History Film / GhostShip

* ShownTheirWork: The movie opens with the passengers aboard the ''Antonia Graza'' dressed to the nines and dancing on the deck and in the ballroom. Decades ago in the time period the film starts in, it used to be a real tradition aboard ocean liners to hold a formal dance, also known as a "Captain's Ball", to celebrate the end of a trans-Atlantic journey.

* ShownTheirWork: The movie opens with the passengers aboard the ''Antonia Graza'' dressed to the nines and dancing on the deck and in the ballroom. Decades ago in the time period the film starts in, it used to be a real tradition to hold a formal dance, also known as a "Captain's Ball", to celebrate the end of a trans-Atlantic journey.

* ShoutOut: The poster of this film is very clearly riffed from ''Film/DeathShip''.
** Katie's fate very much resembles that of Sejanus' daughter Junilla in '''Series/IClaudius'''.
* ShownTheirWork: The movie opens with the passengers aboard the Antonia Graza dressed to the nines and dancing on the deck and in the ballroom. Decades ago in the time period the film starts in, it used to be a real tradition to hold dances, also known as a "Captain's Ball", to celebrate the end of a trans-Atlantic journey.

* PunchClockVillain: Zig-zagged with [[spoiler:Ferriman]] who claims that he is merely killing the people since "It's his job" but then he mentions [[GodJob getting the job due to a lifetime of sin]].

--> ''"I gave you a '''great''' opportunity!"''

--> ''I'm a salvager. Just like you. You collect ships, I collect souls. And when I fill my quota, I send a boatload home. This will make management happy. You see, it's a job. Given to me after a lifetime of sin. So if I lose this ship, management won't be happy.''

* YourSoulIsMine: [[spoiler:Ferriman]]'s entire mission revolves around collecting enough souls so that he can send the entire boatload to Hell, acquiring several hundred souls by the end [[spoiler:before they're all freed]].

* YourSoulIsMine: [[spoiler:Ferriman]]'s entire mission revolves around collecting enough souls so that he can send the entire boatload home, acquiring several hundred souls by the end [[spoiler:before they're all freed.]]

Forty years later, a salvage crew -- Captain Sean Murphy (Creator/GabrielByrne), Maureen Epps (Creator/JuliannaMargulies), Greer (Creator/IsaiahWashington), Dodge (Creator/RonEldard), Munder (Creator/KarlUrban) and Santos (Alex Dimitriades) -- is celebrating a recent success at a bar, when Jack Ferriman (Creator/DesmondHarrington), a Canadian weather service pilot, approaches to inform them he's spotted a mysterious vessel running adrift in the Bering Sea. Because the ship is in international waters, it can be claimed by whoever is able to bring it to a port. The crew soon set out on the ''Arctic Warrior'', their ocean salvage tugboat. While exploring the abandoned ship, they discover that it is the long-lost ''Antonia Graza''. When they board the ship and prepare to tow it to shore, strange things begin to happen. Epps claims to have seen a [[CreepyChild little girl]] on the stairwell, while Greer claims to have heard the singing of an unseen songstress throughout the ship. Epps and Ferriman [[OhCrap discover the corpses of another salvage crew]]. They decide to leave the ship but [[GoldFever take the large quantity of gold that they find on board]]. Katie tries to warn the crew that the ''Arctic Warrior'' has been sabotaged, but the tug explodes as soon as the engine is started, killing Santos and leaving the rest stranded on the ship.

In the present day, a salvage crew -- Captain Sean Murphy (Creator/GabrielByrne), Maureen Epps (Creator/JuliannaMargulies), Greer (Creator/IsaiahWashington), Dodge (Creator/RonEldard), Munder (Creator/KarlUrban) and Santos (Alex Dimitriades) -- is celebrating a recent success at a bar, when Jack Ferriman (Creator/DesmondHarrington), a Canadian weather service pilot, approaches them and says he has spotted a mysterious vessel running adrift in the Bering Sea. Because the ship is in international waters, it can be claimed by whoever is able to bring it to a port. The crew soon set out on the ''Arctic Warrior'', their ocean salvage tugboat. While exploring the abandoned ship, they discover that it is the long-lost ''Antonia Graza''. When they board the ship and prepare to tow it to shore, strange things begin to happen. Epps claims to have seen a [[CreepyChild little girl]] on the stairwell. Greer claims to have heard the singing of an unseen songstress throughout the ship. Epps and Ferriman [[OhCrap discover the corpses of another salvage crew]]. They decide to leave the ship but [[GoldFever take the large quantity of gold that they find on board]]. Katie tries to warn the crew that the ''Arctic Warrior'' has been sabotaged, but the tug explodes as the engine is started, killing Santos and leaving the rest stranded on the ship.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ghost_ship_5128.jpg]]

