Ghost Ship

One of the scariest, most original scream-at-the-screen style fright flicks in years, Ghost Ship is nonetheless ruined by such an insultingly insipid cliché of an ending that the last few minutes bring it crashing back down to the level of a stale slasher sequel. Crackerjack chills dominate the first hour, however, as a mercenary marine salvage tugboat crew (led by salty Gabriel Byrne and daredevil jack-of-all-trades Julianna Margulies) comes upon a mysteriously abandoned (and eerily radar-invisible) Italian luxury liner, adrift in a remote corner of the Bering Sea, 40 years after it vanished without a trace. They think they've hit the shipwreck jackpot--until they slowly realize the dark, rusting, creaking, semi-submerged hulk is haunted from mast to keel and bow to stern. Ghostly little girls, supernaturally bloody visions of the ship's macabre history, and startling revelations of the reason the passengers' souls are still on board follow, with terrifying results. But the movie begins to hemorrhage badly--creativity-wise--in the last act, turning into nothing but formulaic, sequel-baiting, pop-horror idiocy. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include a 15-minute behind-the-scenes documentary; a “Secrets of the Antonia Graza” section where viewers must unlock solutions to get to four secret story segments; a six-minute featurette on visual effects; the five-minute “A Closer Look at the Gore” segment on costume design, makeup and prosthetics; the six-minute featurette “Designing the Ghost Ship”; the music video “Not Falling” by Mudvayne; a trailer; and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a good extras package for a thriller that ultimately falls apart.] (R. Blackwelder)