queen mary movie review

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Haunting of the Queen Mary Reviews

I enjoyed how DIFFERENT “Haunting of the Queen Mary” is, despite its flaws; the best I can say is that it's not generic, and that they should give more opportunities to both Alice Eve as a protagonist, and Gary Shore as a director. Full review in Spanish.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 21, 2023

Although it is far from being a genre masterpiece, Haunting of the Queen Mary comfortably meets the challenge of offering a simple but well-made movie. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 14, 2023

…Gary Shore’s well-upholstered film is more ghost story than horror, with twin narrative time-lines offering up something a little deeper than the usual jump-scares associated with the genre…

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 11, 2023

There’s some real dramatic heft at play here – but the bloated running time drags it down, and lots of spooky business in the back half might have been better jettisoned overboard to gain speed.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 4, 2023

This supernatural voyage, although atmospheric and frequently frightful, runs aground narratively.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 21, 2023

Made me seasick as it goes back and forth from past to present.

Full Review | Original Score: c | Sep 18, 2023

While Haunting of the Queen Mary may struggle to find its sea legs, it culminates into an epic voyage of terror and twists.

Full Review | Sep 2, 2023

When it works it really works. When it doesn’t, it becomes a muddled mess.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 30, 2023

It’s never as accomplished as Ghost Ship, Triangle, or other primetime haunted vessel comparisons, but it’s still good enough to chill your bones cold like a rogue breeze off the ocean after midnight.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2023

Beautifully shot and with some striking, shocking images, this time-jumping horror tale nonetheless has a muddled narrative, and confusion and frustration eventually outweigh appreciation.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 25, 2023

THE HAUNTING OF THE QUEEN MARY is a serviceable horror if you don’t think too hard about all the storytelling details.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 24, 2023

The action is as murky as the ghostly lights on the ship and in the end you feel like the lady at the piano, banging her head on the keys, begging to be let out.

Full Review | Aug 19, 2023

"[Haunting of the Queen Mary is] a sight to behold, a masterfully created visual journey that leaves you yearning for more, but it’s a ghost story that doesn’t make any sense.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 19, 2023

Atmospheric and clever, there are some strong moments in this sometimes overworked narrative.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 18, 2023

‘Haunting of the Queen Mary’ Review – Gary Shore Chills the Bones with an Overstuffed Supernatural Voyage

The retired RMS Queen Mary docked in Long Beach, California is considered one of the most haunted locations in the world — which only somewhat shines through in Gary Shore’s Haunting of the Queen Mary . Any wishes to relive Dark Castle Entertainment levels of production design in Ghost Ship won’t be fulfilled, but that said, Haunting of the Queen Mary is more successful than its brushed-under-the-rug release undersells. Shore and co-writer Tom Vaughan channel the Queen Mary’s grave history for a supernatural infestation that spans decades, complete with atmospheric haunts akin to what’s accomplished in remakes of Thir13en Ghosts or House on Haunted Hill . Proper spookiness prevails, even though the over two-hour length gunks up the film’s gears with subplots that slow momentum.

Alice Eve stars as Anne Calder, who pitches Queen Mary’s Captain Bittner ( Dorian Lough ) on a virtual 3D tour experience to resurrect the ship’s reputation. Along for the ride are estranged partner Patrick ( Joel Fry ) and their ghost-hunting son Lukas ( Lenny Rush ), who stay out of Anne’s hair. Patrick and Lukas head to the Queen Mary’s haunted tour, where Lukas wanders away from a distracted Patrick buried in his mobile phone. As Anne tries to convince Bittner to approve a new book that explores the vessel’s darker features from a child’s perspective, Lukas unintentionally gets a head start on their investigations. The Queen Mary reveals its secrets to Lukas, which may trap his entire family aboard as unrested souls if they aren’t careful.

