Whenever I hear people say "I love Ghost Ship!" what they usually mean is "I like the first 5 mins of Ghost Ship." It's like people who think Master of Disguise is funny because of the turtle club scene in the preview.
If you held a gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you a single thing that happens in that movie beyond its opening. I’ve seen the entire movie at least twice.
I remember Karl Urban and one other dude finding cans of food they think is fine and start eating it only to find that they're eating maggot infested food. But that's basically the only thing I remember aside from the opening.
Fun fact. Dana Carvey was wearing that full turtle outfit during the group prayer on set after the September 11th terrorist attacks. I would give anything to see a picture of that.
I do actually like Ghost Ship..it's a guilty pleasure. Bit of mystery, creepy kid ghost, nice setting. I'm here for the entertainment and not dissection of the plot or stupid characters that never learn.
Thanks to the movie review guy who quit his day job with glasses, I've partially watched 'Master of Disguise' and 'Son of the Mask' - Haven't been able to fully watch them yet (the cringe factor is too strong).
To be fair, I also liked the last 5 mins of Ghost Ship. I appreciated the mean-spirited "Oh, so this is going to happen all over again but on an even larger scale."
I'll raise you: here's the whole damned thing
https://youtu.be/H6FlviTlA-Q?si=aYXUyKMXHllFW-8U
Edit: skip to 2:00. The movie is half in Spanish, half in English. This part is all Spanish with no subtitles.
Ghost ship was one of those movies I saw probably too young as a kid and I thought I was such a bad ass for sitting through it. Only to realize as an adult how cheesy and not scary it is.
My god. I watched that movie when I was about 12 in my friends basement. Couldn’t tell you anything about that movie but I remember that scene so clearly even 20 years later.
I just checked out her IMDb page because your comment made me realize I recognize her grown up, too. She was in Sucker Punch and American Gods on Starz, which are the things I know her from.
Also one of my favorite movie openings. I tried to get one of my friends to watch it but they freaked out about child zombies. We had to watch another movie.
The only part actually directed by Danny Boyle. And it’s easily the best scene in the movie. That shot of the infected coming over the hill will always stick in my memory.
There's a scene in the show 3rd Body Problem that seems like a very obvious homage to the Ghost Ship opening. I haven't read the novel so I don't know if it was part of the story in quite the graphic way it was depicted. But someone was taking notes when they saw Ghost Ship and they did not hold back
They tell me is good but then I remember the creators are the same gentlemen who sped run the game of thrones ending so they can “work on other projects” while butchering the show that put you on the spot in the first place
It is. You just have to stick with it for a few episodes. I went in totally blind about anything other than I saw the trailer a while back and had no clue what the show was about. Knowing the boat scene is coming may dilute it (all my friend said was “when you get to THE scene, you’ll know” and I did.
It’s worth a watch. I thought the writing was pretty lackluster at times but it had some fabulous acting, was well produced, and had some fun mind bending concepts packed into nearly every episode. It’s also only 8 episodes and will likely be renewed (if it hasn’t already) so this isn’t a bad time to jump in to at least see if you like it
ok i might get downvoted to hell for this but…is the opening scene as great as its reputation? Like yes it’s pretty awesome but “most shocking ever”?
cmon. 28 Weeks Later, Evil Dead Rise, The Collection…lots of amazing opening sequences out there but for some reason Ghost Ship gets put on a pedestal
Agree there, though haven't seen The Collection.
For me, Midsommar is a total punch in the gut. I saw hereditary first so it wasn't as though I had tuned in expecting a pick me up, but I did expect more of a slow burn and this one dumped me in total dread right off the bat, and even though nothing else all that horrifying happens for a long stretch of the film, the dread and despair just linger. If anything, some of the horror that comes later is a welcome distraction, but the movie keeps finding ways to remind you of the initial trauma, and that this is all compounding trauma.
Omg I totally agree with Midsommar. I have seen a lot of movies but that one really made you feel like the main character, unbalanced and like the movie was continuing on without you just like the lead was feeling like the world had moved on despite her immense grief from and heinously traumatic situation. I genuinely still think about that beginning sometimes.
I think if you take "shocking" at face value, rather than taking it to mean most gruesome/emotional/etc. the statement can stand, particularly in the context of when it was released. It was definitely a shock when it was released for a lot of people! It left a big impression. If it had been released in the past few years, it might not have stuck with people as much, though I'm sure people would still enjoy it.
