The Ghost Ship

The Ghost Ship, directed by Mark Robson as part of producer Val Lewton's series of low budget horror films for RKO Radio Pictures, is a thriller about a young officer who joins a merchant ship's crew and grows suspicious of the captain's strange, dangerous behavior. The film opened on December 24, 1943, but was pulled from circulation after a 1944 plagiarism lawsuit; RKO lost the case, paid damages, and lost the right to screen the film. As a result, it went unseen for nearly fifty years; only after its copyright lapsed unrenewed in the 1990s did it fall into the public domain and become accessible again, eventually appearing on a 2005 DVD collection. The film holds an 82 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Who it's for: anyone curious about a 1940s horror film that went unseen for nearly fifty years due to a plagiarism lawsuit, only resurfacing once its copyright lapsed. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a modern, fast paced horror film, since this reflects the era's low budget, atmosphere driven approach to horror.