Interesting thread.....I suppose that it is the UNEXPECTED death and mayhem where, only a few hours before, was a ship full of so many people representing practically the entire cross-section of the planet, from the extremes of rich, and the extremes of poor, simply crossing the ocean for a multitude of reasons, when quite suddenly, more than 2/3 of the people on board met their deaths, some quite violently. Rich and poor alike suddenly, simply became human beings in a common struggle. I think there lies the fascination. Many of us seem to be able to remain emotionally detached simply because it happened so long ago.
In my opinion Cameron showed a pretty decent depiction without going too much off the deep end. I've never thought too much about what probably went on deep in the bowels of the ship right when she foundered, such as Cameron's aforementioned engine-room scene. What about the 3rd class passengers that were trapped below decks in the stern section, and how horrible that must have been as it imploded on the way to the bottom?
There were many people that were in the wrong place on the ship at the wrong time such as men who were on Lightoller's side instead of Murdoch's side of the ship as the boats were lowered, etc.
As a semi-related issue, I think Ken Marschall's "death of the innocents" besides being an amazing painting (probably my favorite) of the Lusitania going down is that in the painting there is none of the obvious carnage that must have been there, and is still a VERY effective depiction of the events