THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS.
by Jarrod Jones. It’s a movie I like in concept — a one-location survival-horror situation influenced heavily by Alien and based on one of the creepier elements of Bram Stoker’s Dracula; sign me up. The execution of André Øvredal’s The Last Voyage of Demeter, however, was too shaggy for me to fully sink my teeth into. I don’t generally enjoy vampire puns in horror reviews, but I’m trying to keep things upbeat.
To put a finer point on things, Øvredal’s action-horror film is based on the chapter in Dracula titled “The Captain’s Log,” which provides vague but unnerving details about the doom that befell the merchant vessel, Demeter. We know it set sail from Bulgaria with a skeleton crew and ultimately coasted into the English port of Whitby, empty. That’s one hell of a scary story. Those who have read Dracula (or watched the Francis Coppola 1992 adaptation of the book or any of its countless other film and television iterations) know that a certain vampire was brought on board before the ship took sail. We also know this vampire survived the journey and made it to London for reasons the film rightfully evades. After all, a monster is less frightening if you know his travel itinerary.
Øvredal, working from a screenplay written by Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz, observes the details of the Demeter to a limited degree. Stoker said the ship had a small crew, so the film keeps its cast lean, with one or two story-hoarding characters around to gin up the perfunctory human drama: Corey Hawkins plays a frustrated English doctor living between practices, and Aisling Farnciosi is a Romanian stowaway who was meant to be the vampire’s snack. Both are there to regale anyone who’ll listen with their tragic histories of discrimination and oppression whenever the film begins to feel too schlocky (re: fun).
The rest of the crew, a budget-friendly and only kinda motley bunch captained by Liam Cunningham and a sturdy first mate played by David Dastmalchian (who seems to be the one person here who knows what kind of movie this should have been), are also present. You know why they’re here. I was hoping that a two-hour film based on one chapter of a book would put some interesting character dynamics together like that Ridley Scott movie Demeter would prefer we compare it to. The crew displays typical seaman superstitions about Farnciosi’s character (a woman on the ship? preposterous!), and there’s a fumbled racial jab at Hawkins at one point. But for the most part, everyone talks about what they’ll do with their pay once they make it to England and then politely lines up for the slaughter to come.
The movie’s sense of drama is like its suspense: absent. We know most of the crew will get it in some fashion, so it’s just a matter of waiting out the inevitable. One of the deaths is interesting because it is unexpectedly cruel. Another has a decisiveness to it courtesy of Dastmalchian, who again feels like he was ported in from another, better movie. As the ship’s ranks begin to thin, you get the impression that Øvredal will play fast and loose with the Demeter’s bloody end, and one or two of these characters will survive the ordeal. It’s surprising to say that Rogue One, the Disney Star Wars film featuring a similarly doomed crew, is more thorough with its body count than this Universal Dracula movie.
As for the Count himself? He’s described in the chapter as “a man, tall and thin, and ghastly pale.” Here, he’s a mostly silent bat-beast stripped of Dracula’s lordly swagger. I was reminded of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings at first. Later, I was reminded of Salem’s Lot, a more interesting vampire TV miniseries. He’s also less restrained with his violence here than in the book, more prone to brazen slaughter than subtly picking off the crew. That creates a problem for the movie once its characters discover that sunshine is an effective vampire cleanser: why don’t these people just hunt their enemy down during the daytime? There’s a box filled with Transylvanian dirt right over there!
One last thing about The Last Voyage of the Demeter before I go. Generally, I’m not eager to bang on about the lighting in a movie unless it’s particularly junky. Demeter’s lighting must be one of the most shabbily-lit studio period movies I’ve seen. I wouldn’t point out that all the handheld lanterns in this 1897-set movie came with light bulbs and batteries if Øvredal didn’t have them filling the screen 70% of the time. (I’m pretty sure the lanterns in its opening sequence had LEDs!) Regarding illumination, light bulbs are static, and flames dance. The latter creates a sense of unease, particularly when the fires begin to gutter. That signals death is nearby. The lighting in this movie is as lifeless as its frights.
3.5 out of 10
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is in wide release now.
Directed by André Øvredal.
Screenplay by Bragi Schut Jr., Zak Olkewicz.
Story by Bragi Schut Jr.
Cinematography by Roman Osin and Tom Stern.
Starring Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, and David Dastmalchian.
Produced by Bradley J. Fischer, Mike Medavoy, and Arnold W. Messner.
Rated R for tame vampire action.
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