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Entertainment Media Analysis Report
A service to our youth through you,
their parents and grandparents, in His name by His Word


MAR22114
Ghost Ship (2002), R
Analysis Date: October 26, 2002
CAP Score: 13
CAP Influence Density: 3.13

MinMax: -46

Ghost Ship (2002) CAP Mini-thermometers




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NOTE: If you do not want the plot, ending, or "secrets" of a movie spoiled for you, skip the Summary/Commentary. In any case, be sure to visit the Findings/Scoring section -- it is completely objective to His Word and is the heart of the CAP Entertainment Media Analysis Model applied to this movie.






SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:


If Scriptural references appear, the full text appears at the end of the Summary / Commentary likely using a mix of KJV and NIV.


GHOST SHIP (R) -- A dance floor full of bouncing passengers are sliced apart

Production: Dark Castle Entertainment, NPV Entertainment, Village Roadshow Productions
Distribution: Warner Bros.
Director(s): Steve Beck
Producer(s): Gilbert Adler, Bruce Berman, Stephen Jones, Susan Levin, Richard Mirisch, Steve Richards, Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis
Written by/Screenplay: Story: Mark Hanlon. Screenplay: Mark Hanlon, John Pogue
Cinematography/Camera: Gale Tattersall
Music: John Frizzell
Film Editing: Roger Barton
Casting: Lora Kennedy
Production Design: Graham 'Grace' Walker
Art Direction: Richard Hobbs


It just goes to show you that you cannot 100% trust the MoviePhone listings. MoviePhone listed Ghost Ship as a PG-13 when I first checked it. Crunching the numbers for CAP analysis of the movie revealed a final score of 13 which is a score earned by the "R-est" movies made and clearly below the threshold for the CAP scoring range for R (54 and below out of 100). I was ready to launch a nastrygram to the MPAA. But by checking other sources I found that Ghost Ship is rated R <-sigh-> much to my relief ... I think.

On a 1962 cruise to America the luxury liner Antonia Graza disappeared without a trace with a full passenger and crew compliment and a full cargo. Forty years later the Antonia Graza is discovered in the Bearing Straits. How the Italian ship traveled without a captain in those 40 years from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic to the North Pacific was not explained.

The ship was discovered by a RCAF weather reconnaissance pilot, Ferriman (Desmond Harrington) as he was flying a tour of duty. With faint pictures, Ferriman approached a salvage crew led by Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) with this little gem for a finder's fee of 20% of the salvage take. A reasonable deal. But Ferriman is not the weather spotter looking for a quick buck he seems. Note the name and apply it to your knowledge of myth.

The rest of the crew buy into the idea of salvaging the Antonia Graza because of their percentage of the potential millions of dollars in salvage. Second in command is co-owner of the salvage tug Arctic Warrior, Epps (Julianna Marguilies). The rest of the crew is First Mate, Greer (Isiah Washington); Engineer, Santos (Alex Dimitriades); Dodge (Ron Eldard); Munder (Karl Urban). Part of Ferriman's deal with Murphy was to go along on the salvage trip.

Aboard the Arctic Warrior everyone is acting as though they are rich already and partying it up when the man at the helm spied an image on the radar and called for the captain to take a look. By the time Murphy got there, the image was gone. After playing hide-n-seek with the image, the Antonia Graza appeared just feet off the bow of the Arctic Warrior. With full astern, a disaster collision with the Antonia Graza was narrowly avoided, just bumping into the side of the ocean liner. Being in the middle of the night, plans are made to board the Antonia Graza in the morning. No one had the slightest idea of what the crew were getting themselves into ... except Ferriman. Why I will not explain in case you decide the level of assault of moral and ethical decency we reveal is acceptable to you and/or your family.

The crew finds the Antonia Graza uninhabited but yet not really uninhabited. Things begin to happen that cannot be explained. Doors closing and opening by themselves. A lit cigarette. A fresh glass of whiskey next to an open bottle. Then comes the proof in the pudding. Epps thinks she sees a little girl. Earlier, in a few moments of mood and plot setting, the movie displays what happened to the passengers and crew, what killed them all. At least, part of what killed them all. A dance floor full of bouncing passengers are sliced apart with a thin steel cable. All but a little girl, Katie (Emily Browning) who was dancing with the Captain were sliced. She was too short for the cable to cut her in half as it did for all the others. Then we are treated to upper body halves sliding off the lower host, an upper head sliding off the lower part and other examples of innards. One woman even tries to grab her lower half at her side to put it the two halves back together. Katie is the little girl Epps thought she saw. Forty years later.

Also as one of the humans chosen to see things is Greer. He is the one to find the lit cigarette ... with lipstick on it. While inspecting the dance hall, it comes to life with everyone applauding Greer, even Francesca (Francesca Rettondini), the singer on the billboard poster about whom Greer had a sexually disrespectful comment earlier. It appears that Francesca's only purpose was to seduce Greer with her sensuality and her anatomy. Everyone who watches this show will know what Rettondini looks like without any clothes [Gal. 5:19, Rev. 22:15].

