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Death Ship
DVD/APPROX. 90 MINS/1980/UK MA15+
DVD/APPROX. 90 MINS/1980/UK MA15+
7
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Years before the major studio, CGI-fest Ghost Ship, another haunted ship was sailing the ropey waters of the bottom shelf in early 80s video
stores. A scrappy, self confessed (according to the cast on the accompanying documentary) B picture about the trails of a motley group of
shipwreck survivors who find shelter aboard a deserted hulk after their cruise ship is claimed by the inky depths of the ocean.
The movie was penned by Spider Baby/Switchblade Sisters trash king Jack Hill and it's got his Z grade stamp all over it!
A surprise hit in the early days of rental, when the sharks at the BBFC were circling our favourite guilty pleasures, It's no classic but has a certain
charm for lovers of trashy low rent, no brain movies. Maybe it's the disco band that provide the nightly entertainment during the opening scenes.
Long time readers of my reviews may remember that I'm a sucker for bad dance music in old horror movies. Maybe it's the clear use of stock
footage during the ship sinking sequence. As scenes of varying quality are edited together into a ridiculous whole. Maybe I just like Nazi horror
films.
Because our unlucky assortment of survivors have found themselves on board a mausoleum with a hull, a floating haunted house full of vengeful
SS spooks who, though unseen, seek to possess and kill anyone who is unfortunate to board the Death Ship. Nazi's make for perfect horror
subject matter, despite the obvious moral dangers inherent in using them for entertainment. Real life monsters are always going to more terrifying
than some fantastical creation, because they are us under different, ugly circumstances. Given the right conditions, anyone can be turned in a
creature of malice. A great example of a shlock grindhouse Nazi horror flick is Shockwaves, in which Peter Cushing hides a terrible secret. Facist
stormtrooper zombies that lurk in the shallow waters around his island retreat. They rise eerily out of mist shrouded, murky water in a most
unsettling fashion...
Once the few remaining living souls from the shipwreck are aboard, it's funfair ghost train time all the way, as the gruff and misanthropic Captain of
the sunken vessel is quickly sent mad by voices in his head. He comes to believe it's his ship and he must destroy his passengers. He's played by
Naked Gun actor George Kennedy, who puts in a great hammy performance as the demons in his mind take over.
A few effective set pieces are included to please horror fans but this is more of a good laugh than anything really shocking. Plummy English stage
actors and precocious kids are the order of the day and there's nothing worse than some cute little brat running round a horror movie because
good taste dictates that you can't impale the little shits...Pity that, I can think of a few otherwise great movies that would immeasurably improved
by slaying the ankle biters in the first act...
The survivors are all dispatched appropriately, with an irritating and cliched Jewish comic getting his mercifully quickly, while the 'ladies choice' hero
meets a suitably nasty end, crushed to death amid a pile of rotting corpses.
The stand out sequence for gore hounds is that old favourite, the bloody shower. As a terrible actress strips naked to get clean, the shower door
locks, trapping her inside. Soon the water turns to claret and the poor women is soaked in gore. This scene drags on for an hilarious length of
time. The film cuts to other characters then returns, in case we missed the blood-on-breasts action the first time round. Britain's censors used to
hate that mixture of horror and sex, with any suggestion of it being quickly sliced from any film offering such base thrills. Well, now it's all here for
you to 'enjoy', for better or worse.
Other than that, it's pretty tame stuff, with the entertainment deriving from the hokey nature of the production, rather than any kind of quality
horror. It's a fun ride and certainly more entertaining than Ghost Ship, which couldn't recover from it's opening scenes of carnage.
For a movie that was lucky to escape from 80s retro hell onto DVD it's well supported with extras, including commentary track and a nice
retrospective documentary. Some scenes added to the movie for TV screening are provided, sourced from a fans 'Taped off the TV' copy and these
are scratchy but interesting. Script excerpts, Trailers and a well stocked gallery of press book images and posters round the package out. Nucleus
films quite sensibly used the original video sleeve art for the cover, which is one of the great 80s video sleeves. It's a piece of promo art that would
have pulled in the customers.
