Death Ship (1980 film)
| Death Ship | |
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Death Ship theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Alvin Rakoff |
| Produced by | Derek Gibson Harold Greenberg |
| Written by |
Jack Hill David P. Lewis John Robins |
| Starring |
George Kennedy Richard Crenna Nick Mancuso Sally Ann Howes |
| Music by | Ivor Slaney |
| Cinematography | René Verzier |
| Edited by | Mike Campbell |
| Distributed by | Avco Embassy Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | Canada United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.75 million |
Death Ship is a 1980 British-Canadian horror film directed by Alvin Rakoff and written by Jack Hill. The cast includes Academy Award winner George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Sally Ann Howes, and Black Christmas actor Nick Mancuso.
A mysterious black freighter sails through the night, apparently deserted. Detecting a cruise ship close by, the ship alters course as disembodied voices announce in German, "Battle Stations! Enemy in sight!" Aboard the cruise ship, the prickly Captain Ashland is making his final voyage, attended by his replacement, Captain Trevor Marshall, who has brought along his family. The freighter heads right for them, blasting its horn. Despite Ashland's best efforts, the charging freighter collides with the cruise ship, sinking it. (Some of the sinking scenes were taken from the 1960 film The Last Voyage and darkened to match the nightly effect.) The next morning, a handful of survivors—Marshall, his wife Margaret (Howes), and their children Robin and Ben; a young officer named Nick and his love interest Lori; the ship's comic Jackie; and a passenger, Mrs. Morgan—are adrift on a large piece of wreckage. Ashland surfaces nearby and he's brought aboard, barely conscious. Later, the survivors come upon the black freighter, unaware it's the ship that attacked them. Finding a boarding ladder slung from the stern, they climb aboard, but not before the ladder plunges into the sea as the officers try to climb it with the injured Ashland. When all are finally aboard, Jackie tries to rally the survivors with humor, but a cable seizes him by the ankle, and he is swung outboard by one of the ship's cranes, which lowers him into the water before cutting him loose, to be swept astern and lost.
Shocked, the survivors explore the corridors of the empty, echoing vessel, finding only cobwebs and 1930s memorabilia. Hatches open and close by themselves and lights go on and off while a swinging block knocks out Nick, who is exploring above deck. Meanwhile, a delirious Ashland hears a mysterious voice speaking to him in German, telling him "This ship has been waiting for you...It is your new ship....Your chance has come!" The others finally set up in a dusty bunk room, and they separate to retrieve supplies and the injured captain. Mrs. Morgan finds a gramophone and a movie projector that suddenly turn on by themselves. While watching the film (1936's "Everything Is Rhythm") and eating a piece of hard candy from one of the ship's cupboards, she becomes grotesquely deformed. Terrified, she stumbles back to the bunk room, where a possessed Ashland strangles her.
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