A family looking to start a charter-boat business buys a ship that holds terrifying secrets once out on isolated waters.

Mary, from director Michael Goi, stars  Gary Oldman as David, a fisherman looking to start a new life for his family in the wake of his wife’s infidelity. We open on Sara ( Emily Mortimer ), traumatized, peering out into the ocean before cutting to an interrogation room. The detective explains that she was found floating in open waters with her two daughters, Mary ( Chloe Perrin ) and Lindsay ( Stefanie Scott ), but with no sign of her husband. She presses for details of Sara’s final memories and as Sara begins to tell her story we jump to where the trouble all began. While shopping for a vessel to start his charter-boat business with his trusty deckhand, Mike ( Manuel Garcia-Rulfo ), David spots a well-worn ship that seems cobbled together from a century’s worth of salvage and, as he ponders the soul of the storied ship he decides to purchase it against his wife’s protests. All is well at first as they set out on their maiden voyage following a jaunty “fixing up the boat” montage but it quickly becomes apparent that something sinister has stowed itself away and has begun to manifest itself in bouts of mania and aggression in the ship’s crew.

The early build-up as we catch the first whiffs of something amiss has all the familiar notes of the modern ghost story, with numerous jump scares bringing sharp orchestral music stings to punctuate the heightened tension as the family works through their issues in the tight confines of their modest ship. Nearly the whole movie takes place on the ship, outside of occasional cuts back to the interrogation room for foreshadowing, and while this lack of variety is an occasional liability, it nonetheless serves as a fitting backdrop for the film’s terrifying and dramatic moments. This is highlighted by the camera work, using tight, tilted perspective shots of the ship’s interior to exaggerate its confinement and wide exterior shots to emphasize their vulnerability and isolation. The early use of jump scares was a little excessive for my tastes, though most have a build-up that keeps them from coming off as completely cheap. Recognizing when a tactic has overstayed its welcome, we move into scenes of more direct and intense interaction with the evil aboard as we get towards the halfway point before an aimless third act gives way to an explosive climax.

Oldman’s performance, as he transitions from a lovable and well-meaning dad to the raw intensity he’s known for, does much of the work in keeping Mary’s limited scope from growing stagnant but Mortimer deserves credit for serving as an effective foil and reacting to his energy in equal measure. Perrin does her best Danny Torrance impression being the most frequent target of possession and manages to sell a pretty challenging character without going too blatantly theatrical. Scott has the least to do with Lindsay not being the most consequential member of the family but there is a sweetness to her romance plot with her rebellious boyfriend, Tommy ( Owen Teague ).

It’s not too hard to make being stranded out in the ocean scary, the prospect is terrifying with or without malicious poltergeists but the challenge comes in making a compelling film between the big scares. Mary doesn’t always succeed at this and I found myself checking to see how much was left about an hour in but through thoughtful pacing and adapting its approach to crafting scares, it manages some pretty memorable highs without allowing the lows to get too excruciating.