Ghost Rig (2003)

Wonderful character development!

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A group of environmental whiners occupy an abandoned rig in hopes of preventing it from being toppled over to make an artificial reef which would be bad for...the fish? Okay I'm still working on that one. Due to weather concerns, their helicopter leaves them stranded there on a rig with no lights and a missing crew (it would just be a skeleton crew anyway).When Eric (Rory McCann) dies from a steroid heart attack, or maybe murder, some in the group want to abandon project "Occupy Abandoned Rig." Vincent (Jaason Simmons) the unlikeable leader of the group doesn't want to let a death or two get in the way of this world saving occupation.Then the ghosts show up...well no. There are no ghosts on ghost rig. But if there were, I am sure they would be blue and scary like the DVD cover. The most shocking aspect of this film was the fact they made a sequel.Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

My name is Legion—and we are many.An environmental group called Action Planet board an oil rig(Janus)by means to protest drilling, expecting to find four or five maintenance workers who were to leave on a helicopter but are nowhere to be found. What they will discover is something far more sinister. One among the group is actually a "spy", not a "tree hugger", in fact he's caught communicating across a radio (although his transmission may have not met any outside group he hoped to contact) and is bound/tied. With a non-functioning generator not working(an emergency generator lights a few rooms but not the entire rig), the result being a mostly darkened rig creating an ominous mood among those on board who, once someone is found murdered, begin to desire to exit stage left. Crawford, stuck in a wheel chair, was once a rig worker who was hurt in an accident, now part of Action Planet, with an understanding for the inner workings of the Janus. Vincent, the leader, has a gun and is very adamant about broadcasting their message across the airwaves for those who drill to hear. Let's just say that things don't exactly go according to plan. Mole is the paranoid member of Action Planet, quite a scaredy-cat, wants off the rig and is very vocal about it, his voice quivering when he talks. Tom is the spy whose purpose is uncertain. Iona, Annie, and Sophie are the girls on board (Sophie, the medic). Kay (or so it appears to be him on the monitor) goes berserk, attacking someone and the radio with a hammer seemingly for no reason. Morale deteriorates, tensions rise, and bickering ensues. Vincent had been holding a secret from the others—a quarantine had taken place on the rig, but is this just a rumor or legitimate? There's some sort of markings on the floor of one of the rooms, in chalk and of the occult. Perhaps this could explain the odd occurrences which have begun to emerge. Will picks up an ax and starts destroying a door to get at Annie. Why members of the team are acting this way is puzzling, to say the least. What's more, the corpses of those killed begin to heal of their wounds! I think GHOST RIG works off the bizarre events which transpire, unpredictable and strange(characters behaving oddly, bodies of those killed healing, abrupt violence erupting out of the blue, etc), and the setting is interesting(an oil rig in the middle of the ocean, seemingly abandoned, yet housing an evil presence which will slowly decrease the numbers in the cast). Essentially, GHOST RIG is an old-fashioned chiller, something menacing awaits characters who are trapped on board the rig, and the location is loaded with dark corridors, empty rooms, rusty pipes, steel and steam. A monstrous voice emerges from those "possessed" that might help the crew understand what the hell is going on, and a camcorder with a tape that captures a "ceremony" near a rotted corpse could also lend a hand. A book and the chalked circle could be the answer to everything. Basically, GHOST RIG uses the body snatcher plot, the evil moves from one body to the next as each victim is murdered. If you like this oft-used plot device, then maybe GHOST RIG is your cuppa java. The real problem I have with the plot as it unfolds is the evil behind the horror, if it is "Legion", you'd think those possessed would be a bit more ferocious and vicious. Instead, the evil is more like Satan, cunning and deceitful. The end result—where one of the crew unveils their true motives behind boarding the rig—may be a bit disappointing or intriguing depending on how you like the occult angle. There's a blood test right out of THE THING to accompany the borrowed Body Snatcher plot, not to mention, THE DEVIL'S BRIDE is even lifted from(regarding the "stay within the circle" idea).

After reading the other comments on this movie, I think people were a little hard on it. I actually enjoyed it. Sure it was not fantastic and it was low-budget but I thought the idea was good. I disagree with whoever said that it was identical to Ghost Ship. That is one of my favorite horror movies of all time, and I see few correlations (except the title of course).I don't profess to be any horror movie expert, but I hadn't seen anything like this before. Sure the acting was less than good, and I agree that the cinematography was atrocious, but the movie was at least worth a few good chills, if nothing else.So in all, give these guys a break, the movie wasn't that bad.

A small group of environmental activists land on and take over an oil rig that seems to have been left vacant. No crew members can be found, but odd things start to happen nonetheless. Sound familiar? It should, as the same formula has been used in horror movies before, over and over. Isolation, internal conflicts between crew members...'Alien' turned it into a franchise, and 'Ghost Ship' wasn't half bad either. This low-budget Brit flick however is no 'Alien'.You can tell it's director Julian Kean's first time on the wheel of a project of this magnitude. The camera work is simple, minimal. Short clips of the crew keeping a video journal try to establish a documentary-like feel, adding a sense of realism...or trying to, anyway. The acting is for the most part actually surprisingly good. However, where the movie is really lacking, is the writing. There's no credible dialogue, and while the movie takes forever to really get going, there isn't enough character development or emphasis on any one event to actually provide the audience with an interest in what is happening. Nothing happens at first, then a lot happens at once, and you are left wondering what the point was.There's serious effort here, especially from the cast, but the material they are working with just doesn't amount to much.