I’ve often thought that the tale of what happens on the Demeter ship in Bram Stoker’s Dracula would make a good movie. Imagine being in a ship in the middle of a body of water many miles from land with a killer on board but no way to stop it I had a more different idea that what is portrayed in The Last Voyage of the Demeter. It was going to be like The Thing where the crew turns against each other only to realize that Dracula himself is one of the crew members. If I remember correctly, in the book there is a huge storm that blocks out the sun allowing Dracula to carry on his bloodshed at any time.
Norweigan filmmaker Andre Ovredal weaves a nice horror story that runs a longer than it should and pulls no punches in its delivery. In Varna, Bulgaria, Clemens (Corey Hawkins), a British doctor, finds himself on the ship after a crewmember leaves upon seeing the dragon emblem painted on crates being loaded. Clemens also saves Toby (Woody Norman), the grandson of the ship’s captain, Elliott (Liam Cunningham), from being crushed. However, the quartermaster, Wojcheck (David Dastmalchian), is leery of Clemens.
They set sail for London before night fall, but they soon discover a young woman, Anna (Aisling Franciosi), is stowed away in one of the crates which contain dirt. Sickly, Clemens arranges a blood transfusion for her to get better. Soon after, all their livestock and the ship’s dog, Huckleberry, is killed. Initially suspecting Anna or Clemens, as he’s black, they soon discover that it’s a different entity on board.
Basically, the movie falls into a slasher style movie with each crew member being killed off one by one. And Ovredal doesn’t hold back on the violence, not to give anything away, but if you already know the story, you know what’s going to happen. However, the addition of Anna and Clemens is a twist to the story that works to give Clemens the voice of reason and Anna for the crewmembers to realize something evil is on board. Cunningham seems perfectly cast as a Victorian era freight boat captain nearing retirement. And Dastmalchian, who usually plays creeps and weirdos, here is given a more heroic role as the ship’s second in command.
Yet the story never gives the desperation that the crew is really in. The crew is rather small which makes me thing Dracula would’ve been smarter to drag his victims out. Killing all the livestock and the dog in the same night would’ve immediately led to the ship stopping at the nearest port.
As for Dracula, the filmmakers went with a look more akin to Max Schreck’s look in the 1922 silent classic Nosferatu. There’s no great mystery and the special effects look great. However, at nearly two hours, the movie lags a little at times. And the ending leaves an implication that there’s a sequel. However, since the movie received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, that probably doesn’t seem likely. Considering how bad Renfield performed (ironically as the unofficial sequel), Dracula might have been a popular topic this past year but got a stake through the heart twice. And we already know how the story ends when Dracula is in England.
I guess my biggest problem with this movie is why they never stopped at a port along the way. They start in the Black Sea, then into the Aegaan Sea and then the Mediterranean and through the Straight of Gilbrator and the Bay of Biscay. In the book, Dracula controls the weather but a crew with an experienced captain would’ve made port the earliest time there was trouble like this. Maybe that’s why Stoker kept the section of the Demeter, mostly recounted in the captain’s log, so short. He didn’t want people asking too many questions.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 