THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (2023)
Updated: Sep 17, 2023
The Bite of This Vampire Flick is Strong…But Not As Strong As It Could've Been.
Grade: B
There is a chapter in Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula which is either truncated or outright skipped in most movie adaptations to make room for the main story. It takes the form of a captain’s log for the S.S. Demeter, a Russian freighter carrying mysterious boxes of earth from Romania to London. The log entries detail the inexplicable disappearances of crewmembers and the resulting panic among the dwindling survivors. Of course, the crew is unaware they are being picked off by the eponymous vampire as he makes his way to London. The Last Voyage of the Demeter is the first film to make that chapter its main subject, and it often succeeds in being chilling or even frightening-even if the film’s story keeps it from its full potential.
Set in 1897, the film stars Corey Hawkins as Clemens, a well-educated black man who gains the position of the ship’s doctor after saving a young crew member named Toby (Woody Norman) from a falling crate. Shortly after setting sail, the expected Strange Things start to happen. The ship’s livestock and dog are found brutally slaughtered. The crewmembers begin to hear unsettling noises in the dark. One of them becomes bitten by an unknown force and begins a monstrous change. And one of the boxes in the hold breaks open, revealing an ill woman named Anna (Aisling Franciosi), who warns of evil aboard. An ancient evil known as “Dracula.”
The film is well-made, from its production to its performances-especially Hawkins’s. Despite being held back by late 19th-century discrimination, Clemens is still a very strong character. He emerges as one of the few rational people on the ship; while the other crewmembers cower in fear, Clemens is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, and Hawkins portrays this character very well.
The main attraction of the movie is, of course, Dracula, played here by Javier Botet. Although his design is not altogether original (Gary Oldman briefly took on a similar appearance in Bram Stoker’s Dracula [1992]), he is still a horrifying presence, especially during the chilling showdown. Not once does he ever look human; he always resembles either a large, hideous bat creature or one of the subterranean crawlers in The Descent (2005). Either way, he is a truly monstrous being who lurks in the dark and wreaks bloody havoc on the crew. Probably the most disturbing moments in the movie come when his victims are exposed to sunlight. Such moments have been depicted on screen countless times before, often to great effect, but the scenes in Last Voyage would likely rank among the best.
However, despite these plusses, as well as a chilling score by Bear McCreary, the movie fails to match the atmosphere suggested by its source material. In the novel, the crew never knows what is hunting them until it is too late, making the situation all the more frightening. If the film had stuck to this idea, it might have actually had something. Alas, the screenplay provides Anna, a character who gives the crewmembers exposition about Dracula. They never learn exactly what he is, but they understand what he does, thereby removing a lot of potential suspense.
Other big problems include obvious bad choices made by the crew, especially one made during the climax. As the survivors try to come up with a plan to kill Dracula; by this point in the movie, Clemens and Anna have discovered where he sleeps, and two crewmembers have been vampirized and killed by the sun. But not once do the characters ever think about hauling Dracula’s coffin out of the hold and into the sunlight! Even by horror movie standards, this is quite a stupid mistake.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a good watch for people who want to see a creepy vampire movie. There have been dozens of Dracula movies made over the past hundred years, and Last Voyage actually manages to stand on its own thanks to its performances, scares, and depiction of the classic monster. But it could also have been so much more.
Director: Andre Øvredal
Screenplay: Bragi Schut, Jr., Zak Olkewicz (Based on "The Captain's Log" in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker)
Producers: Bradley J. Fischer, Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messner
Cast: Corey Hawkins (Clemens), Aisling Franciosi (Anna), Liam Cunningham (Capt. Elliot), David Dastmalchian (Wojchek), Javier Botet (Dracula), Woody Norman (Toby)
Rated: R (for bloody violence)
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