Cinematography reminds of Christopher Smith’s Triangle , as Anne and Patrick eventually must canvas the Queen Mary on their lonesome during lockdown renovations. The echoey grandness of the regal liner can be felt throughout empty hallways where tourists usually flood, which heightens the paranormal attacks of lost souls who terrify the parents. Isaac Bauman directs photography that embraces shadowy nooks and steamy engine rooms with blanketing darkness that’s quite “Horror 101,” but not as a detriment. Wonderfully frightful scares involving rotten arms reaching through smartphone screens or swimming pool waters with no visibility score eeriness like a genre fan’s comfort snack. It’s not ferociously scary, yet sinister enough to hook viewers through suspenseful anxieties bred by competently haunted shot selections.

Haunting of the Queen Mary is also a time-hopping slasher, as the story jumps from Anne and Patrick’s search party to a past voyage aboard an old timey Queen Mary. Imposters David ( Wil Coban ) and his fortune teller wife Gwen Ratch ( Nell Hudson ) scheme to score their daughter Jackie ( Florrie Wilkinson ) an audition with a mega-producer on board — the setup for an earlier example of the Queen Mary’s malevolence. Tap dance numbers with Fred Astaire (?) prelude graphic murders as atrocities endured by David’s family parallel what Anne and Patrick fight, and the Queen Mary’s timeless purgatory becomes a shared realm. Shore and Vaughan also call upon urban legends of “foundational sacrifices” and pure evils that ensured the Queen Mary didn’t meet a Titanic fate, mixing satanic lore with a supernatural cruise that hacks bodies to bits. It’s all conceptually interesting, but begins to bloat as scenes churn through choppy narrative structures.

There’s a whole lotta movie to Haunting of the Queen Mary , which desperately needs to ditch some weight. Shore feels like he’s tossing ideas at the wall from black-and-white flashbacks to moving watercolor interludes, seeing what will stick — which they all don’t. Maybe that’s because Eve and Fry aren’t especially convincing as not-quite-exes, whose performances are stiffer than the talents we’ve seen both actors exhibit. I’d watch an entire movie dedicated to the Ratch family’s killer costume party based on menacing attire and practical effects that crack skulls once an axe comes to play, which unfavorably contrasts against the quieter Calder material (although I love sleazebag Dorian Lough giving Richard Brake a run for his money). Shore and Vaughan overload their screenplay, which forces an experience that will inevitably cut away from something you’re enjoying to pick up elsewhere. It’s distracting, throws off pacing, and indecisive at the end of the day given how some concepts would be better left on the chopping room floor.

All said, Haunting of the Queen Mary is still a serviceable voyage into Shore’s nasty and blood-soaked interpretations of the transatlantic beauty’s ghostly mythology. The film’s problematic running time doesn’t present too much of a good thing — it’s an imbalance between what’s eye-catching and what’s not so inviting. Luckily, that ratio skews positively toward an intriguing hybrid of brutal slasher deaths and seafaring terrorization that harps on inescapable curses. It’s never as accomplished as Ghost Ship , Triangle , or other primetime haunted vessel comparisons, but it’s still good enough to chill your bones cold like a moonlit breeze off the ocean after midnight.

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‘Husk’ – Digging Up a Scarecrow Horror Hidden Gem

The road to turning Husk into a longer feature was not without its bumps. While  Brett Simmons ‘ 2005 short film was met with favorable responses at Sundance, there were several upsets before After Dark Films finally entered the picture. The one positive about the years of delays was Simmons then having time to rewrite the screenplay. Now more to the filmmaker’s liking, the revision delved into those intentionally unexplored parts of the short.

The featurette satisfies as a standalone experience, but it also serves as the proper base product for a more complex narrative. After all, there are enough unanswered questions about Simmons’ compact chiller to warrant an extended visit. The impulse to decry overexplaining in the genre would be in vain here, considering that the fuller Husk still maintains a modest sense of mystery once everything is said and done.

With 2011’s Husk barely breaking the eighty-minute mark, it skips the formal introductions and delivers the inciting incident during the cold open. This car crash out in Nowheresville, USA is the work of a few now-dead and feathery omens, and as a result of that collision, the human survivors are sentenced to a fate worse than death. Launching the story in broad daylight seems to be the opposite of scary, yet as the camera reveals the characters’ immediate surroundings, there is a rising sense of unease to the view. There is not another living soul in sight, and wherever you look, you only see more cornfield.

Pictured: Tammin Sursok meets “Smiley” the Scarecrow in Husk .

