Stevieboy666 Minor British movie about a young couple who buy a boat called "Cyclops" despite being warned that it is haunted. There is very little haunting going on here, most of it is in the form of an unexplainable smell on board of cigar smoke. It is heavy on dialogue but very little action, bit of a bore. The only notable thing for me is that it stars Hazel Court, who went on to become a British 1960's scream queen. Missed opportunity here; they should have put a bit more spookiness into it, or perhaps gone down the comedy route.

Leofwine_draca This low budget chiller is a film easy to pass over, mainly because of the generic nature of the title (there are many ghost ship films in existence, right up to the present day). It's only a minor film, and not the best for any of the talent involved, but it is a solid, effective little movie that sets out to do what it wants to do: create an atmospheric mystery-cum-chiller on a non-existent budget, relying on acting, dialogue, characters, and story rather than special effects. Indeed, the spirit 'manifestations' are limited to a single scene of a cigar-chomping apparition so for those expecting something like POLTERGEIST, think again.There's just something about British horror films of the mid century that give them the edge over their American counterparts. They're always genteel, and quite classy despite the silliness of some of the story lines. Vernon Sewell, a noted horror director, directs this well-handled outing. There's no action so to speak of, but the film does contain some admirable acting, an excellent flashback told by a medium of a love triangle gone horribly wrong, lots of tension, a good plot twist, and fine, crisp black and white camera-work.Of the stars, there are bit players who would later go on to find fame and success (Joss Ackland and Ian Carmichael); a British star, Dermot Walsh, with a dodgy American accent; a brief turn for Sewell's real-life wife, Joan Carol; an excellent performance from TV's QUATERMASS, John Robinson, as a wronged captain; a kooky turn from Hugh Burden, who later found success in television; and of course, a starring turn from lovely Hammer starlet Hazel Court. Court takes centre stage for much of the production, but I found her natural beauty – later used to great effect in Gothic horror – toned down and hidden away, unfortunately.

davidvmcgillivray-24-905811 Many important observations about this minor ghost story have already been made by others. The plot has a gaping plot hole and two long, irrelevant sequences - Ian Carmichael's drunk act and Hugh Burden's demonstration of unusual vibrations - that must have been added merely to increase the running time. The film is one of several shot on director Vernon Sewell's own yacht and the story has a flavour (wife encourages her lover to kill her husband) of Sewell's later film "Rogue's Yarn" (1957), shot in the same Shoreham boatyard. Most interesting, however, is that this is the third film Sewell made of Pierre Mills and Celia de Vylars' one act play, "L'Angoisse." The first was "The Medium" (1934), now lost. Then came "Latin Quarter" (1945). After "Ghost Ship" Sewell had one more crack at the tale, "House of Mystery" (1960). The common factor, apart from the psychic gobbledygook, is the sadism of the murders. I'd like to point out that none of this information comes from me. It was first pointed out as long ago as 1973 in David Pirie's book "A Heritage of Horror". Jonathan Rigby added more details in his 2000 book "English Gothic."

jamesraeburn2003 A young couple (Dermot Walsh & Hazel Court) buy a steam yacht despite warnings from the salesman that it is haunted. They restore the boat and throw a party on board to celebrate its trial run along the Sussex coast. However, it looks as though the vessel may be haunted as two engine men resign claiming to have seen a ghost on board. The couple decide to call upon the services of a medium to get to the bottom of it. They hold a séance which reveals a horrifying secret about the previous owners of the yacht who disappeared from it in mysterious circumstances while at sea years before.All in all, Ghost Ship (not to be confused with the CGI laden effects blockbuster of 2002) is an unpretentious little second feature, which provides an hour of pleasant if undemanding entertainment. The acting is above the normal standard you would expect for this sort of thing even though Walsh's attempt at an American accent is questionable. Hazel Court offers a bright performance as his wife and she would go on to appear in a number of notable British horror films such as Hammer's groundbreaking Curse Of Frankenstein and Roger Corman's marvelous Edgar Allen Poe adaptation, The Masque Of The Red Death. The script was clearly a variation on the classic real life mystery of the Mary Celeste that comes off reasonably well though more in the general handling than in the script which includes a few plot inconsistencies and the film shows that quite a lot can be gained from a small budget.Director Vernon Sewell was an interesting though sadly neglected film maker who apart from a small handful never got many A features and spent most of his career turning out quota quickies such as this. A number of these featured his own steam yacht, The Gelert, which is the vessel featured in this film which he often managed to use as an excellent set. The cast of Ghost Ship includes Sewell's wife, Joan Carol.