Director: Gary Shore
A retired ocean liner with a violent history becomes the setting for a family's unraveling in "Haunting of the Queen Mary," a 2023 supernatural thriller from director Gary Shore.
What is Haunting Of The Queen Mary about?
Photographers Erin and Patrick take a job documenting the storied Queen Mary, bringing their young son Lukas along for what should be routine work aboard the historic vessel. Almost immediately, the ship's atmosphere begins to shift around them — flickering lights, half-glimpsed figures, sounds that shouldn't exist on an empty deck. The film moves between two timelines, one following the family in the present and another tracing an earlier tragedy tied to the ship's decades of service. As Erin digs deeper into old records and crew testimonies, she realizes the vessel's polished tourist-attraction exterior conceals events the ownership would rather keep buried. Patrick, meanwhile, grows increasingly protective of Lukas as the boy starts behaving strangely, drawn toward parts of the ship that are supposedly off-limits. The dual structure lets the film build dread gradually, layering old grainy footage against crisp modern photography to suggest history repeating itself in the same corridors.
Cast & crew
Alice Eve anchors the film as Erin, playing the role with a wary curiosity that keeps the mystery grounded even as the visuals turn increasingly unsettling. Joel Fry, working against type from his usual comic roles, brings a tightly wound nervousness to Patrick that suits a father sensing something wrong before he can explain it. Nell Hudson, Angus Wright, and Jim Piddock round out a supporting cast that moves comfortably between the film's period flashbacks and present-day scenes.
Context & significance
The real RMS Queen Mary has spent decades docked in Long Beach, California, functioning as a hotel and tourist attraction long after its transatlantic crossings ended, and its reputation for reported paranormal activity has made it a recurring subject for horror productions. Director Gary Shore leans into that reputation, using the ship's genuine art deco interiors and cramped lower decks as a built-in setting that needs little embellishment. The production filmed extensively on and around the actual liner, giving the horror sequences a texture that a constructed set would struggle to match.
Where & how to watch
"Haunting of the Queen Mary" streams on K-Time with Farsi subtitles and a Farsi dubbed track, so viewers can choose whichever fits their evening. Access requires a free K-Time account login; the film page itself, including this write-up, is open to read without signing in. K-Time's interface is built around a Farsi-first experience for Persian-speaking audiences wherever they're watching from.