10 Genius Moments In Otherwise Irredeemable Films

There wasn't a single horror movie cliché that Ghost Ship didn't crash through on its way to a predictable (if a bit senseless) climax. Unfortunately, it couldn't even be bothered to poach other filmmakers' ideas with panache. Instead, the movie rolls along like a paint-by-numbers book that someone filled in with a box of half-chewed crayons.

But maybe we can chalk that up to the fact that the directors blew their creative wad straight out of the gate with one of the most brilliant opening scenes in horror movie history.

As a group of "Europe's most elite" dance aboard an ocean liner, the director walks us through the eventual murder of dozens of people one step at a time, expertly ratcheting up the viewer's anxiety while gentle Italian music plays in the background. We see a hand pull a lever, which connects to a spool of wire that surrounds the ship's deck.

When the wire snaps and whips through the crowd, we don't see them get bisected. Instead, we get terrified reaction shots and the image of the wire slicing through a bouquet of flowers. The camera lingers on the bloody wire for a beat, and then we get a slow montage of bodies literally falling apart, one by one, on the dance floor.

It's Final Destination meets Saving Private Ryan.