Le Bateau des ténèbres

I rented this unsure of what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. The movie flows well enough and has enough creep factor to satisfy a small craving. The basic premise involves a young man named Aaron whose father and step-mother disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. When the ship suddenly reappears twenty-five years later, Aaron is intrigued as to what happened and ventures out to the Triangle to investigate. Lance Henricksen and Judd Nelson are standouts in the movie and are quite good. The rest of the cast are unexceptional and competent at best. My only real gripe with the movie is with the big ending scene. It's over-the-top and a case of a good idea with poor execution. Overall, not bad, but I really only recommend it for those without really high expectations that are only looking for a little mindless creepiness.

Under the guise of the Bermuda triangle, this film seems just like Event Horizon. Without the Sam Neill factor of course. Some interest in generated in who will survive, or will anyone survive. But a vague interest it was for me.

Some people will love this for the supernatural aspects, others will be annoyed and cast it aside as stupid.

The film ends up being rather basic. No emotion is generated, and the characters do not interact in an interesting fashion.

So we are left with a rather disappointing film which could have delivered more, maybe going all out scary action thriller, making a good film (now that special effects are good even with low budgets).

I wish someone would make a Bermuda triangle movie that gave an explanation of the phenomenon. It doesn't have to be true - just make sense. This silly show doesn't even try. A ship lost 25 years ago in the BT comes back and a group of people take a chopper out to the ship to investigate. Then all sorts of strange things happen but none of it makes any sense. I busted out laughing when one of the women is standing on the deck when, for no reason whatsoever, the floor gives way and she falls thru to the next level and meets her long dead mother!!!

Janet Gunn and Scarlett Chorvat are the best part of this flik. Two really cute babes. Judd Nelson has a big part and wins the young Rob Reiner look-alike award.

It's another ghost ship, a la Mary Celeste type mystery. The Corona Queen turns up after disappearing 30 years earlier. Quickly, a bunch of people that can't wait to get killed by ghosts form a rag-tag "research" group and sneak aboard to film the vessel and its secrets (they're not supposed to be there of course-big surprise).

One (Judd Nelson) is the son of of two passengers who vanished along with the ship; he's now an expert on Bermuda Triangle phenomena. There's a TV filming crew of 3, and a ship salvage team of 3, led by a guy who talks slow and creepily (Lance Henrikson). It's obvious who's gonna get it, and in which order. The movie does find some Twilight Zone type twists as the story progresses (like inner past guilt haunting the person), so the deaths are predicated on something, at least. (Somewhat better than one of those movies where victims scream "Oh my Gawd!" as they take turns getting axed.)

Nelson and Henrikson aren't bad, but neither is at his best here. Nelson's always bulging his eyes out; it almost looks like they'll burst out of his head at any moment (he could also use a better hair cut). The balance of the group are all unknowns who make good targets for the paranormal entities. The spooks are designed pretty well, and the movie wisely doesn't show them until the time is right.

Routine stuff, but delivered reasonably well.

I am surprised. I caught this on a recent trip to London, and was half asleep one night and turned the TV on. My heart sank when the only movie on was this, however, because I saw the UFO logo up front and am familiar with their brand of crap. Imagine my surprise when I began watching it anyway and found that it was actually a GOOD movie.

Judd Nelson plays Aaron, whose parent were lost on a cruise ship back in the 1970's, somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. He has weird dreams about it, apparently, and seems to be involved in researching the paranormal (this was a bit unclear). The ship (SURPRISE!) returns, and a spunky reporter (Janet Gunn) named Dana, who works for a trashy paranormal TV show, decides to go out to the ship and get an exclusive story. She tries to get Judd to go along, but he's (understandably) upset about his missing parents, and her desire to make it all into a sideshow.

Now, it begins to get interesting. Dana has hired a sort of motley crew of salvage operators, led by the wonderful Lance Henriksen as Shaw. He's crabby, craggy, and so are his two helpers. They are about to fly out to the ship, and (of course) Judd shows up in the nick of time. CGI shots of the helicopter and the ship follow (looks good, overall). Once onboard the ship, nasty things start to happen. The interesting thing about this movie is that much of what happens is psychological, instead of overtly "spooky". The director, (Christian McIntire, who also co-wrote this), sets up a tension and weird atmosphere, although some gags don't pay off. One by one, the members of the team are bumped off, but the characters respond in a somewhat realistic fashion to the weirdness and the deaths. There is a wonderful scene showing what panic and tension can do to two people when Lance and another salvage operator (Jeff Kober) get into an argument.

So, the film builds toward the inevitible conclusion, but it is an entertaining ride getting there. Scarlett Chorvat is stunning, as is Janet Gunn, and ALL of the acting is very good. The script seems a little rushed, but it seems that this is a director to watch for in the future. In conclusion, then, a low budget thriller that is well shot, well paced, well directed and acted and a pleasantly spooky diversion.

Still surprised it's from UFO...