This is one of those cases where the characters start off empty, then gradually — and just slightly — get filled in as their situation worsens. Upon first glance though, there is detectable tension in the group, on account of one member’s girlfriend tagging along for what used to sound like a guys-only trip. The short film lacked a female presence, however, as it turns out, Tammin Sursok ’s addition here is misleading. By instead keeping Husk focused on its male characters, Simmons is already subverting one big expectation of horror, a genre that frequently protagonizes women.

Mind you, Sursok’s Natalie is not completely wiped from the story once her character meets a quick and surprising end out in the nearby cornfield; even in death, Natalie continues to drive a wedge between Chris ( C. J. Thomason ) and best friend Brian ( Wes Chatham ). It is worth noting that Husk winds up being more about an endless haunting than a bid for survival against living and wicked scarecrows. And that is partly because the victims, who are the next in line as opposed to the last, are replaceable components of a ghostly cycle.

With Sursok no longer viable as the hoped-for Final Girl, Husk appoints Devon Graye as the next best thing: a bespectacled observer. The receptive Scott is granted clairvoyant access to the haunted history of this place, namely the past sibling rivalry foreshadowed by a Biblical reference — Genesis 4:11 —  from earlier. It is through Scott that we the audience get a better understanding of what happened at this farm and why visitors can never leave.

Simmons’ sinister scarecrows have soaked up their environment, and like in real life, they need humans in order to exist. The expounding of their creation — the supernatural outcome of two brothers ( Joshua Skipworth , Nick Toussaint ) at odds with one another, hence the Cain and Abel mention — is not required, at least as far as your enjoyment goes. Yet, for the inquisitive types who prefer knowing the origin of evil, fictional or otherwise, Husk quenches their curiosity. The film dishes out details without also being too divulging.

Pictured: Devon Graye’s character watches as Wes Chatham and C. J. Thomason’s characters argue in Husk .

The killer-scarecrow subgenre is neither barren nor oversaturated, and there are a handful of highs to compensate for the many lows. As for Husk , it falls somewhere on the positive end of the spectrum, but much like 1988’s Scarecrows , a benchmark in this unfrequented alcove of horror, it is not just about murderous men of straw aimlessly slashing away and working toward a sizable body-count. As any legitimate scarecrow horror film should, Husk portrays the uncanny relationship between these effigial creatures and the lands they watch over.

The scarecrow has long been a universal source of discomfort, seeing as their natural state stirs thoughts of death. And despite their distinguishing inertness, they appear to know everything about the world around them. This concept of scarecrows possessing omnipresence is unnerving without even adding a malevolent element. Bringing them to life, as one would do in any offering of overt scarecrow horror, is the obvious next step, however, a cold and long glance from one of these dead things is as alarming as witnessing their new-found mobility, if not more so. Husk alternates between both types of scare techniques, although, ultimately, the film favors the dynamic method. There is no need to pretend its monsters are not alive and their would-be prey are unaware. So, vagueness is resolutely thrown out the window early on, but the film still manages to maintain a semblance of fright, due to its creator’s fascination with the scarecrows and their machinations. 

Husk , even with its shortage of thematic depth and a cast of static characters, yields a furious ghost story. One that reminds us of the scarecrow’s most important task: to terrify.

Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column   Young Blood  is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Pictured: C. J. Thomason is trapped in Husk .

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• Cast & crew

User reviews

Haunting of the Queen Mary

Convoluted and muddled.

• sanchitvarma14
• Aug 18, 2023

A tedious overlong slog that while nice looking fails to establish any atmosphere, stakes, investment, or scares

• IonicBreezeMachine
• Aug 17, 2023

Just a mess of incoherent shots

• david_w_gibson
• Sep 1, 2023

What was this about????

• jkrempelinsac
• Nov 8, 2023

Discombobulated

• sharyndebernardis
• Nov 10, 2023

Okay pitch, terrible execution

• jarodlblack
• Aug 23, 2023

It made no sense. Don't bother watching.

• Feb 6, 2024

Pretty, but a mess

Story is a mess but it's a gorgeous looking film.