In May 1962, hundreds of wealthy passengers enjoy dancing in the luxurious ballroom of an Italian ocean liner, the ''Antonia Graza'', while a beautiful Italian singer (Francesca Rettondini) performs "Senza Fine." Out of the bow of the ship, a smaller gathering of guest dance on a raised platform, when a hand presses a lever that winds up a thin wire cord from a spool. Suddenly, the spool snaps and the wire slices across the dance floor like a blade, [[DiagonalCut bisecting every dancer on the floor]]. Things fall apart and only little Katie (Creator/EmilyBrowning) -- who had been dancing with the Captain (Bob Ruggiero) -- is left unharmed, thanks to her small stature and to the Captain leaning protectively over her. She looks up at the Captain's face, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath which splits open at mouth level as the top of his head falls off]]. [[BreakTheCutie Katie screams]] at the unbelievably horrific scene as the ship disappears, never to be seen again.

In May 1962, hundreds of wealthy passengers enjoy dancing in the luxurious ballroom of an Italian ocean liner, the ''Antonia Graza'', while a beautiful Italian singer (Francesca Rettondini) performs "Senza Fine." Out of the bow of the ship, a smaller gathering of guest dance on a raised platform, when a hand presses a lever that winds up a thin wire cord from a spool. Suddenly, the spool snaps and the wire slices across the dance floor like a blade, [[DiagonalCut bisecting every dancer on the floor]]. Things fall apart and only little Katie (Creator/EmilyBrowning) -- who had been dancing with the Captain -- is left unharmed, thanks to her small stature and to the Captain leaning protectively over her. She looks up at the Captain's face, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath which splits open at mouth level as the top of his head falls off]]. [[BreakTheCutie Katie screams]] at the unbelievably horrific scene as the ship disappears, never to be seen again.

In May 1962, hundreds of wealthy passengers enjoy dancing in the luxurious ballroom of an Italian ocean liner, the ''Antonia Graza'', while a beautiful Italian singer (Francesca Rettondini) performs "Senza Fine." Out of the bow of the ship, a smaller gathering of guest dance on a raised platform, when a hand presses a lever that winds up a thin wire cord from a spool. Suddenly, the spool snaps and the wire slices across the dance floor like a blade, [[DiagonalCut bisecting every dancer on the floor]]. Things fall apart and only little Katie (Creator/EmilyBrowning) -- who is dancing with the Captain -- are left standing, thanks to her small stature and to the captain leaning protectively over her. She looks up at the Captain's face, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath which splits open at mouth level as the top of his head falls off]]. [[BreakTheCutie Katie screams]] at the unbelievably horrific scene as the ship disappears never to be seen again.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The ''Series/MythBusters'' tested out the film's opening scene and found that in reality, it's not feasibly possible for a snapped steel cable to slice a whole group of people in two. It would certainly inflict nasty injuries -- potentially even lethal, if you were unlucky enough to have the cable slice open an artery -- on anyone who was directly in the cable's path, but it would travel no further than anyone who was struck.

* LastNoteNightmare: The film's score on the soundtrack titled [[https://youtu.be/Pt24zcUtESk "The Souls Ascend"]], which is the hauntingly beautiful score in which [[spoiler:Epps defeats Ferriman, frees all the lost souls trapped on the ''Graza'', and is later rescued by a passing ship]]. The score gently fades, as if to say the worst is finally over... but NOPE! We're suddenly greeted by a blaring ScareChord to indicate the film's [[TwistEnding ending]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: Possibly to Beck's previous film ''Film/Thir13enGhosts'' (2001) as they were made by the same director and production company, have the same camerawork and editing style and themes of the supernatural, self-sacrifice and so on. Also, people getting [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe sliced in half]] by unusual means.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Sure, Epps may have saved all the souls onboard the ''Graza'' and survived, but Ferriman still exists - and members of the crew are carrying ''another'' load of unmarked gold bars onto the cruise ship that rescued her before her eyes just before the credits roll. HereWeGoAgain]]