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In development for more than two decades The Last Voyage of the Demeter, adapted from a chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula finally arrived in theaters last weekend.
Universal Studios
Told from the point of view of Doctor Clemens (Corey Hawkins) a late addition to the Demeter’s crew, as the aging ship transports 50 crates from Transylvania to London, unaware that one of the crates harbors the vampire Dracula. In addition to Clemens the crew included Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham) a captain near retirement, Tobey (Woody Norman) the captain’s eight-year-old grandson and cabin boy, Wojeck (David Dastmalchian) the ship’s mate. Upon discovering a woman, Anna (Aisling Franciosi) that they believe to have stowed away on the vessel before it sailed, they crew turns fearful and superstitious. Once animals and crew begin dying and vanishing is mysterious manners the fear transforms into terror and the crew find themselves locked in a battle for survival against a creature that defies rationality.
I am notoriously picky and finicky about horror films. It is a genre that I adore but a great many of the fare leave me cold. While much of the horror community raved about ‘X’ I found it a rather standard slasher and uninteresting. The Last Voyage of the Demeter a film and subject I have long wanted to see is neither a great horror film nor is it a terrible one. The is much to admire in the film and the craft of those that created it. André Øvredal’s direction is sharp and sure. He moves his characters confidently both in their blocking and their emotional space, never leaving the audience at sea for what is transpiring in the scene or in the minds of the cast. The script by scribes Bragi Schut jr, and Zak Olkewicz is well structured, wastes little time while still providing enough establishment and backstory to flesh out the characters as people. They also avoid the trope of conveniently having a person aboard familiar with the legends and myth to act as an instructional guide to the others. All of the crew and Anna are clueless in the monsters weakness and true nature. Tom Stern’s cinematography is excellent. With much of the story occurring at night the simulated darkness is as convincing as that performed for Jordan Peele’s Nope, utterly credible and never too murky to see except for when it is by design. When the film revealed the full cast with the ship committed to its doomed voyage, I mentally predicted an ending that if it came to pass, I would have proclaimed as ‘trite’ or ‘unexpected,’ and I can say that ending did not arrive. The filmmakers showed the courage to go places with their script and story that I would have thought invoked a terrible storm of executive’s notes.
And yet with all this going for it, I cannot say I loved this movie.
Some quality, some element was missing that prevented me from fully engaging with the piece. I never lost myself in the story that played upon the screen, remaining detached enough to analyze as I watched. Where other horror films fully pulled me into their nightmare dreams, Get Out, Hereditary, and the like The Last Voyage of the Demeter just missed that mark. This is in all likelihood an idiosyncratic reaction and I have no doubts that many a horror fan will enjoy this film. Even with my own lukewarm response I do not feel my time was wasted and it deserves to be seen on the big screen.
