The Last Voyage of the Demeter Review: A Sinking Feeling
Javier Botet as Dracula in “The Last Voyage of the Demeter”. Photograph Credit: Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
Helming from the “Captain’s Log” at the beginning of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel, The Last Voyage of the Demeter attempts to chart a new course for the well-traveled story of Dracula. The premise of the film finds an ill-destined ship crew fighting for their lives as they slowly discover their cargo contains unspeakable horrors.
The crew, lead by Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham, Game of Thrones), are embarking on one final journey from Romania to London before the Captain retires. They’re joined last minute by the cunning Doctor Clemens (Corey Hawkins, Straight Outta Compton), who serves as a moral compass once the crew begins to fall apart. As both animals and crew alike begin to succumb to the slaughter of Dracula, they discover Anna (Aisling Franciosi, The Nightingale), who has been packed away in a crate hidden below deck. She warns the sailors of the beast that has terrorized her home village, and bids them to be cautious of the night…
Corey Hawkins and Aisling Franciosi aboard the Demeter. Photograph Credit: Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
From the logline alone, this fresh take on the legend seems like something you could sink your teeth into, so it’s a shame that the film never lives up to its full potential. You’re promised a “vampire on a boat” story, and that’s just about all you get. Sure there are guts and gore galore, but that doesn’t add up to a compelling story that can support a 2-hour runtime.
From the opening scene, we’re told that the crew of the Demeter doesn’t make it out of their voyage alive. Sometimes, following the tragic journey of a cast of characters you know will perish can be entertaining. You can watch them attempt to avoid their fate by outsmarting the odds in surprising and exciting ways. The lack of creativity for how the events unfold in this film, however, leave the plot to feel more like a runaway train, stopping only occasionally to off another crew member.
The writing in Demeter also seems to know its crew is not long for this world. No characters are given full enough depth or backstories to especially care as they’re slowly being drained of blood. The cast do their best with what they’ve been given, and to their credit, I didn’t find any performances to be as dull as the screenplay. I could watch Liam Cunningham play period-piece characters with a heart of gold any day.
With a loose narrative, Demeter could have been saved by inventive practical effects or creature design, but that too is unfortunately dulled by unimpressive CGI. The actual makeup work done on actor Javier Botet, who plays Dracula, is impressive enough, but that work often feels hidden beneath CGI choreography. There are a few rare moments in the film where I felt chills. These were the moments where the creature was allowed to lurk and crawl in the shadows, not those where it becomes an animated killing machine.
As the film continued on without a hint of taking any bold swings, I began to have a similar sinking feeling to the crew: this wasn’t going to end well. The Last Voyage of the Demeter squanders what could have been a unique take on the Dracula legend with a formulaic story that doesn’t do a service to its characters. If you’re a fan of slashers, you may find something to like here, but otherwise I would recommend you steer your ship in another direction.
#1521 on my Favorites List as of this review
#35 out of 45 on my Best of the Year List as of this review
