The movie Ghost Ship opens with a dance aboard an ocean liner, and everyone aboard the ship is attending. Suddenly, something cleanly slices through everyone, either lopping off their heads, or hitting them in midsection, so everyone dies, setting up the horror premise.
But what exactly happened? Was it supposed to be some sort of remotely conceivable freak accident? Or just some bizarre supernatural manifestation? How on earth would everybody in a crowd get sliced in two?
It was a steel cable, I believe, winched tight and then released. I always thought it was set up by Jack the Evil Guy. It wasn’t an accident, but I don’t know if it was just Jack’s work, or if the guys who planned to steal the gold were in on it.
Could that actually work? The tightening the cable and then letting it fly like that? Would it really slice people in half?
IANA Grim Reaper, but I’m guessing that a steel cable pulled taut enough and moving with enough force could cut through a person. I don’t know about a whole dance floor full of people, but let’s face it–that’s an awesome opening scene, plausible or not. 
Oh, hell yeah. I don’t know if it would scythe through a whole room full of people like that, I suppose it would depend on how much tension you put on the wire. But a snapped cable can cut one guy in half like he was made out of butter.
Speaking with my sailor hat on… (No, it doesn’t have an anchor. It looks like Gilligan’s hat and it keeps the sun off my neck), yeah. There’s plenty of records and stories of lines under tension, snapping and going right. Through. People. Think of it as the world’s largest garrotte under huge amounts of tension going snap… got a cheese slicer? Like that.
I once worked at a harbour where huge tankers would come in to be filled with iron ore. The tankers were tethered to the dock by thick steel cables. One story going around the harbour is that a cable once snapped and flicked back over the dock. No one was hurt, but an SUV on the dock had its roof clear taken off by the stray cable. :eek:
I had a friend who once worked cutting pulp trees. He said that he’d seen a person killed when a steel cable snapped while dragging a large felled pine. It whipped back and apparently cut the guy in two. He said it hit the guy in te middle of the chest and sliced through him as if he weren’t there. My friend, um, quit soon after.
Ugh. No it wasn’t. And I’m not talking about the gore either. When they showed the cable before the snappage, I quipped to Alias that the cable was going to snap and cut clean through people. Then they’d jump up like a looney toon when split in two.
Few minutes later…zip.
Bad movie. Predictable the whole way through.
I knew I was going to hate the movie based just on that scene. The first appearance of people being quickly sliced into pieces and then falling apart I saw was in Cube, where it was well done and pretty cool. Then Resident Evil did it too and it was a pretty cool scene as well.
And then I saw Ghost Ship, where it was completely predictable and shot so poorly that now we’re here asking “hey wtf just happened.” Not only was it a stale idea, it was a stale idea that was executed so very poorly compared to earlier versions of it.
It was supposed to decapitate them all, but MPAA concerns had it go through their midsections, which I actually find a little creepier. Even though the movie sucked, you’ve got to love that brief pause before the people just fell to pieces.
I don’t remember the scene from Cube, but honestly, the scene in Resident Evil was silly. Why didn’t those lasers (or whatever they were) go criss-cross from the very beginning? I was more impressed with the scene in Ghost Ship. The rest of the movie made think think wistfully of what other things I could have done with the 7 thousand won I’d paid to see it, but at least the opening scene was cool (IMHO, of course).
And if you look closely, you wonder why those guys didn’t just back up against the door or lay on the floor. Either would have saved them.
What do you mean “scene”? Didn’t the movie end right there?
Well, it should have.
[Grumble]Would’ve saved me a lot of damn time and I wouldn’t have paid for the tickets but I might have gone out with that guy again because I wouldn’t have been able to hear him say how awesome “Ghost Ship” was and how it scared him and…[/Grumble]
For “cut up and takes a minute to fall apart” scenes you can’t beat “Final Destination 2.” Section of barb-wire fence goes flying through the air and cuts a guy into about seven pieces. Sweet.
There are two kinds of horror movies: Bad and Predictable, or Scare-the-Pants-Off-You. In my experience, most movies fall into the first category. Which is why I love bad horror movies so much–they’re far more plentiful than the good ones.
Over-the-top, completely unrealistic gore always amuses me. I may actually have to rent Ghost Ship tonight.
Agreed. I also liked the one in 13 Ghosts. Dude got cut in half the long.
Of course, my all time favorite such scene was in Interview with the Vampire, where, if I recall correctly, somebody (Pitt, perhaps?) cuts some dude in half diagonally with a scythe. Schweet.
I love watching that guy slide down the mirror, and his tie fall off. Good one.
There’s also the part in Johnny Mnemonic with the laser-wire cutting that guy into three pieces. The only redeeming moment of that whole movie … and that’s not saying much.
I’m sorry but I really need to hijack here. I’ve always wondered, when someone says something like this - exactly how much room in your wallet would this take up? Do you use 1000 won bills or something? I hope this doesn’t make me sound really stupid but it has boggled my mind for a long long time.
As for Ghost Ship, Tte first time I rented it, I left the room thinking I was just missing the opening credits. Suddenly, I hear my fiancee (who hates horror in all forms) say something to the effect of “holy shit that was disgusting!”. I knew I’d missed something good so I made him watch it again 
I have the same opinion of horror movies as Draelin
You get to see Capser van Dien get sliced’n’diced in Sleepy Hollow and that dull roar in the background is thousands of Heinlein fans cheering.