Death Ship (1980)

Director:

Alvin Rakoff

Writers:

Jack Hill (story)
David P. Lewis (story)

Release Date:

7 March 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Those who survive the ghost ship are better off dead!

Plot:

Survivors of a tragic shipping collision are rescued by a mysterious black ship which appears out of the fog...

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Nazi | Survivor | Ghost Ship | Boat

Cast

George Kennedy	...	Captain Ashland
Richard Crenna	...	Trevor Marshall
Nick Mancuso	...	Nick
Sally Ann Howes	...	Margaret Marshall
Kate Reid	...	Sylvia
Victoria Burgoyne	...	Lori
Jennifer McKinney	...	Robin Marshall
Danny Higham	...	Ben Marshall
Saul Rubinek	...	Jackie
Murray Cruchley	...	Parsons
Doug Smith	...	Seaman No. 1
Tony Sherwood	...	Seaman No. 2

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 (video premiere) | Germany:18 | France:-12 | Finland:(Banned) (1980) | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 (1988) | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | Norway:(Banned) (1980-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Dauphin Island, Alabama, USA

Company:

Artemis Films

Trivia:

The footage showing the movement of the Death Ship was the result of filming from a small boat moving around the Death Ship. The crew shot for about an hour before the 'Death Ship' broke down. The rest of the required shots were achieved by faking movement, as the broken vessel was anchored and stationary.

Quotes:

[on collision course with the titular ship]
Ashland: Signal him to alter course.
Seaman No. 1: I already have, sir.
Ashland: Well, signal him again, damnit.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: Death Ship" (2000)

Inventive and unsettling

This low-budget horror film, produced as one of the last gasps of the late 70s UK/Canada co-production treaty, is a ramshackle affair in places, particularly the early shipwreck scene, cobbled together with stock footage from earlier films (such as "The Last Voyage"). Nevertheless, the premise of a Nazi torture ship endlessly roaming the oceans in search of fresh victims is a genuinely original one, and it's well-handled by director Rakoff. The ship itself looks appropriately forbidding and the various mishaps that befall the luckless survivors are nasty and inventive. You never quite know when the film is going to deliver a nasty shock moment, or just an unnerving frisson - such as the projector that goes on playing footage of Hitler rallies even after it has been destroyed. Wisely, the film doesn't attempt to explain why the ship has never been detected previously, how it is powered or what became of the crew ; it works on the level of a nightmare and becomes increasingly surreal the more heroes Crenna and Mancuso delve into the ship's horrors. The ending is well-conceived and extremely gruesome. Effective music score too. Nobody seems to rate this film too highly yet I find it chilly, unsettling and considerably more powerful than many better-known horror movies.