Death Ship rams into a cruise line ship. The survivors rescue an unconscious Captain Ashland (heavy-moaner George Kennedy). Adrift in the sea, the survivors lifeboat meets the Death Ship again. Of course, they decide to board the evil vessel in hopes of rescue; but instead, solve the haunted past that plagues this malevolent boat.Absurd in the extreme, "Death Ship" remains serious even though some moments are unintentionally hilarious (death by peppermint candy and George Kennedy becomes possessed by a Nazi). "Death Ship" contains actual moments of dread.Although there's dread, the film capsizes in underdevelopment. The actors sleepwalk through their roles except for the kids (don't get me started on their performances). Continuous shots of pumping engines kill the pacing and drag the film to a presentable running time. The editing causes sea sickness. "Death Ship" manages to create some interesting silly deaths and illogical decisions by the characters; but by the end of the film, the violence wallows in bad taste and idiocy.

An unmanned German WW2 ghost-ship from the past spends its abundant free time by seeking out cruise-ships and ramming itself into them, sinking them. It's a peculiar hobby for a ship to have, I admit, but one that allowed this fairly fun story to unfold.George Kennedy, who always sticks in my mind primarily as a cop from the "Naked Gun" movies (even though I've seen him in many other movies), is at first a little hard to accept as the movie's Main Menace; I sort of half-expected to at any moment see Leslie Nielsen hanging around on deck as well, tripping over things. Kennedy plays a perpetually grumpy, misanthropic soon-to-be ex-Captain of a cruise-ship, so – naturally – the Nazi ship has an eye on him to become its new captain: he might just be evil enough to steer it yet more "large circles" around the Atlantic.The movie wastes no time in getting down to business, unlike some horror films which take eons to get the plot rolling. In a matter of a few minutes we are given only the raw bones of who's who, without the unnecessary personal details that time is wasted on in slow-moving horror films that want you to "get to know the characters". Why would we need to? They're monster/zombie/ghost-fodder anyway, most horror-flick characters. Only 10-15 minutes into the movie, and we already have the survivors aboard the Nazi ship, and that's when the fun starts. Nice and quick.Once on the ship, the perpetually morose Kennedy agrees to become its new Nazi lunatic, accepting his new position as the ship's Eternal Captain – or so he (and the viewers) mistakenly thought. Inexplicably, the ship – which had been aiding Kennedy in bumping off the shipwrecked survivors - eventually and very suddenly turns against him, thereby saving Crenna, his wife, their daughter, and their son (who seems to suffer from severe incontinence; his urination came quite close to becoming the running gag). It isn't clear why the ship did this. Until then, its sole purpose was to kill everyone aboard it (aside from Kennedy) i.e. all the un-haunted passengers, including the kids. Perhaps the Nazi ship finally realized that Crenna's children are blond and blue-eyed so it changed its mind about offing them? Who knows; I can't get inside the heads of most Hollywood writers, let alone inside the mind of a fictional Nazi ship.There is some other nonsense, though. This is a horror film, after all. 1) After the ship had sunk, Crenna and the other survivors drifted on a lifeboat for a while. It isn't quite clear how long they drifted, but the editing suggests that it must have been a few hours at least, a half-hour minimum. After this vague time-period, suddenly Kennedy appears from under the boat, gasping for air! OK, fine, the Nazi ship has magic powers and has kept him alive against all biological odds, in order to turn him to the Dark Nazi Side. But how come none of the passengers said "hang on! How the hell did the Captain manage to hold his breath underwater for this long?! Where's he been all this time? Under the friggin' boat???" 2) Crenna, after having endured hours or maybe even days stuck on a life raft with presumably little or no water (on an open ocean) is finally offered some water by his wife a little after they board the Nazi ship. So what does he do? Does he perhaps drink it? No. He washes HIS BLOODY FACE with it. Damn, I'm surprised he didn't ask his wife for soap too. "I refuse to wash my face and hands without soap, and when I'm done with that, and only THEN, will I drink it, but NOT before." Ever been VERY thirsty? Of course you have. Extreme thirst makes people lose all sense of dignity; yet Crenna seems to have both dignity and patience in superhuman amounts. 3) The kids are awful actors. Each one snickered in at least one scene, when they were supposed to be scared – or at least when they were supposed to be not snickering. I am amazed the director failed to notice this. Or perhaps he did – but only in the editing room months later when it was too late to re-shoot the scenes with the undisciplined little brats. Needless to say, I doubt these kids had much of an acting career after this film.A huge plus, and one that makes it easy to overlook some of the (minor) flaws, is the film's typical early 80s look which gives it a visual edge which it otherwise might not have had, had it been made later (especially in the visually awful mid and late 80s). The early 80s American films still had some of that wonderful 70s graininess. Very nice photography and an ideal, desolate setting for this kind of a horror flick. I wouldn't call this a hidden gem, but it's not too far from it, and definitely worthwhile for people who like early 80s horror/fantasy films.

Death Ship (1980) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Low-key but mildly effective horror film from Canada has a carnival ship get struck by a mysterious boat, which seemed to ram them on purpose. A group of survivors get aboard a lifeboat and soon come across an old ship, which they're able to get on. It doesn't take long for them to realize that the ship has a life of its own and needs blood in order to keep going. DEATH SHIP isn't a completely successful film and a part of me was very disappointed that the movie wasn't better but at the same time there are several effective scenes that make it worth viewing. It should also be noted that the movie was released during the slasher era of horror movies and if you're expecting violence and gore then you're going to be disappointed. There's one scene where a woman gets into a shower and the water turns to blood and this here is the only time you see any red stuff and if it wasn't for the nudity in this scene you might even give this a PG rating. With the lack of blood the film tries to get it right with mood and I think on this level the film works. I found the ship itself to be quite eerie and the scene where the ghost ship pretty much sneaks up on those in the lifeboat was very effective and shot extremely well. The first murder sequence was also quite effective because it didn't have to use violence and gore to get its point across. The majority of the death scenes are low-key but this is why they work so well. Another good thing the flick has going for it is the plot point that the ship was used by the Germans during WWII in order to do tests on humans. This makes for the perfect setting, although the film never clearly goes over who or what is possessing the ship and eventual captain. Is it the Nazi ghosts? Is it the victims? The film doesn't hit on this but perhaps they were just wanting it to be a mystery. DEATH SHIP also benefits from having some familiar faces in its cast including George Kennedy and Richard Crenna. Neither of them offer up Oscar-worthy performances but they fit their roles just fine and at least keep you interesting. Sally Ann Howes, Jennifer McKinney and Saul Rubinek round out the supporting players. As good as this film is at the same time you can't help but wish it was a tad bit better. There are certainly some pacing issues and I think it starts to lose its way during the final twenty-minutes but overall I'd still recommend the film simply because it did try to do something different in an era when most movies were getting away from the atmosphere and going for gore.

I love this film. It was always on the TV at 3am in winter. I remember getting home many times after a night out and frightening myself stupid watching it. it's a never let you down scary flick. In my top ten horror flicks for sure. I was just watching the film 'Triangle' and 'Death Ship' came back to me. The shower scene was horrific! I don't think I recognise any of the actors but the film stays with you all the same. Good old fashioned film making. No over the top special effects, just a genuine good horror story. Chilling. It kind of reminds of the film 'Duel'. Maybe because of it's simplicity. My brother is a horror film nut and this one really had him bricking it. Ha. WOuld love to watch it again now that I'm 30...