Alarmed (2014) User Reviews

Alarmed: Wait, what?!

[Platypuschow · 2/10 · 7 July 2017]

Alarmed otherwise known as Ghost Boat is one of existential messy horror films that you walk away from feeling like nothing really happened. Kind of like Dallas, watching an entire season then getting told huzzah that season was all a dream! Not a slap in the face to the viewer at all, no spoilers here though the issue isn't a "Dream" I simply use that comparison because of the way you are left feeling at the end.

The movie is criminally boring and plays out like a scyfy original but without the awful yet charming CGI.

After watching the film I went to my shed, pulled out paint tins and poured some onto the floor then sat comfortably and watched the paint dry. I can confirm that this was more exciting than Alarmed/Ghost Boat.

The fact that ants were drawn to the paint and held a bloody battle royale for the hand of the sweet maiden cockroach did make the comparison unfair but all the same I'd far rather watch Sir Anthony the ant run his rival Adam the ant through with a leaf stalk than 5 minutes more of that moronic drivel.

I mean what did I just watch.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 3/10 · 21 February 2018]

Now I'm all for nautical ghost stories, and when I saw the images for Ghost Boat my mind pictured Ghost Ship, a film not to everybody's taste I grant, but one I really like. Sadly they parallel in name only, what we get is a rather dull paranormal tale of a girl locked on a boat, forced to mutilate herself by an evil spirit that locks doors on boats. I think they tried to get a similar vibe to the one in Triangle (A classic in my opinion) but failed miserably, if I had to think of a word to sum it up, it would be forgettable, nothing particularly offensive, the plot and acting weren't great, but they weren't bad, it's just a film that did absolutely nothing for me. It would have had 4 stars, but loses one for the lazy and unforgivable ending. 'Oh it was only a ........'

Poor effort.

Alarmed aka ghost boat

[msmchug · 3/10 · 24 September 2015]

This film is very strange from the offset. The story is about Samantha, once accused of killing her own family. Five years later and while on the family yacht she gets trapped in some sick boat hell time loop. Every night the boat alarm system comes to life and commands her to attack, cut and stab at her own face and limbs (which she does). I couldn't really follow the story or work out who or why this was happening but it becomes clear at the end. The devil has kept her trapped on the hell boat, but as the mystery unravels you and the devil learn that it was Samantha's sister who killed the whole family. So the whole thing ends up being one big bad nightmare for Samantha and she awakes normal, before all of this happened.. A pardon from the devil! The movie ends with the devil going after the real killer (the sister) and starts to torture starts all over again - but for her there won't be a pardon, I found this movie to be a bit silly and disappointing. There well bits that reminded me of devil, or triangle but they were far superior to this. The effects were pretty bad. Ghosts wearing nighties etc. was an okay story but overall a let down and I would not recommend. I was glad when it finished.

Lame and nearly unwatchable

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 1/10 · 23 June 2017]

Tormented by a past tragedy, a woman joins a group of friends on her family's boat only to get stranded in open water and finds herself being forced into disfiguring herself day after day until she uncovers the truth about the trauma to get the situation to stop repeating.

This didn't offer up much for it. One of the main problems here is the fact that there's just not a whole lot of interest in what goes on with her traumatized condition. Despite it being set-up from the start as her having a kind of debilitating condition, nothing about what happens really makes it obvious that she really is and it just comes off as incredibly route and clichéd from the start. The fact that she's become quite flighty and jumpy doesn't really endear itself all that much into inducing fear, and the action of what's happening doesn't really mean anything because it's all so utterly hard to care about the events within. It builds to a mystery that's impossible to care about, takes forever to do so and tries to force these conclusions onto her that it just seems so convoluted and haphazardly done that there's nothing about it that draws any interest to what's going on. The supposed scares are weak and unconvincing and lead to such a wild conclusion that there's overall little appealing there, and with the repetitious nature of it all coming back around again and again it's impossible to generate tension from there, and frankly the only thing that really works here is the suggested brutality of the kills that end her day as what this implies her doing to herself get somewhat creepy at times. Overall, though, there's little about this one worth remembering.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

What was this all about???

