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This movie is definitely not your stereotypical Korean/Japanese horror movie with the clichéd casting of the long, silken-haired and chalk-white faced female ghost.
A New Zealand production, The Ferryman is about 6 people's (or 3 couples') hellish boat-trip somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean that is shrouded by a thick blanket of fog. Their boat-trip is prompted by the receipt of a distress call from an apparently sick and dying old Greek man, who is found drifting alone on a stricken yacht.
Unfortunately for the tourists, the Greek is far from a harmless old man, who was holidaying on his yacht.
In fact, the Greek is an ancient man who has been cheating Death for centuries using his Shifting Blade that allows him to swap bodies with his unsuspecting victim, by plunging the blade into the victim.
As his spirit thrives in the body of its host, the victim's spirit wilts and dies in the old, battered body that was previously occupied by the Greek. The Greek's most common victims are the unsuspecting tourists and seamen crossing the waters surrounding the New Zealand islands.
In classic Hollywood-esque form, the savior arrives in the form of The Ferryman. The Ferryman, mediator between life and death, who - according to the legend - needs to be paid in order to guide newly deceased souls as they cross to the afterlife, is determined to capture the elusive and death-defying old cheat and end his life once and for all.
Expectedly, the Greek is hardly cooperative, boarding the ship of his rescuers and using each person as a new body to swap into.
In addition to being a cheat, the Greek is also a brutally cruel man with an enormous sexual appetite and a lecherous attraction towards Kathy, one of the female characters on board.
His first intended victim was Kathy's boyfriend and expectedly, he used his newly acquired body to satisfy his perverse needs. His other cruel acts include breaking a dog's spine, dousing his victims in diesel and setting them alight with flames, making mocking, derogatory jokes at his already dead victims before tipping them overboard, all the while laughing like a raving lunatic.
His barbarism is the main reason why the movie has the rating that it has - M18. This ancient Greek rapes, strangles, shoots, stabs, murders, burns, mutilates, and does every possible unspeakable act under the sun, all the while cheerfully chuckling at his impotent superiority.
The suspense-filled plot is set earlier on in the movie when the old Greek man's body is tossed into the ocean with the six people on board the boat looking on. Of course, unbeknown to them, the Greek is still very much alive, disguised in the body of one of their friends. Although the Greek provided telling signs that alluded to his true identity, the rest of the group managed to rein in their suspicions until the death toll within their group started to rise.
This is a rare example of an indie movie that would surpass viewers' expectations with its reasonably impressive and unpredictable plot, as well as its old-fashioned scary demonic horror. Bloody and gory though it is, with a few awkward instances of jolly holiday music in the background while a killing occurs in the foreground (possibly to complement the Greek's twisted mind), it still manages to be a refreshing change from the cheap thrill that is spewed these days in other horror or ghost movies.
The characters in the movie filled the requisite behavioral categories. There is the selfish, bimbotic Tate, the beautiful, caring Kathy, the spontaneous, big-hearted Suze, the rich, immaculate Chris, the reserved, thoughtful Zane, and simple, shaggy Big Dave.
However, the characters are not tagged with their stereotyped, two-dimensional labels. Tate is secretly insecure about her looks and incapability to conceive, Kathy could not get over a fatal mistake she once made that cost a young girl's life when she was a nurse. Chris is slightly attracted to Kathy, though he has intentions of proposing to Tate, and insecure Tate, noticing this, attempts to seduce Zane in revenge. The latter, being a faithful boyfriend, is curt in his resistance. Simple everyday complications are woven into the characters, so they come across as more human and genuine.
The stunning scenery of the surroundings effectively complements the suspense and horror-filled nature of the film. The ingenious epilogue (of which I certainly would not reveal here) serves as a harbinger for the rest of the direction in which the movie plot would head.
No, it's not Oscar standard, nor is it an impeccably fine piece of thought-provoking art, yet, bear in mind that this is a movie built within a budget, by a country not very developed in film-making, and The Ferryman would have surpassed all the expectations, given its relatively primitive beginnings. HOOKED
hooked's rating: 3.5/5
Images courtesy of:
www.theferryman-movie.com
www.black-majic.co.nz
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