Ghost Ship

Ghost Ship opens when a commercial salvage crew spots a large passenger liner, missing since 1962, drifting in the Bering Sea. Hoping to claim salvage rights, the team boards the barnacled vessel and prepares to tow it back to port. Tensions rise as accidents start occurring, tools fail, and crew members go missing, turning what seemed like a windfall into an increasingly desperate situation. Gabriel Byrne's Captain Sean Murphy and Desmond Harrington's young salvager Jack Ferriman clash with Julianna Margulies' salvage expert Maureen Epps as they try to make sense of strange noises and disturbing discoveries, while they struggle to survive on board.

Directed by Steve Beck from an original concept by Mark Hanlon and John Pogue, Ghost Ship arrived in 2002. The film mixes mystery and supernatural horror, anchored by Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies and a ensemble who populate the haunted liner.

Ghost Ship opened widely in 2002 and drew substantial audience interest, performing well enough to recover its production costs and maintain visibility on home video and rental markets in the years after release, and attracted viewers across multiple international markets.

Critical reaction was mixed, and audience ratings sit around a middling 6 out of 10 on user-driven sites. Viewers and critics often praised the ship's eerie sets and sound design, while many faulted the script and shallow character arcs. Major themes include guilt, greed, and the consequences of past wrongdoing.

In the years since, Ghost Ship developed a modest cult following among horror fans, often brought up in conversations about early 2000s supernatural thrillers. Its visuals, especially the shipboard production design and sudden shock moments, continue to be referenced by genre commentators and streamers, and sees rediscovery on streaming platforms.