Horror Movie Review: Titanic Rises (2022)

Directed by Nick Lyon, written by Jacob Cooney and Jason White, and starring Keesha Sharp, Jamie Bamber, AnnaLynne McCord, Derek Yates, and Lydia Hearst. Titanic Rises also goes under the name of Titanic 666, two titles that should send a shiver down most horror fan’s spine.

So, it’s something of surprise to see that Titanic Rises is not a terrible movie by any stretch. It’s got a solid story, decent acting, some passable effects, and ghostly shenanigans. All things you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a movie previously called Titanic 666.

Opening with the sinking of the original Titanic (borrowing heavily from James Cameron’s 1997 epic), Titanic Rises immediately makes it clear that the tone of this film is going to be quite serious.

Cut to now, and Titanic III is about to set sail. Its maiden voyage will take it along the same route the original ship took, stopping briefly at the site of the sinking. What happened to Titanic II? Your guess is as good as mine. It’s never referenced in this movie and a cursory search engine result brings up a 2010 film called Titanic II, written and directed by Shane Van Dyke. The connection seems to be the production company, The Asylum.

Not that it actually matters though. Titanic III is destined to suffer the same fate as the original Titanic… sort of.

The hilariously small crew of this luxury liner, led by Captain Rhoades, sets sail with a ship full of the rich and famous. Most notable is Professor Cochran, who has a collection of original items taken from the Titanic shipwreck and is hoping to make some money selling them to the people aboard the ship. It’s a bit ghoulish, so much so, that a woman who turns out to be a descendant of the original captain of the Titanic (Edward Smith) has snuck aboard.

Why? So, she can perform some witchcraft that, once they arrive at the site of the original sinking, will call upon the spirits to claim what is theirs. The possibility of sinking might actually be preferable to what has now been unleashed on Titanic III.

One of the more surprising things about Titanic Rises is how seriously it takes its content. At times, to its benefit, but at others, to its detriment. With the former, it’s understandable considering the tragic event that inspired this movie. The latter means they needed to get details right and this film really doesn’t.

The serious tone means it’s not a fun movie. Something it could make up for by being scary, but it really isn’t. The ghosts look good, but they are the jump scare kind and it gets old extremely quickly.

A solid cast of actors make it much more watchable though, even if some of the characters are extremely hateable. That it was filmed within the Queen Mary, so looks authentically ‘shippy’, and ends in a darkly satisfying (if not a bit confusing) way, is reason enough to check this one out.