Haunting of the Queen Mary (2023)

2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Snooze Ship

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

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

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 eight-year-old son Lukas (Lenny Rush) along, who promptly gets lost on a "ghost" tour.

In 1938, Jackie Ratch (Florrie Wilkinson) meets Fred Astaire and they perform a dance together. Soon after 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 a deserted Queen Mary, trying to find out what happened to Lukas, while the odd Captain Bittner (Dorian Lough) keeps watch.

Directed by Gary Shore (Dracula Untold), Haunting of the Queen Mary certainly takes advantage of its setting, a massive ship with ornate ballrooms, opulent décor — a dance sequence with Jackie and Fred Astaire (Wesley Alfvin) is a delight — not to mention long, creepy hallways, and the dank, sinister areas below decks. David Ratch is a formidable, intimidating villain, clad in a creepy half-mask that covers a grotesque, wounded face. The modern-day antagonist, Captain Bittner, is likewise wonderfully horrible, sneering niceties in a thick, East Coast accent and through crooked, brown teeth.

Unfortunately, what either of them are actually up to isn't quite clear. (The same goes for the story as a whole.)

Oftentimes the dialogue is obscured by music or sound FX, making the confusion even thicker. When it comes to the heroes, some trouble has been taken to establish that Lukas is Anne's child from a previous marriage, and that he was raised by Patrick. But what is 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 were shot by talented humans, but edited by AI, randomly sticking scenes together with little concept of clarity, emotion, or storytelling.