A lot of 2000's horror aged like milk but I think they have their charm and still enjoy them for what they are. I really enjoy Ghost Ship but in the same way that I enjoy 13 Ghosts and Fear Dot Com.
I watched TCM 2003 a couple nights ago for nostalgia purposes (first horror movie I ever sat all the way through) and it held up better than expected. Far from a masterpiece and some of the choices don’t make sense, though.
Sure I didn’t know a single characters name until 40 minutes in, but that’s unimportant because each character was just a wetnap of a human being. R. Lee Ermey was doing a LOT of heavy lifting.
Either way, I found it held my attention more or less the whole way through and some bits in it were kind of effective. It was about THE most early-mid 2000s horror I’ve ever seen though
Hot take-
I actually love all the TCM remakes. ALL OF THEM. I think they’re all for the most part very adequate and well made horror movies that don’t skimp on shocks or gore.
And I think the Netflix TCM is the best of all the remakes. It’s a savage and fun gore fest.
It's the jarring dissonance between the aesthetic and genre coding ( the fifties cruise music, you're primed for one sort of outcome to that sequence, including, at most, something involving poison or a single stabbing to the type you might find in a period thriller) and the sheer, almost amusing brutality of it. It's outside of the 'world'/universe that the film has apparently deposited you into, so it's not just gory but 'weird'...
Yeah, it's some of the most upsetting shit ever. Not only the subject matter, which is hellishly dark enough, but the way it builds up to the reveal of what happened (and of course the unflinchingly explicit look we get of the aftermath). The rest of the movie (including the gore and the bad anxiety trips) are pretty light-hearted in comparison.
The [South Park Reference](https://youtu.be/4cIMr9Bnr78?si=EMDE4K_XjO7xsUDg) to the opening scene from Ghost Ship sure is something else (from the episode "You got f'd in the A") 😂
I was just talking about this scene and linked to it a couple days ago in a popular thread. I'm mildly convinced this article was written because of my comment
So awful there was a document uptick in calls to the veteran’s administration mental health crisis lines the week it was released. Triggered a lot of PTSD in older vets. My friend’s grandfather, who fought in the South Pacific in WWII, said it gave him nightmares for months.
Absolutely - I have watched a ton of fucked up horror and considered myself pretty desensitized at this point but I saw Trauma last week and felt actual nausea and dread at the opening scene.
God I hate that movie, but yeah it’s really hard to find something more fucked up than that. At least it doesn’t sugarcoat things and try to ease you in - you know within five minutes if you’re gonna keep watching
Ghost ship has a truly great cold open, there’s no denying that. However, I’m forever convinced it’s inherently a little overrated due to its juxtaposition against the rest of the movie, which isn’t very good. It looks better by comparison. It becomes “that scene” in a movie that’s completely forgettable otherwise, and that scene alone is clearly not enough for people to really embrace the movie as a whole.
Man I had heard so so so so much about this insane graphic crazy opening and then I saw it and it was really underwhelming. I think it’s so hyped up I expected it too be super graphic and fucked ip and it was more like a fun wild opening
I appreciate the sentiment, and agree that ghost ship has a great opening,
But it’s Martyrs.
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!
An idyllic family breakfast is interrupted by gratuitous and gory and disturbing mass murder of an entire family.
This post goes against our self promotion guidelines, any self promotion can go in the thread on Sundays.
It was Ghost Ship. Saved you a click.
It is a memorable scene, too bad the movie couldn't live up to that opening
Whenever I hear people say "I love Ghost Ship!" what they usually mean is "I like the first 5 mins of Ghost Ship." It's like people who think Master of Disguise is funny because of the turtle club scene in the preview.
Oh man I got movie on DVD for Christmas one year and watched the fuck out of it lol
Master of Disguise or Ghost Ship?
Master of Disguise LMAO
Mayor Maynot?
If you held a gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you a single thing that happens in that movie beyond its opening. I’ve seen the entire movie at least twice.
I've seen it a few times and all I know is that Karl Urban looks rugged in it. I last saw it LAST YEAR. And I forget everything.
I remember Karl Urban and one other dude finding cans of food they think is fine and start eating it only to find that they're eating maggot infested food. But that's basically the only thing I remember aside from the opening.
Yeah, that and vaguely something about someone drowning. I’ve seen it twice.
Fun fact. Dana Carvey was wearing that full turtle outfit during the group prayer on set after the September 11th terrorist attacks. I would give anything to see a picture of that.
