After Ghost Ship opens with a horrifying bloodbath in 1962 aboard the Italian ocean liner MS Antonia Graza, it follows the crew of a salvage ship as they explore the now derelict vessel, prompting some fans to wonder if the supernatural horror film was based on a true story. When a weather service pilot named Jack Ferriman enlists Captain Sean Murphy and his crew to find the “ghost ship” with promises of a hefty payday, none of them are prepared for the horrors they find onboard. After encounters with the ghosts of the slain passengers and crew, each begins going mad, and the movie devolves into The Shining at sea.
Ghost Ship incorporates just enough historical tidbits to make the dialogue sound authentic and the plot appear to be tangible, even when Ferriman dangles the promise of riches beyond the crew’s wildest dreams in the cargo hold. The inclusion of some nautical facts with supernatural elements makes it a fun treasure hunt along with a bloodbath, though it soon becomes clear that the haunted vessel might just be purgatory for the damned, floating listlessly on the tide to ensnare its next victims. This underrated ’00s horror movie deserves a reboot for combining action, adventure, and horror on the high seas.
2002’s Ghost Ship Isn’t Based On Specific True Stories
Despite the plot point involving treasure hunters searching for solid gold bricks from a sunk Fort Knox ship, Ghost Ship isn’t based on any specific true stories from the Civil War. It doesn’t negate the fact that fortune seekers routinely search for shipwrecks from that era, or even those involving modern cruise vessels, to pilfer their luxury cargo. Passenger vessels may not carry gold bullion, but these floating cities often ferry family heirlooms, exotic cars, and jewelry across the Atlantic Ocean all the time, all providing the perfect trove for those who aren’t risk-averse.
The allure of sunken treasure and the greed that it brings out in even the closest friends is at the heart of Ghost Ship’s Faustian tale. When Jack Ferriman is revealed to be a corporeal embodiment of Charon, the spectral figure who ferries souls to the Underworld, each member makes a pact for riches and ends up hastening their own demise. From the first sight of the ship, any one of them could have listened to reason or trusted their instincts and resisted the temptation of wealth, but avarice is just one of Seven Deadly Sins that proves each of their undoing.
Historical Ghost Ship Stories That Could’ve Inspired The Movie
There are several historical lost ship stories that could’ve inspired Ghost Ship, such as the H.L. Hunley, one of the first working submarines during the Civil War that inspired the gold-toting Confederate ironclad in Sahara, or more modern vessels from the mid-20th century like the cruise ship known as the SS France, which set sail in 1962 and was the longest passenger ship before the Queen Mary 2. Most cruise ships are decommissioned and specifically sent to either of two scrapyards; the Alang, located in India’s Gulf of Khambhat, which recycles half the world’s cruise ships, or the second largest, the Aliaga in Turkey.
