There's nothing haunting about it, unless you think an Aztec feathered serpent (Quetzalcoatl) is haunting, but once you see it. I don't think haunting comes to mind. Being a Roger Corman produced presentation (Concord) you get what you usually expect from a quick-buck, straight-to-video fare. It's trashy (gratuitous T&A and tacky gore), just not enough of it to break away from its labored pacing. And it only goes for about 70 minutes. What we do get, is another wannabe, rancid "ALIEN" rehash, this time set on a drifting ghost freighter that bestows an ancient Aztec treasure.
Some washed up actors slumming, in the likes of James Brolin and Don Stroud. A grizzled Brolin plays the ship's captain -- doing nothing more than pacing up and down the bridge, while trying to make his meaningless dialogues seem meaningful. Then there's the hard-nosed, if reliable Joanna Pacula who might be wishing, she was somewhere else by the look on her face. Even with these names attached, the camera really does focus on lead actress Krista Allen. And when I mean focus, her breasts could get their own billing with the amount of exposed, topless scenes. Obviously someone had been watching Allen in all of those mid 90s made-for-cable "Emmanuelle" films. You begin to ask the question, is this one of the reasons (the other being time-frame quota) for the ancient flashbacks? No it was all about using their iguana stock footage.
Now let's move onto the monster. It's a cruddy looking, man-in-a-rubber suit --- like something you would get out of a 1960/70s Godzilla film. Well more like the awkward leftovers. In the opening minute you get frenetic camera movements and blood being splashed about here and there. Oh no I was concerned... but gladly it does do a little more than that later on. You get a decently executed transformation sequence (... remember this is barebones), involving bubbling skin, cracking bones and someone's guts spilling out. Once this thing goes on the rampage you get a touch of latex gore, but the actions are limited. It goes about waving around its oversized claws, while its head dangles from its long neck. There's even some tongue action and it likes to get in a good punch too. Just be prepared to endure a lot of wandering through corridors, the boring kind, where the low-rent sets look plain, and studio bound. Just those scenes, especially later on, could've done with a little more sense of urgency, just liked the pointless slow motion running through the corridors scene, well it did look like the same scene done on a loop.
"THE HAUNTED SEA" is a dumb, disposable run-of-the-mill creature-feature for a lazy afternoon.