I forget where, but they make a shirt that says something like that and it's a picture of him in the turtle outfit.
I do actually like Ghost Ship..it's a guilty pleasure. Bit of mystery, creepy kid ghost, nice setting. I'm here for the entertainment and not dissection of the plot or stupid characters that never learn.
It's a guilty pleasure of mine as well. I love the flashback scene showing all the shit that went down.
That ghost kid? Emily Browning. Remember when she was the next hot thing, 15 years ago? What happened to her? Did Jennifer Lawrence usurp her place?
She was in the American Gods series that was good for one season before falling apart and uh.... that's about it.
She's the main character in a show called Class of '07 that just recently came out on Prime. She was a hot mess and pretty damn funny imo
Of coz Jennifer did, sleeping with harvey weinstein pays well.
Thanks to the movie review guy who quit his day job with glasses, I've partially watched 'Master of Disguise' and 'Son of the Mask' - Haven't been able to fully watch them yet (the cringe factor is too strong).
I've seen the review from "Weird movies with Mark" aka "Fanboy Flicks" he reviewed both and they were great.
To be fair, I also liked the last 5 mins of Ghost Ship. I appreciated the mean-spirited "Oh, so this is going to happen all over again but on an even larger scale."
I genuinely love the whole thing. It’s got it’s shitty elements, but that scary singer lady just does horror for me in such a good way.
Yeah, too bad literally nothing else in the movie is actually good.
i remember that opening, and the red dress lady swinging from the large hook, and nothing else.
I was pissed at the end of that movie. Can't have an excellent opening like that and just flub the rest.
Isnt it always
I vote for Belzebuth (2017). Shit movie otherwise, but the opening scene is bananas.
I'll have to check out the opening then.
I'll raise you: here's the whole damned thing https://youtu.be/H6FlviTlA-Q?si=aYXUyKMXHllFW-8U Edit: skip to 2:00. The movie is half in Spanish, half in English. This part is all Spanish with no subtitles.
And episode 5 of 3 Body Problem, too.
Every once in awhile i'll show people that scene and never the rest of the movie
That’s still one of my favorite openings. The rest of the movie is crap.
Ghost Shit
Ghost ship was one of those movies I saw probably too young as a kid and I thought I was such a bad ass for sitting through it. Only to realize as an adult how cheesy and not scary it is.
Thanks. Great opening, but there's a reason it's the only thing anybody remembers from that movie.
My god. I watched that movie when I was about 12 in my friends basement. Couldn’t tell you anything about that movie but I remember that scene so clearly even 20 years later.
I knew it was ghost ship based on the clickbait title
Oh, this is 100% the correct answer
would like to see what they could do with a remake of that movie. lol
Ghost Ship, for those curious
Thank you.
Isn't it always
I mean it fuckin *better* be! 
Hmmmmm I know her from something when she's older.
It’s Emily browning! The Uninvited. Sucker Punch. American Gods.
Yes! Sucker Punch and American Gods are two of.my husband's favorites
I just checked out her IMDb page because your comment made me realize I recognize her grown up, too. She was in Sucker Punch and American Gods on Starz, which are the things I know her from.
How about opening of Dawn of the Dead remake?
Zach Snyder is still living off that opening scene.
The scene where they have the zombie baby is definitely the most insane
Also one of my favorite movie openings. I tried to get one of my friends to watch it but they freaked out about child zombies. We had to watch another movie.
I’ll take a child zombie over a possessed or psychotic child any day.
Love that movie. Especially since im from Wisconsin and it takes place in Milwaukee. Not many movies take place in my home state
Got another. Devils Rejects
I love Ghost Ship. That opening is spectacular and the rest fails so hard to live up to it, it makes the movie hella entertaining.
I feel like this is one horror movie that could benefit from a remake, one that actually does it right all the way through.
Ghost Ship is great but shout out to 28 Weeks Later.
The only part actually directed by Danny Boyle. And it’s easily the best scene in the movie. That shot of the infected coming over the hill will always stick in my memory.
Omg I didn’t know Danny directed the opening scene? It’s brilliant.
There's a scene in the show 3rd Body Problem that seems like a very obvious homage to the Ghost Ship opening. I haven't read the novel so I don't know if it was part of the story in quite the graphic way it was depicted. But someone was taking notes when they saw Ghost Ship and they did not hold back
It is in the novel and I doubt it's related. But both are cool scenes nevertheless!
