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2023: Theatrically released by Universal on August 11.
Directed by Andre Ovredal. Written by Bragi F. Schut, Zak Olkewicz. Based on “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
Starring: Corey Hawkins, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Aisling Franciosi, Javier Botet
Thanks to being in the public domain, they say Dracula is one of the (if not straight up The, depending on how you count ((pun!!)), fighting for the title with Sherlock Holmes) most featured characters in film and TV. In the past 100 years, he’s been proven to be a very pliable character. Extending from direct or indirect (by way of stage versions) or updated adapted of the book by Bram Stoker, sequels to those films, cartoons, monster rallies, monster mashes, and video games, often disconnected from the source but pulled from cultural manners, old fang face has run the gamut of tellings, all bending to the will of the creators for whatever need they have for the Count. I have particularly enjoyed Tumblr’s reinvention in daily updates and commentary based on the dates of the entries in the novel. If you didn’t know, it’s told epistolatory – via diary entries, newspaper articles, etc: all dated to their report.
Directed by Andre Orveldal, who previously made Trollhunter and Autopsy of Jane Doe (two films you should see right now if you haven’t yet), The Last Voyage of the Demeter both adapts and creates something new for Dracula. The story revolves around expanding and exploring a single chapter in the novel, often called the “Captain’s Log.” It is a short but gripping portion. Screenwriters Bragi F. Schut & Zak Olkewicz flesh out an engaging maritime macabre. For the TL:DR – the film turns this terrifying tale into a gripping, scary, very well-done full-length feature, albeit with a few issues.
I’m surprised it hasn’t yet been done before in this manner, it seems so obvious. The chapter is essentially a self-contained short story that does serve a narrative purpose but is generally disconnected from every other aspect of the novel, featuring no characters, save Dracula of course, or settings from the whole of the novel. Many versions skip over it, possibly showing a flash of detail or the result. The BBC/Netflix adaptation from a few years ago uses it as a basis for one of its three episodes, but it still features in a larger narrative and the show itself was a departure so it stands on its own.
As the title suggests, this isolated story is the doomed 1897 voyage of the Demeter, telling what happened on the ship that brought Dracula and the 50 boxes of Transylvanian dirt from Varna, Bulgaria to Whitby, England (and eventually to London). Side note: Whitby is far up the east coast of the island it seems so far out of the way, but it is also where he wrote and pulled much of the novel from. Even this story is inspired by a real wreck, the Dmitri, that washed up, empty of crew and laded with silver sand, on Whitby’s coast in 1890.
Of course, in expanding a 13-page (in my version) slice into a full-length film, there has to be more meat added; by way of characters and story actions. Dr. Clemens (Corey Hawkins, In the Heights; The Tragedy of Macbeth), a Black physician unable to find European practice due to his skin color, is the audience entry point to the established vessel, added to the crew at the last minute. He joins “one more to retirement” captain Liam Cunningham (Game of the Thrones), precocious grandson Toby (Woody Norman), first mate (David Dastmalcian, so big and hulking I barely recognized him), and others. There’s not a lot of character depth, mainly a name, a nationality, and a single thing to differentiate one from another. But that’s okay, Clemens is meeting them for the first time, and they soon have bigger fish to fry. They really are just fodder for the creature that stalks the boat at night. Although they are paper thin, the performers do a solid job, Hawkins grounding and driving the movie, and Cunningham giving the gravitas he always brings (check him out in Let Us Prey, if you want a coolly terrifying turn for him).
The draw is built on the events more than the people, as they soon realize something is among them, and trying to figure out what to do in their isolated terror. Yes, it’s essentially Alien: an otherworldly creature is loose on a ship and the crew has to figure out both how to get home and survive something they have no idea how to deal with. The tension runs high throughout. Thankfully, the script eschews the “wait for the cast to catch up to the audience” frustration, by almost immediately making everyone aware that -=something=- is up.
It’s to great effect in how not only how they become aware of their danger, but the increased desperation as not only are their resources and crew being depleted by the result of the bat-like interloper. How they react and try to deal with it is mostly well structured, although there are some big logic questions to some of the decisions they make – ideas are brought up, or knowledge is gained that isn’t acted on. But this isn’t enough to sink the boat of the film, but I can’t help but be waylaid while watching.
This is all helped along with a fantastic, dark, Hammer-Horrorish-look. The bowels of the ship lean in audience and actor alike, creating a sense of claustrophic isolation. The sounds of the ship, the creaks, the pops, the knocks all attend the building atmosphere. Gloom pervades every frame, and while dark isn’t frustrating hard to see the grisly goings on. And it’s grisly enough, with several gnarly gory sequences (that look practical), holding on torn throats, smashed faces, and other terrible turns.
It’s a nicely nasty piece of work, humorless is a good way, no quipping to relieve tension here. Fitting this version of Dracula is the animal-like Nosferatu style. Although digitally enhanced, Javier Botet’s bloodsucker is sufficiently monstrous, but also the intelligent creature attempting to blend into society; we’re warned not to underestimate him just because he looks like a blind hairless bat. As he has done with his previous monster turns, whether it be IT, CONJURING 2, CRIMSON PEAK, OR MAMA; he brings an otherworldly physicality to his vampire.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a great addition to the Dracula canon. With a serious narrative and surprising inventions to make the isolated terror last, it’s an engaging and sufficiently scary ship bound for nightmares. Some snags might take out some viewers but these didn’t bother me much in the end.
B+
