The Triangle (2001) Reviews

• Creepy and exciting movie about a deserted ghost ship , including ordinary television actors

  ma-cortes2007-06-01

  The film concerns about a group of friends (Luke Perry , Dan Cortese, David Hewlett) undergoing their annual journey , they go fishing . Luke Perry also brings his fiancée , Polly Shannon . They're suffering money problems and hire an old yacht from Dorian Harewood and Olivia Dábo . The small boat crew enter into a thick flog and after encountering themselves the HMS Queen of Scots , a passenger luxury liner , disappeared in 1939 at a remote region of the Bermudas triangle ; nowadays , it is floating drift . The mysterious vessel is lost at sea for more than 50 years . But one time aboard the cavernous , eerie ship , the disconcerting group encounters that the decaying Oceaner liner is anything but deserted . When a series of bizarre occurrences happen and the crew becomes trapped inside the luxury cruise , they soon learn it is inhabited by the haunting previous crew . This frightening picture contains scary suspense , terror , horrifying tension and being quite entertaining . The deserted ship is portrayed as a complete riddle with screams and grisly aspect . The movie paid attention to building up a terrifying atmosphere instead of stabbing and violent killing spree . The action takes place into a rusty ship wreck , though it is externally made by computer generator , as usual . The plot isn't original , but being gradually revealed with nutty enchantment , a ¨The shinning (Stanley Kubrick)¨ style , and it attracts viewer's attention . The picture is starred by usual television actors , giving passable performances : Luke Perry (Beverly Hills) , Dan Cortese (Melrose Place) , David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis) , Polly Shannon (Femme Nikita) , Olivia DÁbo (Wonderful years) and Dorian Harewood (China beach) . If you're enthusiast of the mystery tales and B-films , so you'll encounter this picture to be agreeable . If your interest lies on a more cerebral terror movie , then I highly recommend you skip this one . This TV movie was rightly directed by Lewis Teague ; during the 8os , he was a successful director (Jewel of Nile , Cujo , Alligator), but , nowadays , he only makes television series (Nash Bridges , Dukes of Hazzard : the reunion , OP center). The high box-office ¨Ghost Ship¨(2002 , by Steve Beck with Gabriel Byrne and Julianna Margules) rips off images and scenes from this television movie . The film is recommended for all horror lovers which will find several nice eerie shots, though not very logical , but still their appetite for gruesome scenes will be satisfied.

• Well... I liked it.

  Weaselsarefree2013-09-02

  This is one of those movies that automatically brings me back to my childhood. I was merely twelve when it came out, and being the horror obsessed preteen that I was, it was a must see every time it came on the television. Recently, I had the opportunity to re-watch this film with a more mature perspective, and I have to say, for what it is, the Triangle still impressed me. First off let's get the truth of the matter out of the way: this is a low budget made for TV movie. With that said, we are dealing with low budget effects, and less experienced actors and writers. This film, however, manages to provide an interesting story with interesting characters, and a fairly suspenseful atmosphere. The story itself revolves around four friends, and two tour guides who get trapped in a time warp in the Bermuda Triangle. While stranded they come across a ship that was lost over seventy years ago, when left with no choice to board, the triangle knocks them off one by one. While the plot sounds pretty straight forward initially, there is some complexity to it. We find out early on that one of the main characters if broke and desperate for money despite spending the remainder of his money frivolously in order to appear well to do. While on the ship, the supernatural forces at work in the triangle take advantage of this fact and make him do its evil bidding. Cheesy as it may be at times, it's difficult to argue that this film is rushed. We are allowed to learn a fairly decent amount about the personalities of each character in the story -- this allows us to care about the characters and build suspense based of empathy. This is especially true of one of the characters who is haunted by the ghost of his deceased younger brother while on the ship. With all these tongue and cheek made for TV film coming out today (Sharknado and the like) I don't understand why this film isn't getting a little bit more recognition. Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. Does it still manage to relieved a fun and suspenseful story? You bet! Recommended. It hasn't been shown on television in years, but if you can track down a copy, give it a shot.

• Surprisingly good TV movie (review might contain spoiler-like elements)

  apecat2005-02-23

  Let's face it, this movie *is* a cheap shining-rip off, but somehow it felt pleased watching it. As someone stated earlier on this board, this is a family-friendly movie, no bad language etc, which makes it even more suitable for TV use. This typical American TV movie format is boring and it certainly makes it challenging for the filmmakers to do something even remotely original. I find it hard to put into words, but there was something quite fresh and genuine in this, I dunno if this is a training work by someone in film school, but I must say that the basics of story telling were all right. The film doesn't pretend to be more than it is, the lousy cgi and a few mistakes (i think I saw the shadow of a camera in a stairway sequence) feels OK in this type of movies where filmmakers usually misuse their talents a lot more with tons of low budget action sequences. The soundscapes were sometimes a bit overdone, the sick whispering didn't leave the "walking in alone in the dark"-sequences alone for a second, with a bit more patience, silence mixed with normal sounds that one could expect to hear on a shipwreck could have been even original. I watched the movie from a Scandinavian r2 DVD edition that featured stereo ac3/dolby digital sound. Unfortunately I had to use headphones, I can't say anything about the usage of Dolby Surround. The actors were used well, not the best ones around, but by limiting their communication to TV-series type dialog you had the characters in their right elements and on the very edge of what you can expect from them.

• Overly predictable, cheap, cliché...

  mad_tinus2007-11-14

  This movie is so bad it almost becomes funny again.. I can't believe how many moderately positive comments this movie is receiving here. If you call yourself a movie fan, how can you keep a straight face when watching this, let alone be amused. Every cliché of 'scary, mysterious movies' is used here. Pretty much everything has already been said in other comments, the Shining rip-off, the lousy acting, the predictability, the (pathetic excuses for) special effects.. I won't repeat everything again. This movie is laughably bad, in every possible way, please take this warning and don't waste your time!

• Better than some TV movies

  fico-42001-08-12

  Wow, Dan Cortese can act! Who knew? I usually change the channel when I see a made-for-TV movie, but this one really caught my eye. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I've always found the whole Bermuda Triangle mystery very interesting. I also found Luke Perry's character (the guy who's always in it for the bounty) pretty good. This movie reminded me of the "Poseidon Adventure". Old ships and Sea ghosts always freak me out.