The Ghost Galleon

Did You Know?

• The film was first released on DVD on December 3, 2002 by BCI.
• Blue Underground released a limited-edition DVD on September 27, 2005.
• In Germany it was released as The Ghost Ship of the Swimming Corpses.

Plot

Two swimsuit models stage a publicity stunt by pretending to be stranded on a boat, then discover a mist-shrouded galleon and board it. One model's roommate, who has a lesbian crush on her friend, confronts the modeling agency owner and the wealthy businessman behind the stunt. The roommate is taken hostage after learning her friend is missing and is raped by a henchman. The businessman and agency head recruit an eccentric scholar to search for the missing models, bringing the roommate along. The phantom galleon carries coffins of eyeless mummy Knights Templar that hunt by sound. The two models are killed before a rescue party arrives. The party boards the galleon, finds their own ship gone, and the abducted girl is captured and dragged below to be dismembered and eaten. The survivors struggle to repel the spectral knights with limited knowledge.

Reception

TV Guide gave the film 1 out of 4 stars, criticizing the slow pacing of the first hour but praising the atmosphere and ending. Academic Peter Dendle, in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, noted that the essential ingredients of de Ossorio's recipe are present but not as well exploited as in the first two films. Glenn Kay, author of Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide, called it the worst of the series. Adam Tyner, reviewing the Blue Underground DVD, wrote that the film is a drastic improvement over The Return of the Evil Dead and holds a bizarre, inexplicable charm despite its flaws.