As Paul W. S. Anderson's Event Horizon popularised said concept in space, I've decided to dig out my life jacket and explore the same principle at sea.
Miscellany
1899 - 2022 TV series
Passengers aboard steamship the Kerberos sail from Southampton, England to New York City to start new lives. En route, they encounter sister ship the Prometheus, which disappeared four months earlier.
Shortly after its release, Brazilian author Mary Cagnin accused creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese of plagiarising her 2016 comic book Black Silence. Similarities in both works include black pyramids, codes and suicides, but weren't considered suspicious.
From Below (2022 novel) - Darcy Coates
No light. No air. No escape.
Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, a graveyard awaits...
In 1928, the SS Arcadia vanished without trace during a routine transatlantic voyage.
Sixty years later, the wreck is discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course.
Cove's diving team are given permission to explore rusting hull to record evidence of what happened.
Some things are best left undiscovered.
Films
Rose of Nevada (2025)
Titular vessel suddenly reappears in the harbour of an unnamed fishing village, 30 years after it vanished.
The third in Mark Jenkin's Cornish trilogy is beautifully shot, superbly acted, and puts a unique spin on time travel.
Ghost Ship (2002)
This is cheating slightly, but whatever.
Unrelated to 1952 film of same name, story begins in 1962 aboard the ocean liner MS Antonia Graza, where an awesome massacre involving a metal cable plays out.
40 years later, a salvage crew (led by Captain Sean Murphy), are alerted to a vessel drifting in the Bering Strait, carrying boxes of gold.
An invisible force destroys their tug, the Arctic Warrior, meaning the only means of escape is to repair the abandoned ship.
But angry ghosts may have something to say about that.
Lost Voyage (2000)
In 1972, the SS Corona Queen vanishes into the Bermuda Triangle.
25 years later, vessel reappears, and not alone.
Film is primarily set in 1997 (the same year Event Horizon was released), suggesting all concerned were taking the piss.
We've all heard of Lance Henriksen, right? But here, end credits misspell his surname as Henricksen.
(Sigh).
Oh, must show you how they ripped off Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
Holy fire
Angelic spirit
Angel of death
Video games
Silent Hill: The Arcade (2007)
In 1918, sightseeing boat the Little Baroness, mysteriously disappears with 14 crew members and passengers on board.
75 years later, the ship returns to Silent Hill.
Eric and Tina find the town crawling with iconic monsters, and eventually meet Hanna, a girl resembling Tina's pen-pal Emilie, who's engulfed by the Phantom, a giant monstrous head.
For clarity, steamboat was first mentioned in Silent Hill 2 (2001), in a magazine at Toluca Prison.
Echo Night (1998/1999)
A.D. 1913.
The passenger liner Orpheus mysteriously disappeared.
A search team was assembled to find the missing ship, but failed to uncover any evidence.
24 years later, America.
Richard Osmond receives a letter from his father Henry, and a small key used at Henry's house to wind a grandfather clock reveals a secret passage, where a red book is hidden.
After pushing two busts together, Richard is transported into a painting of the Orpheus, with the Captain's ghost soon revealing entities aboard are merely shadows.
Our job is to pass through the passengers' memories and give them peace, while avoiding hostile ghosts who attack if a room is too dark.
Best find a light then.
Oh, all this has been caused by the corrupting powers of an ancient artefact called the Red Stone.
Lazerat (2024)
Four years ago, the MTS Endurance disappeared on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It has recently re-emerged (no year given).
After all attempts to communicate with the ship fail, rescue team member John investigates a distress signal coming from the once-lost cargo vessel.
Game boasts impressive brain teasers, but one in particular made me cringe.
 |
| A wooden statue must be rotated until the shadow matches the rider and his weapon. |
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)
 |
| Shadow puzzles are solved in the same way. |
WHAT THE FUCK?
Finally.
Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)
Weighing 800 tons and built in London, 1976, the good ship Obra Dinn is lost at sea in 1803.
Four years later in Falmouth, England, it's back, without crew or passengers.
An unnamed investigator for the East India Company is sent to reconstruct events, find clues and determine how each person died, using timepiece the Momento Mortem.
To help track progress, we're given a logbook containing a drawing of all passengers and crew, together with a plan of the ship.
Game is effectively one giant non-linear logic puzzle, and each of its ten chapters (split into several parts) can be tackled in any order.
I'd describe shit as a fascinating chore, but Apple Macintosh 128K-esque monochrome graphics are excellent, and sound design isn't too shabby either.