[mpapette · 2/10 · 16 August 2021]

There's nothing about the story of this movie that makes sense, I mean, absolutely nothing.

The only thing that saves it are the two lead actors Jennifer Stuckert and Brian Rife that, considering the material they're given, are pretty good.

Oh, and the scary level is sub zero.

Just a very odd movie.

Ghost Boat? Should have watched "Knightboat: The Crime Solving Boat."

[a_chinn · 1/10 · 2 July 2017]

I recorded this after watching the almost unwatchable "Ghost Ship" and managed to find an even worse of paranormal nautical themed horror film. A mentally unstable woman in on her family yacht and each night wakes up not remembering what horrible events occurred the night before, which she may or may not be responsible for. Lost memory is a pretty weak and overdone story device and the film's feint nods to other stories like "Repulsion" or "And Then There Were None" only serve to remind you how bad this film is. Skip this one and if you insist on watching the supernatural at sea, just watch the first 10 minutes of "Ghost Ship."

Honestly not dreadful

[kgribz · 5/10 · 16 February 2020]

Fairly well acted B grade movie. Has a few interesting twists but not overly amazing.

Triangle rip-off

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 26 August 2017]

I caught this low budget horror/thriller on Amazon Prime under the title GHOST BOAT. The story is about a girl trapped on a boat who finds herself in some kind of time loop in which she's forced to suffer indignity after indignity, time and again. The obvious inspiration is the Melissa George film TRIANGLE, of which this is a huge rip-off, and it's not interesting at all. The low budget means that much of the incident is purely psychological and although the cinematography is professional, the narrative is fragmented and annoyingly disjointed.

TAKE OUT WRENCHED ANKLE

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 11 November 2018]

The title is a bit misleading. There isn't really a haunted ship like one would expect from a film like "Ghost Ship" but a haunted person who sees things on a ship. Samantha (Jennifer Stuckert) has been recently acquitted of murdering her family. She goes on a boat trip with her friends and boyfriend Mark (Brian Rife) a "good looking loser." There are not a lot of characters. He see her foster sister (Melissa Quine) and another doctor colleague (Kari Wishingrad) who I nominate as the film's worst actor.

Now the whole gist of the story centers around Sam's recovered memory. She has memory flashbacks while trapped on a boat for what seemed like 3 days in the harbor playing "Operation" on herself.

The film was on the boring side as we wait for a clue or something significant to happen. And when it does, it is a let down. The film doesn't explain itself, but shows you enough that you can sort of figure things out for yourself. High boredom factor.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. Minor blood. Does not show gore.

Save yourself some time and do not watch this movie

[esa-10312 · 1/10 · 13 September 2019]

This movie is Stupid

The director of this movie she'd be taking out on a boat and keelhauled For making such a stupid movieSave yourself some time and never watched this movie

Worth a watch if you seen all the more promising titles

[hopla68 · 6/10 · 16 August 2015]

Since it was hard to find anything decent info wise about this film i thought what the hell so here it goes;

The good:

• after 30 minutes or so a decent story develops with some good scenes - minimalistic setup works most of the time - female lead acts okay - if you like to see all the possible variations on groundhog day its one for your list.

The bad:

• cheap flick with amateur hour acting. - takes long to get the good stuff going - dumb decisions from both of the leads, for example if you have the choice to cut off your own finger or really go ballistic on the Windows of your room where you are locked in nobody is going to just give up after some feeble attempts.unless of course if you make a movie on the cheap and you rented an expensive boat and you don't want to damage it. - final twist just sucks -many loose ends, why is -i guess its the devil - torture the lead ..no reason at all - devil Guy is a joke, looks like an extra from an early 90's video clip.

So this movie just barely redeems itself from the bottom of the barrel through a couple of decent scenes and a few good ideas. Don't be fooled by the cover though; looks a hell of a lot more exciting than the movie really is.

Spoilers follow ...

