How we love the idea of spending an idyllic holiday with friends. Even better if you hire a yacht in the process. But we all know what can happen in confined spaces hundreds of miles away from civilization. Especially if an ancient demonic curse is sailing about on the desolate ocean.

Big Dave and Suze plan to take their small party from New Zealand to Fiji but they never anticipated picking up a distress signal nor a stranded old seadog, who brings a deadly curse on board which body hops its murderous way through the group via a strangely carved knife. Will they have to pay the ancient Ferryman with their lives?

The Ferryman charters similar low-budget horror waters of other New Zealand films such as Bad Taste, The Frighteners, and the recent Black Sheep. But director Chris Graham has created a passable addition to the gory fleet. From the opening scenes aboard a doomed ship, he preludes the brutal nature of the demonic curse before taking us into the sunshine calm of our fated band of stereotypical heroes: the macho husband with the ballsy wife; the guilt-riddled nurse and the snobbish blonde bimbo. But equally they all carry the right level of sympathy for the audience to share their ordeal as bloody events take them more and more out of their depths. It helps that he has cast reliable character actors such as Kerry Fox (Shallow Grave); John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings trilogy), Tamer Hassan (Eastern Promises/ Football Factory), and Craig Hall (30 Days of Night).

The script doesn't take itself too seriously, keeping a wry sense of humour bobbing among the waves and its mounting atmosphere means you can almost taste the salty spray on screen. Graham keeps a steady hand on the film's pace, maintaining the tight action advantaged by the claustrophobic confines of the set. Whilst it may be sailing in the thematic wake of a comparable armada of genre films including Dead Calm, Ghost Ship, The Fog (oh, and there's also a brief shower sequence), it also manages to charter new territories of horror.

The DVD also comes well stocked with extras for the voyage including a Behind the Scenes feature; blooper reel; outtakes and deleted scenes; as well as short items on creating the special effects for the Ferryman himself and the production designs for the Dionysus yacht. The Ferryman may not be take you on a voyage of new horror discovery, but it still catches a chilly air of originality, making it a demonically deranged experience that will make you glad to reach dry land again.