence on 2002's "Ghost Ship," "Death Ship" is a generally fun, kitschy, and at times unnerving horror film. The setup is standard, with the caveat of the victims being confined to the haunted site by thousands of miles of ocean. The film has quite a few tricks up its sleeve, largely with the ship itself, which takes on a life of its own, flipping switches, slamming doors, and steering of its own accord. This makes for a sort of trap-door funhouse effect in which the characters are under constant threat of the vessel itself more so than apparitions or ghosts—the ship itself is alive, and danger lurks. When the evil does strike, it's via a physical channel as well: Possessing the sea Captain Ashland (George Kennedy).For all the funhouse attractions the film has to offer, there is a strong sense of atmosphere to the film that is drawn out of ominous shots of darkened corridors, dusty cabins, and creaky set pieces. The interiors of the ship are well-dressed and genuinely eerie, and the production values really shine here. The performances are decent, with Nick Mancuso (the villain in "Black Christmas") and Sally Ann Howes having large supporting roles. The final act is a bit drawn out and peppered with melodramatic slow-motion shots, and the film closes on a fairly anticlimactic note, but these are actually minor qualms for a film that commits to take itself seriously. In the end, "Death Ship" is a fun and atmospheric film that takes its haunted house-style approach and quite literally rides the wave. It's not a remarkable film, but it's also not a bad one either. It offers enough atmosphere and too many effective scenes to dismiss. Hi-lights: The shipwrecked's arrival on-board the ghost ship, and a shower head that sprays blood on an unsuspecting victim. 7/10.

C'mon I mean how could you not love this movie? It delivers exactly what the title promises, it's a ghostly ship that just prowls around the Atlantic in aimless circles arbitrarily ramming other ships and trapping any survivors in a twisted maze of rust, fascism, and horror. It's the kind of movie you randomly stumble across on TV a stony Saturday afternoon when your like 15 and you and your friends are still laughing about it a full hour after it's over. Super low budge, bad acting, story gets a lil' patchy at times, basically so bad it's good. A movie really dose not need to be Oscar material to be entertaining. For what it is it's actually a great movie with some really scary scenes. The Nazi element in the story line makes for some really creepy stuff. If you like simplistic, cheesy 80's horror movies like Maximum Overdrive or Return of the Living Dead WATCH THIS MOVIE!

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 . The film concerns about a passenger luxury liner is crashed by a strange freighter . The castaways enter into the rare German ship and after encounter themselves trapped and they figure out that things are not as they should. A frightening vessel lost from the 40s at a remote region nowadays is floating drift.The mysterious Nazi vessel is lost at sea for more than 50 years.But one time aboard the cavernous, eerie ship, the group encounter that the decaying Oceaner freighter is anything but deserted. 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. When a series of bizarre occurrences happen and the crew becomes caught in a web of ghastly deeds ,they soon learn is inhabited by haunting previous crew.The picture contains scary suspense, thrills, terror,tension, chills and is quite entertaining. Deserted ship is portrayed as a complete riddle with weird events,screams and grisly horrifying happenings. The movie paid attention to building up a terrifying atmosphere instead of violent and stabbing killing spree.The action takes completely place into a rusty ship wreck .The argument isn't original but it's being gradually revealed with nutty enchantment , such as ¨The shinning(Kubrick)¨ style and it attracts viewer's attention. The picture is starred by fine actors, doing some correct performances, as Richard Crenna, George Kennedy, Sally Ann Howes and nice secondary role for Saul Rubinek .If you're enthusiastic of the mystery tales and B films, so you'll encounter this picture to be agreeable. If your interest lies on a more cerebral terror movie,then I highly recommend you skip this one.This eerie movie is rightly directed by Alvin Rakoff during the 8os, he is a craftsman Canadian director as cinema as television . The film is recommended for all horror lovers which will find many nice eerie shots though not very logical but still their appetite for gruesome scenes will be satisfied.Other adaptation about 'ghost ships' are the following : For television titled ¨The triangle(2001)¨by Lewis Teague with Luke Perry, Dan Cortese , Olivia Dábo and Polly Shannon, the high budgeted by Joel Silver titled ¨ The Ghost ship (2002) ¨ by Steven Beck with Julianne Margules, Ron Eldard and Gabriel Byrne and for Sci-Fi channel titled ¨The ghost voyage¨ with Antonio Sabato and Gary-Hiroyaki Tagawa.