Adapting just one solitary chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, André Øvredal’s infamously delayed Gothic horror film tracks the Count’s fateful journey from Transylvania to England. After almost twenty years in development hell and a year since its Stateside release, the Demeter is finally here.
Set aboard the ill-fated Russian schooner, its story (first mooted in the early 2000s) follows the crew of the Demeter as they attempt to survive not only the treacherous Black Sea but also the needs of their bloodthirsty stowaway (Javier Botet) – who has awakened in a particularly peckish mood.
The fate of the Demeter is well-recorded, but Øvredal and screenwriters Zak Olkewicz and Bragi F. Schut load the boat with enough plucky personalities that one can’t help but wonder whether the crew might beat the odds. A well-cast Liam Cunningham captains the good ship Demeter, with quartermaster Wojcheck (David Dastalmachian, always welcome) and new hire Clemens (Corey Hawkins) among the strong ensemble. Also aboard are young Toby (Woody Norman) and stowaway Anna (Aisling Franciosi). Between them surely someone can give Dracula a run for his money?
Certainly they try, and this battle of good versus evil is sufficiently savage, with Øvredal bringing a surprising level of brutality to the action. Unfortunately Botet’s Dracula, while grotesque, is devoid of personality, and the slow build-up is frustrating given that the audience is already well ahead of the characters; not just chapters ahead, a whole book. Still, the director has some surprises up his sleeve, and isn’t so beholden to the source material that we can’t have fun with it.
If the outcome is a foregone conclusion, no-one told the characters, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter commits itself admirably to being the standalone version of this story; like a ship in a bottle, it’s neatly constructed and corked in. That the crew’s battle feels hopeless works in the film’s favour, turning their fight into a heated battle against the inevitability of death, an all-consuming darkness which would relegate them to one measly chapter of a much bigger book.
THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER premiered at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on August 24th, 2024.