• NateWatchesCoolMovies
• Aug 30, 2023

Promising and ending up boring with no answers or points1

• diane_berger

It's good if you don't miss the important plot points.

• Jan 12, 2024

Float your boat much (or menos)?

• Dec 23, 2023

Prepare to set sail aboard the RMS Boredom...

• paul_haakonsen
• Aug 25, 2023

A Convoluted Mess.

• Aug 24, 2023

Just read all the reviews

• sillylillyana
• Mar 11, 2024

I don't even understand what it's about

• Dec 8, 2023

The 10/10 reviews are clearly bots or related to the actors

• stevelivesey-37183
• Aug 28, 2023

WHAT THE $#!@%???

• rlburoker-66498
• Sep 2, 2023

A convoluted yet captivating voyage

• Howling_at_the_Moon_Reviews
• Nov 5, 2023

Fantastic looking, nonsensical plot

• Oct 28, 2023

All Aboard 2023's Most Haunting Film Voyage: Unpacking 'Haunting of the Queen Mary'.

• luisservices

Pleasantly suprised!

• blomman-61007
• Aug 27, 2023

A waste of over 2 hours

Sleep inducing.

• andydavis-19959
• Aug 26, 2023

Rich Potential, Poorly Executed

• deannabirkla
• Oct 20, 2023

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Parents' guide to, haunting of the queen mary.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 1 Review
• Kids Say 1 Review

Common Sense Media Review

Bloody, shocking horror tale has muddled storytelling.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Haunting of the Queen Mary is a horror movie set on the titular ocean liner, which is supposedly haunted in real life. The movie flashes between scenes set in 1938 and the present day. It has some beautiful touches -- and some powerful shocks -- but the storytelling is muddled…

Why Age 16+?

Heavy gore. A man brutally kills several people: axe to woman's head, heads smas

Sporadic use of "f--k," "s--t," "motherf----r," "goddamn," "Christ," "ass," "pri

Prominent Starbucks logo. A child asks for a "frappe" and is later seen drinking

Character gulps from a bottle of whiskey while hand is being stitched up. Anothe

Any Positive Content?

Main character Anne (English/Irish/Welsh actor Alice Eve) is a smart, sophistica

It's not actually clear whether Anne and Patrick are doing something noble in do

It's hard to say exactly what the movie is really about or what point it's tryin

Parents need to know that Haunting of the Queen Mary is a horror movie set on the titular ocean liner, which is supposedly haunted in real life. The movie flashes between scenes set in 1938 and the present day. It has some beautiful touches -- and some powerful shocks -- but the storytelling is muddled. Violence is quite gory/bloody and includes brutal slayings, heads being smashed, axe attacks, stabbing, throat-slicing, guns/shooting, bloody wounds and splatters, a woman being attacked and choked by a supernatural hand, a child in peril, a severe face wound, ghosts, a person burned by steam, someone getting buried alive, suggestions of death by suicide and more. Language includes sporadic uses of "f--k," "s--t," "motherf----r," "Christ," and more. A character guzzles whisky to ease the pain of a wound, another person drinks from a flask, and there's social drinking and cigarette smoking. A man urinates into a swimming pool.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Violence & Scariness

Heavy gore. A man brutally kills several people: axe to woman's head, heads smashed, bloody wounds, blood spatters, etc. Woman attacked by creepy hand coming out of her mobile phone; she's strangled and slid across the floor, her head smashed into a mirror. She stabs it with a pen but finds she has really stabbed her own hand. Bloody corpses. Woman with axe in her back. Child in peril, dragged into swimming pool and underwater. Character with face wound (mouth torn into gaping hole). Ghostly woman repeatedly bashes her head on piano keys; lots of blood. Character starts spitting up blood; he becomes covered in it. Child stabbed with scissors, blood spatter on wall. Head-slamming. Throat-slicing. Person's face burned by steam. People are shot and killed. Suggestion of a character dying by suicide with a rifle. Person holds pistol in own mouth. Character's hand crushed in windowsill; it's swollen, bruised. Blood streams from a sculpture's mouth. Animated blood spatters on the title during opening credits. Animated sequence depicts someone being buried alive. Ghosts. Violent threats. Arguing. Jump-scares. Dialogue about suicide. Dialogue about many sailors killed during collision at sea. There's a foundation sacrifice -- i.e. a dead body buried inside the ship that makes it haunted, and characters are possessed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sporadic use of "f--k," "s--t," "motherf----r," "goddamn," "Christ," "ass," "prick," "hell," "damn."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Prominent Starbucks logo. A child asks for a "frappe" and is later seen drinking one. Several prominent Oreo Cookie packages in vending machine.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Character gulps from a bottle of whiskey while hand is being stitched up. Another drinks from a flask. Social drinking, wine with dinner. Character takes prescription pills. Cigarette smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Diverse Representations

