Ghost Voyage

Another boringly humdrum straight-to-TV horror enterprise that sinks real fast in its uninteresting, rancid story. Three times it took me to eventually get through it. I simply had trouble staying awake. From the get-go everything about it is shallow (superficial characters and abysmal dialogues) with every cliché from the handbook being unashamedly used in a sleep-inducing manner. The material is lame, as there's little in the way of mystery (not much really going on) and the twist is predictably weak. It's like a rejected idea of a 'Twilight Zone' episode. The further along the mechanical story goes and eventually unfolds (remember to follow the rules and there's always a chance to re-correct your past mistakes in some other form… blah, blah) reveals how unintentionally humorous, inconsistent and mind-numbing it is. Talk about an aggravatingly languid boat trip experience. Special effects are dodgy with many clunky moments, but nothing extremely terrible and quite the usual low-budget standard you see in these presentations. So the shocks, well the supposed attempts were completely off and incredibly dull. So were the death scenes. Direction is drab, while the pacing drags and the setting never convinces. Performances are bottom of the barrel. Quite bland, forgettable and disposable. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa appears in a nothing role. Antonio Sabato Jr. makes for a lacking lead performance, so does his opposite the lovely, but empty Deanna Russo. In all, just crumby.

This is not the worst I've seen from SyFy, but it was a movie that was sorely lacking in my view. Its redeeming values are some good ideas, some nice eerie interiors(if never really convincing authenticity-wise) and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa trying his best with a character that is really beneath him. However, the special effects while not horrible are clunky at best, while Antonio Sabbato and Deanna Russo are bland in the leads, the story is sluggish and predictable with a twist that manages to fare even worse and next to no thrills or memorable death scenes, the characters are never engaging and are very stereotypical, the direction is dreary and the script never feels as though it is flowing naturally, all feeling clichéd and stilted with nothing much surprising. Overall, had some good ideas but as said already, the sluggish story, hackneyed script, bland acting and the whole forgettable feel of the movie stop it from being anything more than that, and at the end of the day it just doesn't come together. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Film stars Antonio Sabato Jr with an ensemble of characters who all mysteriously wake up on a ship with no idea how they got there. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa mysteriously appears as the steward who gives the rules. Horror ensues for the crew members as they learn why they are on the only passengers on this mysterious voyage. Very Stereotypical casting with Sabato as the eventual leader, Russo as the strong female lead, Berlin as the bombshell and the male supporting as either thugs, arrogant son of a wealthy family, sort of a middle age type and the youngster who has drug problems. Poor to average CGI and poor to average acting performance mar this film

Underwear model Antonio Sabato Jr. stars as one of a group of disoriented stereotypes...er....passengers who awaken aboard a strange cargo ship in the middle of the ocean with no recollection of how they got there or where the ship is heading. Gosh, who is that strange Asian steward quoting strange rules to them? Where are they going? Where could the rest of the crew be? Why do they keep disappearing one by one? Odd advertising for this one, though. It indicates that 7 people awaken on the ship, when there are actually 9 (at the start, anyway). A few good scares, but the ending is telegraphed a mile away. Not the worst of the Sci-Fi Channel movies of the week, but certainly not the best.

The opening with a group of strangers awakening to find themselves aboard an old broken down cargo vessel is sufficiently eerie enough, and the oddball spectre-like "steward" who gives the confused passengers a list of ship rules is menacing. None of them knows how they got there, or why.

It's not a bad premise, sort of a Twilight Zone approach. The movie at first looks like it's going to rip off "Death Ship" and some others, but actually finds its own direction. It manages to present the mystery of what is going on, who is behind it, etc. It avoids giving up too much information too soon and guides the audience along with well-timed expository dialog and some weird discoveries aboard the spooky vessel. It throws in some ghost-like apparitions, ancient ritualistic behavior, and a "test" which is graded coldly and positively. Not bad stuff, really.

But the longer the movie goes on, the weaker it gets. Many characters are so cliché and obviously marked for unpleasant fates, that it's laughable. Some of the special effects look like they were done with an Etch-a-Sketch toy. Most of the cast (fortunately those who make early exits) act at about the kindergarten play level. However, the longer-lasting people act better; and their characters have some dimension. The resolution actually shows some thought was put into it.

A decent flick for a rainy weekend afternoon.