Death Ship (1980)

Plagiarism generally does not go unnoticed, and one cannot help but see certain similarities in various works be it literature, art, or cinema. In listening to the commentary on the relatively new PAL Region 0 DVD of 1980’s DEATH SHIP, a horror oddity about an abandoned old ship inhabited by the ghosts of members of the Third Reich(!), author Jonathan Rigby remarks that the poster for 2002’s GHOST SHIP was remarkably similar to the poster art for this film, and it is true – the similarities are uncanny. I can’t help but wonder who came up with the idea for the poster for GHOST SHIP, as DEATH SHIP was well over 25 years-old and seemed to be relegated to the land of forgotten cinema. Those of you who did see DEATH SHIP on its maiden release and would like to catch up with it again might want to invest in a region-free DVD player if you do not currently have one (the Zenith DVP615 is a nice portable unit that is easily alterable to Region 0 by Googling it). George Kennedy plays a ship captain about to turn over the reins to Richard Crenna and he’s not happy about it. He seems perturbed by this changing of the guard, commenting in no uncertain terms that his place as captain should be regarded as more than something of a novelty to tourists. Unfortunately for him and his guests, the unmanned and haunted titular death ship is on a crash course to meet with his. Using footage stolen from Andrew L. Stone’s THE LAST VOYAGE (1960), the two ships collide, and Kennedy’s ship begins to fill with water and quickly sinks (too bad that THE CONCORDE – AIRPORT ’79 didn’t sink with it!) Kennedy, Crenna, Nick Mancuso (who provided the bulk of the horrifying phone calls in Bob Clark’s BLACK CHRISTMAS), Sally Ann Howes (of DEAD OF NIGHT and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG) and a few other characters manage to be the only survivors in a lifeboat and make their way aboard the decrepit ship that put them in their predicament. Once on board, they find the ship bereft of passengers and crew, and slowly become victims of the supernatural games that ensue. As the plot unfolds, it becomes apparent that the ship in question was once used as a Nazi torture chamber, as evidence of victim’s teeth, clothing and medical devices start to turn up in explored rooms. The worst of these rooms houses a group of cobweb-infested corpses, presumably the long-dead Jews whom the Nazis tortured. One might wonder about the boundaries of bad taste pushed in a film that seems to make light of one of humanity’s most horrendous atrocities. The director employs some nifty scare tactics, such as a projector that runs itself; a shower that turns blood red; and a crazed George Kennedy, apparently possessed by the long-dead Germans, going on a rampage. One must wonder why distress signals are not sent, and why help is not forthcoming given the radio rules in place since the downing of the Titanic in 1912. But, this is a B-movie, and asking too many questions is not suggested. Until the original elements are found, this is about the closest we’re going to get to a perfect rendering of DEATH SHIP on DVD. The disc boasts a disclaimer citing the film lab that housed the original camera negative closed in the late 80’s and the aforementioned resources were “lost” as a result. I would be curious as to how this sort of thing happens as this is certainly not the first time it has occurred, nor will it be the last. I’m always reading of an original negative somehow getting “lost”. DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL, the TV-movie that Crenna made the year prior to DEATH SHIP, was released on DVD recently and the movie looks like it was just made yesterday – honestly, the transfer could not be more beautiful. Yet a theatrical film’s negative gets “lost”? Insert quizzical expression here… The print that was used in this transfer, while not perfect and containing a few sporadic imperfections, is believed to be the best surviving print and has been cleaned up as much as possible. It looks fine for something made in 1979.