[parry_na · 3/10 · 24 November 2017]

Otherwise known as 'Alarmed', this story takes a long time to get going. In fact, for a while, it is difficult to imagine it developing into a horror film at all. Jennifer Stuckart plays lead Samantha neither as a screaming damsel in distress or as a traditionally sassy no-nonsense 'final girl'. She is simply an intelligent woman caught up in a spiral of very odd events.

The boat itself seems to be trying to get Samantha to confront the truth regarding the death of her family some years earlier. It does this by separating her from boyfriend Mark (Brian Rife) by locking him out of the cabin area with her on the inside. And there he stays (vast bulks of his dialogue consists of urgent pleas: 'Sam, look at me, stay with me, Sam' ad nauseum). Nothing Sam does has any effect on the machinations of the 'ghost boat' (as a SPOILER, she is instructed to harm herself again and again, which she resists. When her allotted time runs out, the 'boat' forces her to do it anyway). After every episode, we appear to go back to beginning again.

Unfortunately, things quickly become wearisome. Or to be more precise, things SLOWLY become tedious, because nothing happens with much urgency at all. Despite the admirably restrained playing of the cast, we appear to be waiting for something to happen and resisting the urge to go and do something else instead. Director (and writer) Matt Lofgren occasionally injects the dullness with feeling of tension (moments that are very reliant on the performances more than anything else) but it isn't enough to lift events from tedium.

The boat itself looks lovely, but there is no sense of remoteness and no dark corners conducive to a haunting, or whatever it is that's happening here. The cast deserved better, sadly.

Very entertaining horror flick which combines horror elements from various other films too. All together. I very much enjoyed this.

[angiris · 6/10 · 15 August 2015]

Ghost Boat. At first I thought it a rip-off of Ghost Ship from 2002. But actually... it's not. I was positively intrigued to see this was a good film and not more cheap horror that keeps manifesting everyday.

As much as I want to spoil the hell out of this film because I want to encourage horror fans who are open-minded to watch this I just can't because I would personally HATE having the highlights of the film ruined. The...say... "Ohh no no no no" moments. Or the "Ohhh you gotta be kidding me. This is too mean " kinda moments.

Yea, guys. We got some good ones of those. The story is pretty much as is already highlighted so not point is explaining that. Now. The music is something you'll immediately notice. Its old school and it works really well. It may strike some of you as a little corny...but I personally took great liking to it.

Don't watch this to expect a huge masterpiece or something like The Grudge or stuff like that. This film...is the kind of horror you can watch on a casual day. Grin and laugh at MEANWHILST being freaked out in a tasteful way. Its not blood and gore amass. It is of course a few disturbing visuals but all in all. Its the anticipation for what happens that is the real "evil element" in this.

Keep that in mind if you wanna give it a shot. I personally am going to watch it again. Good film.

Other than that I'll highlight a few basic features about this: Nice character likability. (You wont hate the cast or stuff like that which I personally hate when happens. Acting is okay and I noticed that Lofgren "maybe unintentionally or not" placed heavy focus on faces here. It really helps when having to relate to the people in the film. It might just be me...but yea. )

It's its own thing: It truly is even though it has various features borrowed from Devil from 2010 or Ghost Ship 2002. It works okay in my opinion. I found it rather hilarious to be honest. The evil tech forcing you to do stuff. Satan in a boat. Whats not to love.

All in all its Fun, entertaining, bit scary and most importantly...doesn't disappoint in regard to anticipating horror elements.

And a F-ING great ending ! Totally hilarious. Priceless really. and I SOOO want to spoil it....SO BADLY...but I wont of course. Ill just ...leave you with a little hint: Dr. Feinstone would love to be of help *winks*

My GOD. Totally NOT a letdown at all.

Mr. Lofgren. Thank you ! To the entire cast... THANK YOU! Thanks to all for making a film like this.

Respectable replay value. Special in its own way. A solid 6 out of 10 which equals = A Good Film. Definitely above average.

Thats all I can say, fellas. Nice film. I recommend it to people who love a nice ordinary horror film with both horror as well as few entertaining moments.