La maledizione della Queen Mary

In 1938, the Ratch family consisting of husband and wife David (Wil Coban) and Gwen (Nell Hudson) and their daughter Jackie (Florrie Wilkinson) are on a voyage aboard the Queen Mary as third class passengers masquerading as first class passengers. Meanwhile in present day, The Queen Mary is now permanently docked as a tourist attraction and now sees the Caulder family consisting of Anne (Alice Eve) her son Lukas (Lenny Rush) and estranged husband Patrick (Joel Fry) who come to the ship intending to write about its allegedly supernatural history from a child's point of view only to find the hauntings might be all too real.

Haunting of the Queen Mary is a 2023 horror film from director Gary Shore and co-written by Shore with Tom Vaughan and Stephen Oliver co-writing. The film is a British co-production among several companies and producers and began development back in 2013, around the same time producer Brett Tomberlin was working on another tourist attraction based horror film, 2018's Winchester which was also scripted by Vaughan. The producers really seemed to be pushing for Haunting of the Queen Mary as they announced their intention to make this the first in a trilogy of films centered around the ship, but this is most likely a "one and done" deal as Haunting of the Queen Mary is one of the most tedious and unstructured ghost movies I can recall of recent memory.

I'll start off by saying I think the film does a good job photographing the Queen Mary and I did at first enjoy the shots down corridors that convey the labyrinthian nature of the ship. I also felt the production design for the segments in 1938 were quite impressive with most of the visually interesting elements taking place in that part of the movie. The movie itself however despite looking pretty nice has very little going on underneath and the writing that keeps bouncing back and forth between the past and the present prevents any establishment of mood or foreboding tone from taking hold. While it is possible to have a horror story that jumps around the timeline as Mike Flanagan's Oculus proved, there needs to be a connection between the two time lines so that it still forms into a cohesive whole. With Haunting of the Queen Mary's storylines, there's nothing that really ties the two timelines together (at least not until the very end) that it feels less like you're watching a movie and more like you're watching two thirds of two different movies that have been crudely put together. Most of the characterization is rather flat on the Caulder family with the rather strange decision of having their 8 year old son played by little person actor Lenny Rush who has appeared in well regarded material but with a mixture of clunky dialogue that feels like it's written for someone 6 years old at most it becomes very distracting. Alice Eve and Joel Fry are just stuck in bland roles and it would be hard for anyone to make those engaging. I will say that I did think the Ratch family was better by comparison as Florrie Wilkinson as the daughter Jackie gets some decent scenes, but again it's not really scary because there isn't as much time spent developing them as there should be. The movie putters along at a punishing runtime of just under two hours, and by the one hour mark I simply wanted the film to end.

I didn't expect much from Haunting of the Queen Mary given its connections to the movie Winchester which with the exception of Helen Mirren was just mediocre, but even by my lowest expectations the film still fell short of them. With paper thin characters, a sloppy unfocused screenplay, and an inability to get any fear or dread from its premise, Haunting of the Queen Mary is a failure as a horror film and there is no way we're getting that trilogy. Sorry producers.

I have no idea what I just watched. It was a confusing, disjointed mess. At the beginning it seemed to have the makings of a very interesting story. But all it did was get more and more confusing. I kinda get what they were trying to do with flashbacks, but there were too many, and they didnt explain anything. I was told to wait until the end of the movie and it will be all clear. Im pretty sure now the person who told me this had a stake in this movie, because when I got to the end it left me more confused than when i started. The costumes for that period where spot on, the acting was good. I suggest next time use a little more of your budget on script development.

To begin with, this film definitely has a very alluring, dark, and eerie, style to it.

However, it suffers from some severe structural issues.

As it jumps back and forth 3 timelines: 1938- the time when a series of grizzly murders occurred on the ship; to recent history- where a struggling family has reunited, in order to investigate the haunted history of the ship, with hopes of monetizing it, by either writing a book, or creating a VR experience, about it...ultimately culminating with an incident around which the plot is based; and modern day, when the parents return to the ship, to solve the mystery, concerning what happened to their son on their previous visit.

Unfortunately, (as others have already noted) it's a bit of a convoluted mess.

The main problem being that the crux of the plot is not explained very clearly.

Meaning that the intuitiveness of the viewer is required to pick up on what is actually going on.

Hints are provided.

But they are somewhat vague, and could easily be missed.

With the supernatural action sequences only adding to the confusion.

And feeling somewhat out of place, when they occur.

Sure...there are definitely some cool parts to the film (particularly in regards to the gore).

However, they try way too hard to prolong the mystery...and the point of it all to become lost in the process.

In short...it just doesn't play well as a whole.

Which is a shame...because the concepts here are great...and there's a load of talent involved.

But the plot structure has no flow to it.

You hope the conclusion is going to tie up the loose ends, and clear up some of this confusion.

However, it only acts to muddle things up even further.

And leave you utterly confounded.

Making you wonder what it was ever about in the first place.

In the end, I did manage to figure it out (after some reflection).

But I could EASILY see what happens eluding most people.

And even if you do manage get what's going on after the twist kicks in...you are left wondering what the purpose of some of the occurrences leading up to that point really were.

As it seems that some scenes were included simply to confuse you (like the one where she drops out of the door, into the ocean, for example).

So it's flabbergasting to think they thought that this was a coherent story in any way shape or form.

Because it's really not.

Which is too bad...cause while there's so much to be admired...it leaves room for desire.

3.5 out of 10.

First off, the plot makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I found the character motivations to be unbelievable. I still have no idea why any of the characters were on the ship in the first place and what exactly they were trying to accomplish. The film kept jumping between two storylines, one in 1938 and one in the present. There wasn't enough character development to really make the audience care about the fate of any of the main protagonists/antagonists in either narrative. By the end, it isn't clear how the two stories are supposed to be connected.

Obviously the films' writers were banking on the established ghost stories surrounding the Queen Mary (the lady in white, Jackie, the 1st class swimming pool, the HMS Curacoa, B-474 murder) but the problem is the depiction/references to these in the film do nothing to advance the plot.

I will give the film two stars for great cinematography, lighting, and visuals. There are a few nicely shot scenes showcasing interior spaces on the ship as well as a couple references to historical events involving the Queen Mary, but that doesn't make up for the really poor dialogue, incoherent narrative structure, and lack of character development.

This is a movie begging to be recut. I actually think that if someone took the time to do that, they could get a decent movie out of it. For the most part, what ruins this movie is it's like someone filmed a bunch of scenes then slapped them together in a hurry with what they thought was an edgy jump from past to present and back again, when all they actually did was to completely lose the audience as there is no cohesion between the 2 timelines and the I was left asking "how did that happen?" or why'd he/she do that?" throughout the movie until the end, when there is the slightest of answers for the viewer, but I suspect most, unless actually in a theatre, had quit the movie half way through as I was tempted. This movie screams to be recut into a straight timeline with maybe a little flashing back or forward as that technique is overuse in general and in this film to the extreme. Acting was good, but dialogue between the couple in the present was very lacking. Cinematography was good except it looks like the camera was searching for something to shoot at times. If I had the time and equipment I think this could be recut into a decent movie.