Last Voyage of the Demeter - A real "Captain's Log"

The Last Voyage of the Demeter - André Øvredal - 2023

★★★-This is a movie adapted from the “The Captain's Log” chapter in Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula novel. It follows the ill-fated crew of the merchant ship Demeter as they struggle to survive an ocean voyage from Transylvania to London as Dracula picks them off one by one. Basically Alien meets The Terror. 

It is a bummer of a movie, as you'd imagine if you know anything about this part of the book. If not, they'll tell you in the first minute of the film. 

The passage was a personal favorite part of the book and was rife with potential. I've always thought of the section as Dracula completely unhinged with no consequences. But in this film, they took it as also having no personality. Had a friend that said it was fun, and that was all I needed. However, pretty meh.

When I saw the trailer before Oppenheimer, I assumed it wasn't going to be great. The little they showed of Dracula looked bad. Looked like Golem in 2003 CGI. Plus, a late summer horror movie is almost always a bad sign. Studios either push it out with the blockbusters or during the Halloween season. 

Directed by André Øvredal, his sixth film (though I've never heard of his first, Future Murder, which doesn't appear to be available anywhere and doesn't have a Wikipedia page). I've seen the horror films at least—this includes Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Of those, this was my least favorite of his films.

Spent over 30 years in development hell. It was originally conceived back in 1992 on the back of the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins. However, the project languished in limbo until Amblin Partners acquired the rights in 2019.

Stars Corey Hawkins as Clemens, the ship's doctor. His treatments mostly consist of him pumping his own blood straight from his body into someone Dracula has fed on. While I personally may be no physician, I do know you can't just put any old blood into another person's body. A quick Google search says if a person is given the wrong blood type, depending on the types of bloods involved, the result is a major hemolytic transfusion reaction. What happens is, “the recipient’s immune system vigorously attracts the donated blood. The cells are ripped apart, tons of bad chemicals are released, and the person gets super sick. The kidneys can fail… first reddish urine then shutdown. The person can develop a severe flu like illness. They can go into shock and ultimately die. Mortality is high without treatment, and considerable even with it.” So, yeah, playing it fast and loose with that whole “do no harm” bit. Anyway, you might remember Hawkins from The Walking Dead, for his portrayal of Dr. Dre in Straight Outta Compton, or from the Spike Lee flick BlacKkKlansman. 

Also stars Game of Thrones alums Aisling Franciosi (she played Lyanna Stark) and Liam Cunningham as Captain Elliot (he was Davos Seaworth in GoT and has an insane amount of titles to his name). David Dastmalchian kind of steals the show as the first mate. He had a memorable role in The Dark Knight, was Kurt and Veb in the Ant-Man franchise, and played Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad. He has worked with Denis Villeneuve as well, appearing in Prisoners, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune. Javier Botet, a go-to monster/creature actor, plays Dracula. 

It was serviceable, with really solid performances, a claustrophobic feel, and good practical effects. I am a sucker for ship movies, especially olde timey ones, on that front it worked. When it is a slow burn, I liked it. But it's unoriginal, adding little to the story, the CGI was not good, it was too long, the end was dumb, and overall forgettable. Plus, a dog and animals die... And also humans, obviously. If you are a big vampire/Dracula fan, you'll dig it. Otherwise, probably worth skipping.