Adaptations and variations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula are ten a penny, in fact, I’d go as far to say that there’s probably been more cinematic versions of the titular vampire than there are nubile virgins the Count has left sucked dry for sustenance. However, one aspect of Stoker’s legendary novel that has been left mysteriously untapped is that of the voyage of the Demeter, the cursed ship that was unlucky enough to be the one tasked with unknowingly transporting Dracula to England. Told in diary excerpts from the terrified captain, it’s the part of the novel that every single adaptation thus far has jettisoned overboard in order to get ol’ Drac to Carfax Abbey ASAP in order to keep the story moving with only Francis Ford Coppola’s version giving it it’s time in the sun.
Well, thanks to André Øvredal (Troll Hunter, The Autopsy Of Jane Doe, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark), the section now has an entire film to itself with The Last Voyage Of The Demeter, a film that takes the isolated terrors of Alien and merge it with the high seas drama of Master & Commander.
It’s 1897 and the merchant ship Demeter is about to set sail with a urgent shipment of a bunch of large wooden crates destined for England with the crew promised a sizable bonus if the delivery reaches its destination ahead of schedule. Before it can leave, However, more crewmen are required to join the crew before she can sail and one of the volunteers is Clemens an educated black man who has studied to become a doctor but is struggling to find work because of the bigoted nature of his would-be employers.
Accepted by Captain Eliot and his motley crew of salty sea dogs, Clemens is put to work and befriends Toby, the captains young grandson, but after taking to the high seas, a string of unnerving events threaten to doom them all.
Firstly a woman is found after one of the crates breaks open to reveal she was buried in dirt and after determining that she’s wracked with fever, Clemens performs a blood transfusion on her much to the anger of quartermaster Wojcheck, who believes that she is technically a stowaway and should be simply hurled over the side. However, the woman, Anna, proves to be the least of their worries as the next night sees the brutal slaughter of the entirety of their livestock and Clemens and one of the crew spot a strange, emaciated figure walking around at night.
Once recovered from her fever, Anna fills them in on the terrible details – the creature stalking their ship is known in her village as Dracula and he sustains himself by drinking the blood of the living and thus has targeted the crew to help him feed during the trip. Trying to wrestle with the fact that they’re utterly fucked, the cree fight to stay alive as every night brings fresh horrors like missing crew, vampire thralls and the sobering notion that the happiest outcome for them all is if the Demeter ends up at the bottom of the sea.
I have to be honest, I was really looking forward to this one, as the period nature of the piece mixed with the survival horror aspects of Alien or The Thing promised to yield kickass results. Similarly, director André Øvredal has delivered some memorable outings after his rousing feature debut, Troll Hunter. However, despite being a slick, glossy creature feature, I have to declare that The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is something of a let down- not be cause it’s a badly made movie, but because even though it has all the hallmarks of a sweat inducing, edge of the seat, horror/thriller, the movie just simply doesn’t grab you quite like you’d hope.
It’s frustrating, especially seeing as so much of the production is absolutely spot on. The visuals are lush, with the sets especially doing a lot of the heavy lifting as we pace rain lashed decks at night and gloomy, lamp lit, dripping interiors bringing the same ominous feel as the corridors of the Nostromo or the halls of U.S. Outpost 31.
The cast is also well stacked with roles given to the absurdly reliable likes of Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchisn and a bunch of other, suitably grizzled actors playing the doomed crew; hey, that’s not a spoiler, read the book – or the title. However, arguably the coolest addition the cast is frequent creature contributor Javier Botet who portrays Dracula himself as some bald, fanged, bat-creature that’s more in line with Nosferatu or Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot than the likes of Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee. I’m presuming that a lack of blood has caused the Count to revert to a more feral, beast like version of his more debonair persona – either that or this version of the legendary vampire has a fondness for scampering around in the nude.
Regretfully, even though Øvredal has all these pluses in his favour, The Last Voyage Of The Center is never as frightening as you hoped ot would be and it feels like the movie is playing things annoyingly safe. The film tries to establish mood, but instead makes things too dark; it wants to give us a cool creature feature, but obscures its beast; it wants to be vicious and cruel, and yet never quite manages to slip off its brakes long enough to be the rollercoaster fear ride it so obviously wants to be.
Also adding to the feeling of the Demeter not pushing itself is Corey Hawkins’ rather bland Clemens, who’s clean cut looks and obvious high survival rate may strive to throw off the stigma of black characters in horror films, but it’s so obvious he’s going to survive that the film would have been far better if the crew has been entirely made up of damned character actors instead. Similarly, Aisling Franciosi’s token female only seems to have been included for someone to fill in Dracula’s backstory on the fly.
With all that being said, the movie looks amazing and there’s some choice, standout moments that rise above the moments of predictability including one of the crew mates coming under the vampire’s control or the fate of little Toby.
I’m not saying that every horror film should be a stripped back slow burn in the style of A24 (variety is key, people), but while the director admirably tries to blend the forboding surroundings with more modern sensibilities, I was kind of hoping for a vampire flick with more of a ferocious drive, kind of like 30 Days Of Night.
Not a total loss by any means, but Øvredal’s odd inability to combine such can’t-lose elements still feels like he’s missed an open goal to forehead slapping effect and for those desperate to see Stoker’s story of the last voyage of the Demeter finally told; my friend, this ship has sailed.
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