Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is an all-time classic novel that is easily recommendable. It may have been written over a century ago, but the language is easy to follow, and it’s a thrilling horror tale that manages to stay engaging from beginning to end. For those who haven't read it, the way the story is told is also somewhat unconventional, as everything is told through journal entries and newspaper clippings that were assembled by characters after the events had taken place. In the middle of the book is a section that includes journal entries from crew members of the ship who unknowingly transported Dracula to England. The ship was, of course, called the Demeter, and this movie is an expansion and extrapolation of that section of the story.

Pros

Acting from the cast is decent
No one is safe
Effects look alright
Not overly long

Cons

Uninteresting characters
“Modern” social commentary in a story that takes place in the 19th century
A boring version of Dracula in the most predictable portion of the story
Breaks its own rules of vampirism

Plot & Thoughts

A doctor named Clemens (Corey Hawkins) in Bulgaria is trying to get back to England and gets an opportunity to work aboard a vessel bound for London called the Demeter. The first mate, Wojcheck (David Dastmalchian), does not see the value of bringing Clemens on board, but after he rescues Captain Elliot’s (Liam Cunningham) grandson from being crushed by a box with a mysterious logo on it, Clemens is allowed to join the crew. Their journey starts off fine, but one morning, all the animals they’ve brought aboard are found slaughtered. It doesn’t take long before crew members go missing, and the Demeter’s crew needs to find the source of the horrors before they all die.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter has a challenge. If you are familiar with the story of Dracula, either by watching the movies or reading the book, you know how this movie will end if it is at all accurate to that section of the story. In the novel, the Demeter is found by local law enforcement, crashed upon the shores of England with no one left alive. All that is there to give any insight into what has happened are the journal entries of the crew. Therefore, there is no reason to expect anyone will survive in The Last Voyage of the Demeter. The title itself suggests that the ship will be a casualty of this adventure as well. I’m not suggesting that there is no point in retelling a story or a section of the story in which the outcome is already well known, as you can still have an entertaining movie if there are interesting characters involved.

Of course, you know that I wasn’t about to suggest that The Last Voyage of the Demeter has interesting characters. Despite the actors doing a decent job with what is given to them, the characters are not exactly complex or engaging beyond the surface level. The only character with a real arc in terms of his personality changing is the first mate, played by David Dastmalchian. He is the only character who shows growth, as he is more accepting of the main character than he was at the beginning. He also demonstrates a personal conflict with some of the decisions being made due to his attachment to the Demeter as his ship and home. The protagonist is just kind of at the whim of the plot. He’s a doctor who cares, and that’s all there really is to him. The captain probably suffers the most of any of the characters, but that’s the most memorable thing about him. Even Dracula is pretty dull in this story.

Dracula, in other movies in which he exists as a character, usually has a lot more going on. Here, he serves the same purpose as the alien from It: The Terror from Beyond Space, the alien in The Thing from Another World, or the xenomorph from Alien. He is a monster, lurking in the shadows, feasting upon the people foolish enough to wander into a room alone. He never does anything like transform into a human character or manipulate anyone with his evil talents. He’s just a big bat-man who is killing the crew off one by one. In that regard, the movie accomplishes what it set out to do, and if you can look past it being an uninventive idea, Last Voyage of the Demeter is a relatively fun, spooky, harmless film.

The last thing I’ll mention before wrapping things up is that this film commits the sin of dating itself in terms of when it was made. A movie that didn’t have “The Message” in it at some point in the years since 2016 was a rarity. Unfortunately, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is not one of those exceptions and has to inject some clunky social commentary about racism and girl-bossing into its story. The overtly Hollywood-style racism feels somewhat misplaced since this is a story that takes place in the Eastern Hemisphere, but it’s thankfully relatively brief. The girl-bossing part is much more prevalent and awkward, however. In the final act, the only female character is turned into a Ripley, who is the best person to handle a firearm in their attempts to kill Dracula, for some reason.

TL;DR

I’ve watched two not-Dracula movies this year, and it should be no surprise which I prefer. Nosferatu is a more traditional Dracula story than The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which I prefer. Nonetheless, this is a pretty harmless fun horror movie that doesn’t overextend itself beyond being a simple movie about a monster aboard a ship that is slowly killing people off. Aside from its cringeworthy moments, which severely date when it was made, it’s far better than other Dracula movies I’ve seen.

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