The Last Voyage of the Demeter Movie Review
Nathan Swank
August 11th, 2023
THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER is a refreshing throwback to classic monster mayhem with some amazing art direction, even if it doesn’t always pull out the frights or character development as greatly as it should.
Based on the chapter, “The Captain’s Log” of Dracula by Bram Stoker, THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER is a wonderful segment of old school horror. Dracula is the king classic monster character and pinpointing this moment within the lore of the famous evildoer is always a bit of fun for fans.
The year is 1897. The Demeter is a merchant ship chartered to carry some unusual cargo of unmarked wooden crates from Carpathia to London. The small crew soon realize that their already difficult ocean voyage is cursed as livestock and characters continue to die in unusual ways. Will there be any survivors to reach their London destination before the evil presence ends them all?
Director André Øvredal creates an exciting set on a sea-bearing ship. Utilizing a lot of haunting imagery and sound through shadows and wood knocks, the impending doom has a definite look of dark, foggy despair, that is both thrilling and chilling. While THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER is never technically scary, it has that same wonderful tone of classic horror movie visuals and story-telling.
Corey Hawkins plays Clemens, a doctor who is joining the crew for the first time. Hawkins is a solid protagonist for the audience to hang on to through this hauntingly dangerous journey. David Dastmalchian is excellent, embodying the look and attitude of the first mate and Liam Cunningham is perfectly cast as Captain Eliot. Aisling Franciosi plays a mysterious stowaway and Woody Norman is terrific as the young boy on the crew. The rest of the cast are also great with different character quirks. But I couldn’t help thinking that the film needed more development within these characters so that they might leave a bigger impact with each death. With the exception of one incredible sequence of events, which I consider the centerpiece to the film, as an audience, we can almost pick exactly what will happen and who is next.
1979’s ALIEN comes to mind as a great character piece, which similarly is about a small crew getting picked off one by one by a monster on their ship. Each character is fully developed and their absence is felt whenever one is taken. Even the Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley is not the clear lead until the film moves closer toward its conclusion. THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER would have been more successful following that formula, distributing more of the story and action amongst the characters, creating suspense as to who would be next.
The unique focus into this specific aspect and segment of the iconic Dracula is a welcomed change. THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER is fairly straightforward in how it delivers the horror. But it’s a wickedly enjoyable voyage with some terrifyingly fun visuals to be sure.
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