🎯 Quick Overview
Trailer
- Director: Gary Shore
- Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Drama
- Release year: 2023
- Runtime (length): 2h 5min
- IMDb rating: 4.8/10 (~13K votes)
- Rotten Tomatoes: 20%
😅 Plot Summary – Badly Explained
A ghost ship forces current and past families to play body-swapping musical chairs because… reasons, mostly involving a buried construction worker and a surprisingly violent tap dancer.
🍿 Haunting of the Queen Mary: Detailed Plot Synopsis
A Haunted Voyage: The RMS Queen Mary’s Dark Past
The film introduces the RMS Queen Mary in its prime during 1938. Celebrated as the fastest liner, Captain Caradine pushes the ship’s limits, unaware of underlying technical issues and a disturbing secret embedded within the vessel’s very structure. Amidst a lavish Halloween celebration, a working-class family, the Ratchs (David, Gwen, and their daughter Jackie), attempts to blend in with the first-class passengers. Jackie, an aspiring dancer, seeks an opportunity with a filmmaker, leading to their cover being blown. As chaos brews below deck, a malevolent force takes hold of David, unleashing a night of horrific violence.
Present-Day Investigation on a Docked Ship
Decades later, in the contemporary future, the Queen Mary is a permanently docked tourist attraction in Long Beach, California. The Calder family, estranged parents Anne and Patrick, arrive with their young son Lukas. Anne and Patrick are photographers and creators hoping to revitalize interest in the ship by exploring its history and alleged hauntings for a book and potential VR experience, told from a child’s perspective. They meet with the ship’s current captain, Bittner, to discuss their project and gain access to the vessel.
Timelines Collide: Lukas’s Encounter
During their initial visit, Patrick and Lukas explore the ship’s ‘horror house.’ Lukas becomes separated from his father and is drawn to the ship’s sealed first-class swimming pool, a site tied to the ship’s dark history. Here, Lukas encounters the ghost of young Jackie from 1938. He is then attacked by a maniacal entity, implied to be the possessed David Ratch, but Jackie pulls Lukas into the pool, seemingly saving him. The family finds Lukas wet but outwardly unharmed, unaware of the deeper supernatural exchange that has occurred.
The Queen Mary’s Sinister Foundation
Delving deeper into the ship’s past reveals a grim secret dating back to its construction during the Great Depression. Facing financial struggles, workers allegedly followed a dark engineering tradition: burying a living person within the ship’s walls to ensure structural integrity and grant the vessel infinite life. Edward “Clarky” Clark, a former inmate, was chosen as the victim, his immense pain believed to merge with the ship. While this ‘sacrifice’ seemingly protected the Queen Mary through events like World War II, the 1938 incident in the engine room disturbed this connection, allowing Clark’s vengeful spirit to escape and possess David Ratch, triggering the infamous Halloween night massacre.
⚠️ Spoilers and Ending Explained
🎬 Cast & Characters
- Anne Calder (Alice Eve): A photographer in the present day who brings her family to the haunted ship and fights to save her son from its influence.
- Patrick Calder (Joel Fry): Anne’s estranged husband who gets caught in the ship’s haunting and ultimately becomes a vessel for a ghost.
- Lukas Calder (Lenny Rush): The young son of Anne and Patrick whose soul is swapped with a ghost from the past during their visit to the ship.
- David Ratch (Wil Coban): A father aboard the ship in 1938 who is possessed by a malevolent entity and commits horrific acts of violence.
- Gwen Ratch (Nell Hudson): David Ratch’s wife and Jackie’s mother in 1938, who becomes a victim of her possessed husband’s rampage.
- Jackie Ratch (Florrie Wilkinson): David and Gwen’s daughter in 1938 whose ghost swaps places with Lukas, seeking freedom from the haunted ship.
💬 Memorable Quotes
💰Box Office
- Budget: N/A
- Domestic Gross: N/A
- Worldwide Gross: $1,578,863
💥 Haunting of the Queen Mary Reviews
Personal Review
Okay, so ‘Haunting of the Queen Mary’ is visually *really* cool. Like, I was genuinely impressed by how good the ship looked, especially the 1938 parts. The atmosphere is thick and creepy, definitely felt those haunted ship vibes. But man, the story is wild. Trying to keep track of who was where and when, and which soul was in which body… my brain hurt a little. The time jumps felt random sometimes, breaking the tension instead of building it. I did dig the unexpected dance sequence though, that was something different! Even with the confusing bits, there were some genuinely chilling moments and gnarly gore effects that satisfied the horror fan in me. It felt like a swing for the fences aesthetically, even if the narrative didn’t quite stick the landing. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, but it was an interesting, visually striking ride, especially if you like ghost stories and beautiful but messy films.
- Who would enjoy:
- “Fans of haunted house/ship horror movies”
- “Viewers who appreciate strong visuals and atmosphere over plot coherence”
- “Those interested in the legends surrounding the real Queen Mary”
- “Fans of psychological thrillers with time-hopping narratives”
- “Viewers who enjoy gore and disturbing imagery”
- Content warnings ⚠:
- “Strong Gore and Violence (explicit depictions of murder and injury)”
- “Disturbing Images”
- “Supernatural Horror / Ghosts”
- “Possession”
- “Child Endangerment / Harm to a Child”
Professional Reviews
- Reviewer 1 from prompt: “Visually stunning with excellent production design and atmosphere, but the plot is an absolute mess. Trying to connect two timelines leads to a confusing, incoherent story that feels like a fever dream. Admire the look, but don’t expect it to make sense.
- Reviewer 2 from prompt: “A beautifully shot, psychological thriller that keeps you on the edge. The director expertly weaves two storylines, creating an artistic and elegant experience reminiscent of The Shining. It authentically incorporates real Queen Mary ghost stories. Great performances from the cast, definitely worth seeing.
