Haunting of the Mary Celeste

First of all, I must say that the movie's cover/poster was actually the best part about the entire movie. Yeah, a sad thing to say, I know, but that is actually the truth.

And the movie's cover was just way too reminiscent of the 2002 movie "Ghost Ship", for better or worse. Sure, I like the cover of both movies, but they are actually two very similar covers. And the movies actually share similarities as well. So go figure.

Well, the storyline told in the 2020 movie "Haunting of the Mary Celeste" turned out to be rather mundane and boring actually. Very little of anything worthwhile watching took place throughout the course of the entire movie. Which made for a very prolonged movie, let me just tell you that. So in my opinion then writers Jerome Olivier and David Ross didn't really manage to deliver a wholesome and entertaining movie.

Richard Roundtree was actually the actor whose performance carried the movie and made it somewhat bearable to sit through the ordeal that is known as "Haunting of the Mary Celeste". It should be said that the acting performances were adequate from all people on the cast list, but it was Richard Roundtree that stood out as the most memorable performer in the movie.

For a horror movie then "Haunting of the Mary Celeste" was bland, so very, very bland. And there was absolutely nothing scary about the story whatsoever. So I can't claim to be overly impressed with what director Shana Betz managed to do with the material from the writers.

If you enjoy a proper horror movie then "Haunting of the Mary Celeste" is not the best of choices, as there are far more scary horror movies readily available.

My rating of "Haunting of the Mary Celeste" ends on a mere three out of ten stars. I wasn't impressed, nor particularly entertained. And this is definitely not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

Congratulations to Shana Betts, Jerome Olivier, and David Ross. You managed to put together the most boring horror movie that I've ever seen, and if that wasn't enough, you capped this "achievement" with an idiotic ending.

Ordinarily, if I see a particularly bad horror movie, I'll take the time to write a fairly detailed review. This one isn't worth the effort. Do yourself a favor and pass on this cinematic cure for insomnia. Then again, if you're in dire need of sleep, this yawnfest might just be the cure for what ails you.

I've been in an indie/low budget movie kick for a bit, and this one qualifies. a group of investigators goes with a doubting sea captain (a wonderful turn by the great richard roundtree) to attempt to make contact with the mary celeste and/or the "realm" in which the crew of that ship has supposedly been taken to. it's moody and claustrophobic, since it mostly takes place on a small ship at sea surrounded by fog. they do make an attempt to explain what they're doing, but it seemed like a lot of gobbledygook.

also not sure about the types of comments people are leaving for movies like this. almost every one is just "worst movie i've ever seen". how is that helpful for anyone wanting some information before committing to a film? people should be understanding how to review a film before doing it, otherwise, what's the point? you really want to see the worst movie ever made? there's quite a few. "santa claus and the ice cream bunny" comes to mind as a good one to pick, but i'll be damned if it wasn't enjoyable on a certain level.

Ultimately this is an enjoyably mild and atmospheric horror film if you get past the slightly dull first half. It has the production values of a TV Movie, but is atmospherically shot with a nice line in melancholy.

The acting is convincing throughout, even during the talky scenes set in featureless cabins. A slow burner for sure, but not bad. My score is 6 out of 10.

... for such a little project and, I assume, such a little budget, but the narrative is disjointed, the acting is stiff and the characters kind of annoying. Sadly, I would not recommend it.