The third film from Dark Castle Entertainment (the people who brought us the recent House on Haunted Hill and Ghosts) is once again a remake, but this time they have changed the story drastically, rather than just having updated it for a new audience.
When a salvage crew headed by Gabriel Byrne are approached by a pilot (Desmond Harrington) and given a tip-off regarding a long lost Ocean Liner’s location, the crew set out to find the ship and claim it, potentially earning a fortune. Once aboard however things begin to go wrong for the crew and it isn’t long before they end up trapped on the ship.
For me the Dark Castle films are hit and miss with Ghosts being my favourite of the three. The main problem I have with this film is the lack of action. As this was the second viewing for me, I found myself waiting for the good bits rather than just enjoying the film as a whole.
Julianna Margulies was an unusual choice to play an ‘Ellen Ripley’ type character, but pulled it off and it was also nice to see her work with Ron Eldard (who played her boyfriend Shep on ER) again and Desmond Harrington is always good in his films as are Gabriel Byrne and Karl Urban.
OVERALL SUMMARY
I admire the Producers for setting up Dark Castle as it is nice to see classic movies reach a new audience, but they aren’t always that good as they tend to focus on special effects and design rather than story. Still they always attract a great cast and make a profit so I guess they will continue to keep making them.
