I gotta appreciate a scrappy filmmaker who managed access to an interesting location, in this case a derelict cruise ship, and decided to build a micro-budget film around it. And I'll even give props for trying to make the film be about something more than just young people stalked by crazy killer family. But, sadly, despite the good intentions of the writer/director adding a veneer of wealth vs the 99%, or capitalizing on a location, he stumbles repeatedly once the actors start speaking and then fails miserably once the action gets underway. Could have used a bit more screenwriting to believably get the partiers on that particular ship - it's way too sketchy in appearance for anyone to think it could sail - and just making them stupid doesn't do the trick. But that's forgivable compared to the absolutely stupid behavior once the crazies come out. How many times do we have to see a character watch someone brutally murdered, and then see them rush back to the body (to try and wake them up?) with no idea where the killer just went. Cuz, guess what, the killer is behind them now!! Or how about hiding on each side of an open doorway while multiple crazies walk past, who - miracle of miracles - never look right or left or - I don't know - possess peripheral vision! People stop struggling the moment someone has a hard time tying them to a table (not a one-person job UNLESS the victim cooperates) and I won't even go into the Coast Guard who show up who know nothing about how the Coast Guard operates. Just so there's more potential victims. Attempts to give the crazy family some depth fails (but at least he tried), and everything remains overly familiar tropes from a hundred other Hillbilly Horror flicks. The actors range from amateurish to godawful but the characters they were given to play are one-dimensional and cartoonish. Even when they stop every once and a while to say "something serious". I'll excuse the fact we never believe the ship has put to sea, or that it could even be operated, cuz the director tries his best to shoot around it, but once everyone agrees to the set-up in the first place there's no one to root for (except to die) and no one behaves believably (not even when they die) and there is no suspense, or atmosphere, or decently staged kills to make sitting through the flick worth it. I'll give it 3/10 cuz it tried to be a little bit more, but ultimately failed.
