Ghost Ship ending revisited: Maureen's final fate revealed

Ghost Ship is a film in the supernatural horror genre that was released on October 25, 2002, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It's directed by Steve Beck, while Mark Hanlon and John Pogue wrote the screenplay.

Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler have produced it under the banners of Village Roadshow Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment, NPV Entertainment, and Ghost Ship Films Pty. Ltd.

Here's the official synopsis as per IMDb:

"A salvage crew discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea, and soon notices that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board."

Let's take a look at its ending.

What is the plot of Ghost Ship?

Ghost Ship is about the crew of a marine salvage in the Bering Sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. They notice that a mysterious ocean liner named Antonia Graza is floating in the water. The crew finds out that it had disappeared back in 1962.

How does Ghost Ship end?

Towards the end of Ghost Ship, Maureen Epps (played by Julianna Margulies) meets Katie's spirit. The latter reveals to Maureen how everyone on board Antonia Graza was killed by a wired cable that sliced through their bodies. It was actually done by the only survivor of the cruise ship Lorelei, who convinced the crew to kill all the passengers. This was done to take hold of the gold.

Once all the passengers died, they were at loggerheads with each other over who would take how much gold. Francesca (Francesca Rettondini) ended up killing the officer. She was eventually killed by the main conspirator, who threw a hook around her neck.

The main guy turns out to be Jack, who is a demon tasked with encouraging people to sin so that he can kill them and bring their souls to hell. Maureen realizes that Jack had brought the salvage team to Antonia Gaza, which she decides to sink to thwart what he had planned. Meanwhile, Munder is killed by being crushed under the ship.

Maureen then goes to put the explosives while Jack is held by Dodge. Jack starts taunting him and gets shot by Dodge in response. Dodge then meets Maureen, who is putting the explosives. He tells her that Jack is dead and they can start a new life with all the gold in their possession. Maureen feels suspicious, and Dodge morphs into Jack, revealing he has killed Dodge and wants to continue collecting souls for hell.

Maureen realizes that the ship will continue to have the souls of everyone who died on board as long as it's floating. She detonates the bomb, and Jack's body is cut into many pieces. Katie helps Maureen escape from the ship and reach a safe zone. Once the ship is gone, Katie and all the other souls go to the afterlife.

Towards the end of Ghost Ship, Maureen is eventually found by a cruise ship that returns her to land. While she is being taken in an ambulance, she notices that gold is being unloaded from the ship. It is being supervised by Jack. The ending denotes that Jack did not die, as he is a spirit. But all the trapped souls were set free.