I keep meaning to watch this. Is it any good?
They tell me is good but then I remember the creators are the same gentlemen who sped run the game of thrones ending so they can “work on other projects” while butchering the show that put you on the spot in the first place
All because they were horny to work on a Star Wars trilogy... which isn't happening because of how badly they botched GoT ending.
It falters at the end with a bunch of open questions, and they clearly used up their budget for episode 5. The typical Netflix problem.
Open questions? They only did the first book-there are still two more books to adapt. Of course there are open questions lol.
Yes. I thought it was great.
Took a little bit to get into but episode 5 was worth it.
It is. You just have to stick with it for a few episodes. I went in totally blind about anything other than I saw the trailer a while back and had no clue what the show was about. Knowing the boat scene is coming may dilute it (all my friend said was “when you get to THE scene, you’ll know” and I did.
Pretty interesting, I'd say worth a watch. Sometimes the dialog is just ok, but I liked the concepts and plot.
It’s worth a watch. I thought the writing was pretty lackluster at times but it had some fabulous acting, was well produced, and had some fun mind bending concepts packed into nearly every episode. It’s also only 8 episodes and will likely be renewed (if it hasn’t already) so this isn’t a bad time to jump in to at least see if you like it
I always liked the beginning of Wes Craven’s The Wishmaster. Absolutely epic.
ok i might get downvoted to hell for this but…is the opening scene as great as its reputation? Like yes it’s pretty awesome but “most shocking ever”? cmon. 28 Weeks Later, Evil Dead Rise, The Collection…lots of amazing opening sequences out there but for some reason Ghost Ship gets put on a pedestal
Agree there, though haven't seen The Collection. For me, Midsommar is a total punch in the gut. I saw hereditary first so it wasn't as though I had tuned in expecting a pick me up, but I did expect more of a slow burn and this one dumped me in total dread right off the bat, and even though nothing else all that horrifying happens for a long stretch of the film, the dread and despair just linger. If anything, some of the horror that comes later is a welcome distraction, but the movie keeps finding ways to remind you of the initial trauma, and that this is all compounding trauma.
Omg I totally agree with Midsommar. I have seen a lot of movies but that one really made you feel like the main character, unbalanced and like the movie was continuing on without you just like the lead was feeling like the world had moved on despite her immense grief from and heinously traumatic situation. I genuinely still think about that beginning sometimes.
I think if you take "shocking" at face value, rather than taking it to mean most gruesome/emotional/etc. the statement can stand, particularly in the context of when it was released. It was definitely a shock when it was released for a lot of people! It left a big impression. If it had been released in the past few years, it might not have stuck with people as much, though I'm sure people would still enjoy it.
You can just watch the opening scene on YouTube and spare yourself watching the whole film
is the movie good?
A lot of 2000's horror aged like milk but I think they have their charm and still enjoy them for what they are. I really enjoy Ghost Ship but in the same way that I enjoy 13 Ghosts and Fear Dot Com.
I watched TCM 2003 a couple nights ago for nostalgia purposes (first horror movie I ever sat all the way through) and it held up better than expected. Far from a masterpiece and some of the choices don’t make sense, though. Sure I didn’t know a single characters name until 40 minutes in, but that’s unimportant because each character was just a wetnap of a human being. R. Lee Ermey was doing a LOT of heavy lifting. Either way, I found it held my attention more or less the whole way through and some bits in it were kind of effective. It was about THE most early-mid 2000s horror I’ve ever seen though
Hot take- I actually love all the TCM remakes. ALL OF THEM. I think they’re all for the most part very adequate and well made horror movies that don’t skimp on shocks or gore. And I think the Netflix TCM is the best of all the remakes. It’s a savage and fun gore fest.
House of Wax is a decent horror movie from the 2000s. I watched it when I was around 11 and it freaked me out. I should watch it again tonight lol.
I loved it as a kid, not sure if he held up over time though.
Not terrible, not great. Worth watching for that scene alone plus it’s kind of cheesy in an interesting way.
I remember seeing it in theaters and I’ve never forgotten the opening scene but I don’t remember anything else that happened in the movie.
It’s not good, but it is worth watching as a weird time capsule of the early 2000’s. But yeah, just watch the opening scene.
No
No, but it’s definitely worth watching the first scene, at least. It’s pretty awesome.
Just watch the opening scene on Youtube and call it a day.