Main character Anne (English/Irish/Welsh actor Alice Eve) is a smart, sophisticated, self-reliant woman and mother. Her estranged husband, Patrick, is played by mixed-race British actor Joel Fry. Anne's 8-year-old son Lukas is played by 14-year-old Lenny Rush, who has a condition called Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita that affects his growth, resulting in dwarfism. He's shown to be wise and intrepid, but unfortunately he doesn't last very long. A White male character who has a facial wound (his mouth appears torn open) wears a mask to cover it; he's portrayed as grotesque and monstrous and turns into a killer. Most of the rest of the characters are White men, few very admirable. Most other women besides Anne are in secondary or subservient roles.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update .

Positive Role Models

It's not actually clear whether Anne and Patrick are doing something noble in documenting the Queen Mary or whether their actions are only self-serving.

Positive Messages

It's hard to say exactly what the movie is really about or what point it's trying to make, but it's certainly not a "positive message" film.

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

What was this about??????

What's the story.

In HAUNTING OF THE QUEEN MARY, it's 1938, and the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary is underway. A trio of performers, the Ratch family, who are sailing in third class, decide to pretend to be first class passengers and dine in the main hall. Meanwhile, in the present day, Anne Calder ( Alice Eve ) and her estranged husband, Patrick ( Joel Fry ), are working on a book and virtual project about the ship, which is now in dry dock. They bring their 8-year-old son, Lukas ( Lenny Rush ), along, and he promptly gets lost on a "ghost" tour. Back in 1938, Jackie Ratch (Florrie Wilkinson) meets Fred Astaire (Wesley Alfvin), and they perform a dance together. Then something strange happens to David Ratch (Wil Coban); he snaps and goes on a bloody murder spree. In the present, Anne and Patrick find themselves on board the deserted ship, trying to find out what happened to Lukas while the odd Captain Bittner (Dorian Lough) keeps watch.

Is It Any Good?

Beautifully shot and with some striking, shocking images, this time-jumping horror tale nonetheless has a muddled narrative, and confusion and frustration eventually outweigh appreciation. Directed by Gary Shore , Haunting of the Queen Mary certainly takes advantage of its setting, a massive ship with ornate ballrooms and opulent décor -- the dance sequence with Jackie and Fred Astaire is a delight -- not to mention long, creepy hallways and the dank, sinister areas below decks. And David Ratch is a formidable, intimidating villain, clad in a creepy half-mask that covers his wounded face. The modern-day antagonist, Captain Bittner, is also wonderfully horrible.

Unfortunately, what either of them is actually up to isn't quite clear. (The same goes for the story as a whole.) The dialogue is often obscured by music or sound effects, making the confusion even thicker. When it comes to the heroes, some trouble is taken to establish that Lukas is Anne's child from a previous marriage and that he was raised by Patrick. But what's actually going on with this couple -- or, indeed, what actually happened to Lukas -- is harder to suss out. It's as if Haunting of the Queen Mary was filmed by talented humans but edited by an AI that randomly stuck scenes together with little concept of clarity, emotion, or storytelling.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Haunting of the Queen Mary 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies ? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

Some say the RMS Queen Mary is haunted in real life. Do you believe that? Why, or why not?

What can we learn about life in other eras from the scenes set in 1938? What was different then? What's still similar?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 18, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : October 17, 2023
• Cast : Alice Eve , Joel Fry , Dorian Lough
• Director : Gary Shore
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Vertical Entertainment
• Genre : Horror
• Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Run time : 125 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 28, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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