- Reviewer 3 from prompt: “This film is a tedious, overlong slog that fails on almost every level. The visuals are decent, but the story is sloppy and unfocused, with constant time jumps preventing any real mood or tension from building. Characters are flat, and the scares are non-existent. A disappointing failure.
Audience Reactions
Viewers praised the film’s stunning visuals and eerie atmosphere.: Many found the cinematography, production design, and period details (especially the 1938 scenes) to be impressive and captivating.
The plot’s confusing nature and time jumps were frequent points of criticism.: A common sentiment was frustration with the convoluted story, lack of clarity, and difficulty understanding the connections between the timelines and character motivations.
Some found the horror elements effective, while others felt it lacked scares.: Opinions were divided on the scariness, but the more gruesome or artistic horror moments and the spooky vibe of the ship itself were noted.
Overall Consensus: A visually impressive and atmospheric horror film praised for its production design and creepy setting, but widely criticized for its confusing, disjointed, and often nonsensical plot structure.
Awards
🛠️ Behind the Scenes
- “While some scenes were filmed on the real Queen Mary ship in Long Beach, California, most of the interiors for both historical and present-day scenes were created using CGI and set pieces.”
- “The film had a long development period, reportedly starting as early as 2013.”
- “The end credits are mirrored, with one set running from the beginning and another from the end, intended to reflect the movie’s dual, intertwined timelines.”
- “The movie’s co-writer, Tom Vaughan, also wrote the screenplay for the haunted historic location film ‘Winchester’ (2018), which shared a producer with this film.”
🖥️ How to Watch Haunting of the Queen Mary?
Based on the provided text, specific streaming platforms (like Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, Max, Apple TV, etc.) for ‘The Haunting of the Queen Mary’ are not listed. Likewise, purchase or rental options are not detailed in the source material. Viewers interested in watching should check major digital retailers and subscription services.
🎥 Similar Movies
If you enjoyed Haunting of the Queen Mary, you might like these similar films:
- The Shining (1980): A classic psychological horror film set in an isolated location (hotel vs. ship) where supernatural forces drive characters to madness, featuring atmospheric dread and a focus on family breakdown.
- Ghost Ship (2002): Directly comparable as a horror film set on a haunted ocean liner, featuring gruesome supernatural events and mysteries related to the ship’s dark past.
- Oculus (2013): Features a haunted object/location that blurs the lines between past and present, manipulating perceptions and trapping characters across different timelines.
- Val Lewton’s The Ghost Ship (1943): An earlier psychological thriller set aboard a ship where the captain’s increasing instability and paranoia create a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere.
- Thirteen Ghosts (2001): A remake with a similar focus on a location (mansion vs. ship) designed to trap supernatural entities, featuring elaborate production design and visceral horror.
🛒 Haunting of the Queen Mary Related Products
- Queen Mary Official Ship Model Kit: A detailed scale model kit of the iconic RMS Queen Mary. Perfect for enthusiasts of maritime history and model building.
- Books on Queen Mary Hauntings: Explore the real-life ghost stories and history that inspired the film with a collection of books about the haunted Queen Mary.
- Haunting of the Queen Mary Blu-ray/Digital: Own the movie to re-watch and try to unravel the mysteries or just appreciate the stunning visuals in high definition.
- Horror Movie Fan T-Shirt: Haunted Ship Design: A comfortable graphic tee featuring a stylized design inspired by haunted ships and ocean liners.
🎧 Soundtrack
Haunting of the Queen Mary features a captivating soundtrack that enhances the movie’s atmosphere and emotional impact. Here are some notable tracks:
You can find the complete soundtrack on Amazon Music and Apple Music.
🤨 FAQ
The film tells two interwoven stories set aboard the legendary RMS Queen Mary ocean liner: the violent events surrounding a family on Halloween night in 1938, and a modern-day family investigating the ship’s haunted history who become trapped by its dark past.
The past (1938) and present-day storylines are connected through the ship’s enduring supernatural forces, stemming from a dark secret in its construction and the tragic events of 1938. Key ghosts from the past, like the Ratch family, directly interact with and impact the modern-day characters, specifically leading to a soul swap involving the son, Lukas, and the ghost of Jackie.
During his initial visit to the ship’s pool area, Lukas’s soul is swapped with the ghost of Jackie, a girl who died aboard the ship in 1938. Lukas’s soul becomes trapped on the ship, while Jackie inhabits his body in the outside world. The film’s ending suggests that Anne, upon realizing this, intentionally harms the body inhabited by Jackie, leading to her and Patrick’s arrest at the end.
The film is based on the real RMS Queen Mary ship, which is widely considered one of the most haunted locations in the world, with numerous reported ghost sightings and historical incidents. However, the specific plot involving the Ratch and Calder families, the soul swapping, and the origin of the haunting related to the ship’s construction are fictionalized elements inspired by the ship’s spooky reputation and legends.
Anne and Patrick, or rather the ghosts of David and Gwen Ratch possessing their bodies, are arrested upon leaving the ship. This is implied to be for the death or severe injury of the child (Lukas, whose body was inhabited by Jackie) back at their house, an event precipitated by Anne after discovering her son’s soul had been trapped on the ship.
🔥 Bonus Content
Instant Regret 😂
Ever just know you’ve made a mistake the second you do it? This kid’s attempt at climbing the walls gave me a laugh, though you might cringe a little watching!
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Do Fingernails Grow After Death? 😨
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My first Bollywood Music Video!
Check out this creator’s first Bollywood music video! It’s cool to see people exploring different styles and putting their own spin on things.
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