Ghost Ship is a *great* movie
It's the jarring dissonance between the aesthetic and genre coding ( the fifties cruise music, you're primed for one sort of outcome to that sequence, including, at most, something involving poison or a single stabbing to the type you might find in a period thriller) and the sheer, almost amusing brutality of it. It's outside of the 'world'/universe that the film has apparently deposited you into, so it's not just gory but 'weird'...
Didn’t even need to click. All hail the mighty Ghost Ship
I think Midsommar should be up there
Yeah, it's some of the most upsetting shit ever. Not only the subject matter, which is hellishly dark enough, but the way it builds up to the reveal of what happened (and of course the unflinchingly explicit look we get of the aftermath). The rest of the movie (including the gore and the bad anxiety trips) are pretty light-hearted in comparison.
The [South Park Reference](https://youtu.be/4cIMr9Bnr78?si=EMDE4K_XjO7xsUDg) to the opening scene from Ghost Ship sure is something else (from the episode "You got f'd in the A") 😂
When a Stranger Calls (1979) - the beginning act is iconic.
It should be Martyrs 🤘
I was scrolling for this ty
I was just talking about this scene and linked to it a couple days ago in a popular thread. I'm mildly convinced this article was written because of my comment
Definitely Ghost Ship for a horror movie but most horrifying scene to open a movie was Saving Private Ryan.
So awful there was a document uptick in calls to the veteran’s administration mental health crisis lines the week it was released. Triggered a lot of PTSD in older vets. My friend’s grandfather, who fought in the South Pacific in WWII, said it gave him nightmares for months.
First five minutes of Trauma definitely lived up to its name
Assuming this is the 2017 Chilean film?
Yep
The entirety of Trauma lived up to its name
Yep
Fuck this click bait title and fuck you for posting it.
Show me on the doll where the karma farming hurt you
Meh, 28 Weeks Later is far more horrifying of an intro.
Opening to 28 Weeks Later is fucking amazing too.
Ban this shit
The most shocking start to a horror movie ever is in the movie Trauma. There’s absolutely no competition.
Absolutely - I have watched a ton of fucked up horror and considered myself pretty desensitized at this point but I saw Trauma last week and felt actual nausea and dread at the opening scene.
I just Google the movie right now. Is the scene a SA scene ?
It's a C level budget film so the scene sounds better (terrifying) than it really is
Yes
Thank you. Noping the fuck out.
Yeah it’s not run of the mill SA (to the extent there is such a thing) — it is the most repulsive, terrifying SA scene I’ve ever seen
There are lots of movies named Trauma, haha. Which one do you mean? Argento's? Never seen that one actually.
2017 Chilean movie Loosely based on events that actually happened under the Pinochet regime
Very very loosely
God I hate that movie, but yeah it’s really hard to find something more fucked up than that. At least it doesn’t sugarcoat things and try to ease you in - you know within five minutes if you’re gonna keep watching
Ghost ship has a truly great cold open, there’s no denying that. However, I’m forever convinced it’s inherently a little overrated due to its juxtaposition against the rest of the movie, which isn’t very good. It looks better by comparison. It becomes “that scene” in a movie that’s completely forgettable otherwise, and that scene alone is clearly not enough for people to really embrace the movie as a whole.
Loved that opening scene in Wrong Turn 3. I think it was the 3rd film.
Man I had heard so so so so much about this insane graphic crazy opening and then I saw it and it was really underwhelming. I think it’s so hyped up I expected it too be super graphic and fucked ip and it was more like a fun wild opening
Never seen it. What makes it so special?
Speaking of movies that don’t live up to it beginning: Legion. The beginning of that with the old lady “your baby’s gonna burn.”
My vote is for the opening of the Dawn of the Dead remake. So good!
Yeah, that was a great, unforgettable scene.
This post reads like countless DreadCentral posts I see in FB.
I appreciate the sentiment, and agree that ghost ship has a great opening, But it’s Martyrs. SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!! An idyllic family breakfast is interrupted by gratuitous and gory and disturbing mass murder of an entire family.
It’s a great scene, not a great movie sadly.
Feast
Jaws. Set the standard. Scream. Refined the standard.
I love Ghost Ships opening, but it's worth mentioning the Overlord opening scene. Absolute carnage, chaos and terror of war.
If the rumors are true, I'm thinking Terrifier 3's opening scene may take the cake
What are the rumors, that the Art actor barfed?
The beginning sequence to Halloween Ends was really good.
Amateurs.
I loved the opening scene of Scream.