The Last Voyage of the Demeter

 It's time to hear more about a film I namedropped.

Did you ever want to know what it was like to sail with the definitive vampire? Well, we've got the movie for you. The Last Voyage of the Demeter expands the Log of the Demeter section of Dracula's seventh chapter to feature length. Let's see how they fared.

July 1897. The Demeter makes port in Bulgaria. Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) and his first mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian) look to fill the crew on their way to London. All prospects jump ship once they realize that the Demeter is taking on a certain bunch of crates. Dr. Clemens (Corey Hawkins) comes aboard after he saves the captain's grandson, Toby (Woody Norman), from being squished by a crate.  Clear sailing, right?

A week or so later, the crew discovers an anemic stowaway named Anna (Aisling Franciosi) inside one of the crates. Suddenly, something else feeds on the crew. It turns out that Dracula (Javier Botet) is aboard, and Anna was brought along as his "rations." She and the survivors have to keep Dracula from reaching England. I think you know how it ends for them.

This was conceived by writer Bragi Schut Jr and directed by André Øvredal (Trollhunter, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark). What do I think about the end result? It sets up its mood rather well when the Demeter is found crashed ashore in the opening. Clemens's introduction and how he gets a spot on the Demeter is quite compelling. It's even got some strong jump scares, particularly when one of the crew turns into a Zombie Vampire. 

Where does it go wrong? An overwhelming sense of genre blindness. The Demeter realize Dracula's with them when he slaughters the livestock. They don't know he's a vampire but realize he's dangerous. But they don't even look for his hiding spot until much of them bite it. It's not a rather proactive plot, to say the least. Schut was inspired by Alien in writing the script, but both the xenomorph and Nostromo crew were more active than either party here.

We now get to the on-screen crew. Clemens, as I previously said, had a good first scene. He also had a great finale as he fights Dracula and parts with Anna. It would be a waste if he didn't appear in a sequel covering the rest of the book (I have an idea that purists will hate on how he fit in). Anna turns out to be cool when she proves herself quite adept with rifles. Captain Eliot and Toby get the film's most dramatic moment when the latter is vampirized. Joseph the cook (Jon Jon Briones) is quite quirky, and even unnerving when he goes mad later on. But other than them, the rest of the crew are either unlikeable or dull. Fortunately, the least likeable of them are Dracula's first victims. 

Dracula himself is the film's visual highlight. His visage is that of an even more ghoulish Count Orlok from Nosferatu. His unnerving, withered form leads to a spectacular jump scare when he pounces on a victim like a leopard. What makes him visually marvelous is his design; most of the time, you can't tell if you're looking at a CGI monster or a real man in makeup. The Demeter herself represents some good production design from Edward Thomas. It's a creepy ship even before Dracula makes his presence known. The sound design helps out with Dracula's unnerving shrieks. Bear McCreary's score is pretty bombastic, especially its end credits theme, but it's pretty moving at times.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is an admirable seabound horror film. It may not be proactive, but its technical aspects and lead character are compelling. Who knows if a prospective sequel will be made given its box-office. But at least we have Nosferatu to look forward to ... whenever. It's surely a unique spin on Dracula, that's for sure. That's it for now.