Horror nostalgia fans will delight in this. If you like scrappy old fright flicks your in good hands but lovers of quality cinema should approach with
caution.
stores. A scrappy, self confessed (according to the cast on the accompanying documentary) B picture about the trails of a motley group of
shipwreck survivors who find shelter aboard a deserted hulk after their cruise ship is claimed by the inky depths of the ocean.
The movie was penned by Spider Baby/Switchblade Sisters trash king Jack Hill and it's got his Z grade stamp all over it!
A surprise hit in the early days of rental, when the sharks at the BBFC were circling our favourite guilty pleasures, It's no classic but has a certain
charm for lovers of trashy low rent, no brain movies. Maybe it's the disco band that provide the nightly entertainment during the opening scenes.
Long time readers of my reviews may remember that I'm a sucker for bad dance music in old horror movies. Maybe it's the clear use of stock
footage during the ship sinking sequence. As scenes of varying quality are edited together into a ridiculous whole. Maybe I just like Nazi horror
films.
Because our unlucky assortment of survivors have found themselves on board a mausoleum with a hull, a floating haunted house full of vengeful
SS spooks who, though unseen, seek to possess and kill anyone who is unfortunate to board the Death Ship. Nazi's make for perfect horror
subject matter, despite the obvious moral dangers inherent in using them for entertainment. Real life monsters are always going to more terrifying
than some fantastical creation, because they are us under different, ugly circumstances. Given the right conditions, anyone can be turned in a
creature of malice. A great example of a shlock grindhouse Nazi horror flick is Shockwaves, in which Peter Cushing hides a terrible secret. Facist
stormtrooper zombies that lurk in the shallow waters around his island retreat. They rise eerily out of mist shrouded, murky water in a most
unsettling fashion...
Once the few remaining living souls from the shipwreck are aboard, it's funfair ghost train time all the way, as the gruff and misanthropic Captain of
the sunken vessel is quickly sent mad by voices in his head. He comes to believe it's his ship and he must destroy his passengers. He's played by
Naked Gun actor George Kennedy, who puts in a great hammy performance as the demons in his mind take over.
A few effective set pieces are included to please horror fans but this is more of a good laugh than anything really shocking. Plummy English stage
actors and precocious kids are the order of the day and there's nothing worse than some cute little brat running round a horror movie because
good taste dictates that you can't impale the little shits...Pity that, I can think of a few otherwise great movies that would immeasurably improved
by slaying the ankle biters in the first act...
The survivors are all dispatched appropriately, with an irritating and cliched Jewish comic getting his mercifully quickly, while the 'ladies choice' hero
meets a suitably nasty end, crushed to death amid a pile of rotting corpses.
The stand out sequence for gore hounds is that old favourite, the bloody shower. As a terrible actress strips naked to get clean, the shower door
locks, trapping her inside. Soon the water turns to claret and the poor women is soaked in gore. This scene drags on for an hilarious length of
time. The film cuts to other characters then returns, in case we missed the blood-on-breasts action the first time round. Britain's censors used to
hate that mixture of horror and sex, with any suggestion of it being quickly sliced from any film offering such base thrills. Well, now it's all here for
you to 'enjoy', for better or worse.
Other than that, it's pretty tame stuff, with the entertainment deriving from the hokey nature of the production, rather than any kind of quality
horror. It's a fun ride and certainly more entertaining than Ghost Ship, which couldn't recover from it's opening scenes of carnage.
For a movie that was lucky to escape from 80s retro hell onto DVD it's well supported with extras, including commentary track and a nice
retrospective documentary. Some scenes added to the movie for TV screening are provided, sourced from a fans 'Taped off the TV' copy and these
are scratchy but interesting. Script excerpts, Trailers and a well stocked gallery of press book images and posters round the package out. Nucleus
films quite sensibly used the original video sleeve art for the cover, which is one of the great 80s video sleeves. It's a piece of promo art that would
have pulled in the customers.
Horror nostalgia fans will delight in this. If you like scrappy old fright flicks your in good hands but lovers of quality cinema should approach with
caution.
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| "Those who survive the ghost ship are better off dead!" |
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