There is much more to the story, but I will not get into it for the sake of length of this Summary/Commentary and will move into a briefing of the ignominious content. Leading the Wanton Violence/Crime are the gore in the slicing of a couple dozen dancers, death by crunching between huge gears,death by incineration and a body being blown to pieces. Though very violent, Murder/Suicide leads the sheer numbers. Murder by explosion. Murder by fall. Murder by knife. Murder by hoist hook. Murder by automatic gunfire. Murder by handgun. Murder by poison. And murder by shotgun. [3John 11, Ps. 11:5, Ps. 141:4, Rev. 22:15] Mathematically equal in presence to the violence and murder is foul and vulgar language. Forty eight uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary plus 19 uses of the most foul of the 3/4 letter word vocabulary [Col. 3:8, Prov. 8:13] AND 17 uses of God's name in vain, four with the four letter expletive and 13 without [Deut. 5:11]. There's more. But I will leave them to the listing in the Findings/Scoring section.


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SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S)
If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ]. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page.

  • Gal. 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
  • Rev. 22:15 Outside [of Heaven] are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
  • 3John 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
  • Ps. 11:5 The LORD trieth [tests] the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. [This verse is speaking to God hating the behaviors of the wicked and lovers of violence. God hates no one.]
  • Ps. 141:4 Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.
  • Col. 3:8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
  • Prov. 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
  • Deut. 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain [shav' {shawv}: emptiness, nothingness, vanity]: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. [With or without the four letter expletive, the use of God's name in any way other than respect, reverence or thoughtful discussion is in vain. That includes the ever popular "Oh, my ..."]

    *******Food for Daily Thought*******
  • Ps. 12:8 The wicked freely strut about [e.g., create progressively vile/offensive entertainment with impunity and no consequences to younger and younger audiences every year] when what is vile is honored among men [when enough people continue to defend it, embrace it, pay for it, enjoy it, want it]. [I call attention to Ps. 12:8 to warn of the creeping desensitizing power of "entertainment."]
  • 1 Cor. 15:33 (KJV) Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. (NIV) Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.
  • Jude 4 For certain men* whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change [warp, distort, falsely represent] the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. [*men: anthropos {anth'-ro-pos}, generic, a human being, whether male or female]
  • Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto [or for] one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto [or for] me.
  • Luke 17:2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. [cause by teaching or example]
  • Ps. 119:133 Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.
  • John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
  • 1 Thess. 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.


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    As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie.
  • FINDINGS / SCORING:


    Ghost Ship (2002) CAP Thermometers



    Wanton Violence/Crime (W):
  • much gore by bodies being sliced in half and sliding apart
  • dead body
  • more gore, repeatedly
  • more dead bodies
  • human incineration
  • decayed bodies
  • assaults
  • attempted murder by bludgeoning
  • more dead body with gore
  • death by crunching between huge gears
  • body blown to pieces
  • replays of slicing gore, repeatedly

    Impudence/Hate (I)(1):
  • 48 uses of the 3/4 letter word vocabulary
  • 19 uses of the most foul of the foul words

    Sex/Homosexuality (S):
  • request for sex
  • sex talk, innuendo, comments, references
  • upper female nudity, repeatedly
  • stripping for sex

    Drugs/Alcohol (D):
  • multiple drinking
  • smoking, repeatedly
  • drinking, repeatedly

    Offense to God (O)(2):
  • 4 uses of God's name in vain with the four letter expletive and 13 without
  • many unholy manifestations, apparitions
  • multiple interactions with a dead girl
  • people appearing out of nowhere
  • possession of the living by the dead
  • unholy presence
  • satanic background u=music
  • shape shifting
  • captured spirits escaping
  • portrayal of agent of Satan ("management") capturing souls
  • resurrections, five

    Murder/Suicide (M)(3):
  • murder by explosion
  • murder by fall
  • murder by knife
  • murder by hoist hook to face
  • murder by automatic gunfire
  • murder by handgun
  • murder by poison
  • murder by shotgun



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    NOTE: The CAP Analysis Model makes no scoring allowances for trumped-up "messages" to excuse or for manufacturing of justification for aberrant behavior or imagery, or for camouflaging such ignominy with "redeeming" programming. Disguising sinful behavior in a theme plot does not excuse the sinful behavior of either the one who is drawing pleasure or example from the sinful display or the practitioners demonstrating the sinful behavior. This is NOT a movie review service. It is a movie analysis service to parents and grandparents to tell them the truth about movies using the Truth.


    "There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our nearly seven years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings.





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    (1) As noted in CAP Special Report-001, "Investigation Area and Scoring Trend," of the six CAP Investigation Areas, Impudence/Hate was the strongest presence in all four movie classifications. It has a strong revelation about the entertainment media.

    (2) The use of the three/four letter word vocabulary without God's name in vain is incorporated into the Impudence/Hate Investigation Area. The use of God's name with or without the four letter expletive is incorporated into the Offense to God Investigation Area. There is no duplication.

    (3) Only portrayal of successful murder or suicide are incorporated into Murder/Suicide. Portrayal of attempts to commit murder or suicide and deaths by police action or war are incorporated into Wanton Violence/Crime.





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