Synopsis:
Based on a single chilling chapter from Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula, The Last Voyage of the Demeter tells the terrifying story of the merchant ship Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo—fifty unmarked wooden crates—from Carpathia to London.
Strange events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship. When the Demeter finally arrives off the shores of England, it is a charred, derelict wreck. There is no trace of the crew.
Directed by: André Øvredal
Written by: Bragi F. Schut and Zak Olkewicz
Based on Dracula by: Bram Stoker
My Edition:
Theater (but is now available on Amazon Prime, as well as all rental platforms)
My Thoughts:
I have been trying to decide how to write up my feelings on this movie for a few weeks now. We went to see it a few days after it released. And ever since, I’ve been trying to come up with a cogent argument for why the naysayers are wrong. But today, I’m feeling kind of froggy and I’ve decided I don’t care if you do or don’t like The Last Voyage of the Demeter. There you go – argument (not) made. Do you.
But I enjoyed it a lot (at least up until the last 5-ish minutes, but we’ll get to that). As a movie fleshing out a flash-in-the-pan mention in a 100+ year old novel, Demeter did a bang up job. The movie was fun. It was creepy and atmospheric. And although the one negative review of it I bothered to read complained that the crew “were stalked by a poor CGI megabat that isnt Dracula in my opinion,” I say:
That “cgi megabat” was, in fact, Dracula. That’s kinda the whole fucking point of the story, fweind. And in my opinion, while I would have preferred a practical megabat (or the “megabat” from Midnight Mass, for that matter), I ain’t mad at what I got either.
And Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton) as Clemens, our main character, is really wonderful. I thought his performance was perfectly understated. He was just a dude who wanted to get to a place in one fucking piece. But nooooooooooooo. All the damned vampires (just the one) had to go and make it a thing. David Dastmalchian (from everything) was also predictably wonderful – although his performance was definitely not what I had predicted. He too was a shockingly understated sort of dude. I expected a lot more loud personalities on the ship – and there were definitely some strong ones, but I liked that they were only loud asses when it made sense, you know? Shippy etiquette or somesuch.
I do have a few minor complaints, however. It’s not all sunshine and roses (neck-ripping and sea-storming?). First off, it bugs me a little that they waited until like a billion days into the journeying and deathificating to decide to investigate any of the cargo for signs of fuckery. I dunno guys, I feel like that would have been like, stop 2 for me. And also, I feel like in the end, they were going for sort of universe-building, we’re-definitely-going-to-sequel-this-if-we-can-get-away-with-it thing. AND I HATE THAT SO MUCH. Sometimes, it’s okay for something to just be a thing by itself. Not everything needs a cliffhanger ending and fifty gazillion sequels. Just let it die, okay?
Rating:
It was a creepy bunch of boaty, bleedy fun. But that ending really hit me wrong. Knock the last 2 minutes off, even, and I’d bump it up to 4 stars, easy.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter Directed by: André Øvredal US Release Date: August 11, 2023 Universal Pictures Rated R 118 minutes
I think from now until I get tired of it, I’m going to sign off with a horror- or scifi-adjacent/homaging music video. You know, for funsies.
