Movie Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: August 11th, 2023 / 02:43 AM

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER movie poster | ©2023 Universal PIctures

Rating: R
Stars: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Woody Norman, Chris Walley, Jon Jon Briones, Stefan Kapicic, Martin Furulund, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Javier Botet
Writers: Bragi F. Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz, screen story by Bragi F. Schut Jr., based on the chapter “The Captain’s Log” in DRACULA by Bram Stoker
Director: Andre Øvredal
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Release Date: August 11, 2023

There’s a spoiler in the movie’s title, and in its opening sequence, to say nothing of the source material in Bram Stoker’s novel DRACULA. It’s safe to say we go in knowing that THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER doesn’t end well for the ship or her crew.

We begin in 1897 England, on the coast of Whitby, where the horrendously damaged and mysteriously uninhabited Demeter has floundered on the rocks in the midst of a torrential storm. The local constable and other authorities are at a loss as to what’s happened.

Four weeks earlier, we’re in coastal Romania, where the cargo ship Demeter is shortly to set sail for England. We meet in short order conscientious Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham), his bright little grandson Toby (Woody Norman), and loyal first mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian), as well as the rest of the crew.

The Demeter is short a few hands, and circumstances allow trained doctor and astronomer Clemens (Corey Hawkins) to join the company. Clemens is an Englishman who wants to go home.

Our, and the crew’s, first hint that something may be wrong is when the Romany dock workers refuse to finish loading crates onto the ship, insisting that they must get home before sundown. One Romany man who has signed on promptly quits when he sees artwork of a dragon, signifying the property’s owner, on one of the large boxes.

This doesn’t register on Captain Eliot or his men. However, one of the crates breaks open in the hold, and … it’s not what we would first think. But this is the first step in a series of interlocking catastrophic events.

There is actually a good question in the entire premise of THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER. Stoker doesn’t answer it in his novel, and it probably doesn’t occur to many folks outside of those engaged in scholarly debate about DRACULA. However, why would the Count, who is shown elsewhere to be a precise planner, risk his ship becoming wrecked, sinking, or just drifting forever at sea by depleting the crew?

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER, directed by Andre Øvredal and written by Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz from Schut’s screen story, does a logical job of addressing this in its action. Øvredal also unobtrusively provides us with a sense of the physicality of being aboard a ship.

There are likewise strong performances. Hawkins has conviction and charisma, Aisling Franciosi is appropriately sorrowful and heroic, and Cunningham is every bit the seasoned seafarer. (GAME OF THRONES fans may get a kick out of seeing Cunningham aboard a sailing vessel again, as well as working with fellow GAME veteran Franciosi, together in another project with dragon symbolism.) Dastmalchian has resolve and world-weariness as the first mate, and Norman is sweet but not overly so as Toby. Javier Botet as Dracula is tremendously athletic in a monster body and facial prosthetics that resemble a more elaborate version of Barlow from the 1979 miniseries SALEM’S LOT.

Even though we know in broad strokes where all of this is heading, we don’t know the endgame. We’re curious, and we’re engaged enough to care what happens.

But what’s perhaps most pleasurable about THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER is that it is unironic vampire horror. There is no impulse toward camp here. Nobody does anything that fits with genre cliches or makes us wonder about the characters’ common sense. Instead, there’s a little tingle of discovery. For most viewers, it’s impossible to recapture the experience of a first encounter with the Dracula story, but THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER offers at least a reminder of that feeling.

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Latest Buzz

Movie Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

A mid-budget non-ironic period horror movie

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

Related

Related Posts:

Leave a Comment

Assignment X Poll

Newsletter subscription status

Latest Buzz

Movie Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

A mid-budget non-ironic period horror movie

Article Source: Assignment X Article: Movie Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

Related

Related Posts:

Leave a Comment

Assignment X Poll

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER