MOVIE REVIEW: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (R)
Right on the heels of the Nicolas Cage/Nicholas Hoult-headlined Universal Pictures horror comedy, “Renfield” comes the vampire-centric epic, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter.” Also from Universal Pictures, this film takes a more straightforward horror approach to the proceedings.
Before getting to the actual review, it should be noted that there’s a strong chance this movie will already be gone from theaters by the time you read this because it’s bombing at the box-office. A real shame, too, because it’s pretty darn solid. At the very least, it’s vastly superior to Universal’s “Mummy” reboot starring Tom Cruise.
In The Last Voyage of the Demeter, a ship crew comes to the horrific realization that they’re in possession of very deadly cargo while on an epic journey from Carpathia to England. Upon discovering that something has killed their livestock, it isn’t long before they find themselves on the menu as they’re slowly picked off, one by one, by a terrifying onboard presence.
This old-fashioned, deliberately paced period piece from the gifted André Øvredal (“Trollhunter,” “The Autopsy of Jane Doe,” and “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”) plays like a fusion of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Ridley Scott’s “Alien” with a little of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” thrown in for good measure. While there is a certain familiarity to the proceedings, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is, for the most part, deftly executed. Øvredal has fashioned a handsome production that benefits from a handful of strong performances, most notably Corey Hawkins, Liam Cunningham, and David Dastmalchian (a terrific actor who has proven to be an effective supporting player in a fair share of noteworthy 2023 releases, including “The Boogeyman,” “Oppenheimer,” and the upcoming “Late Night With the Devil.)
Likewise, the highest praise is in order to the likes of Tom Stern for his outstanding cinematography, Bear McCreary for his effective score, and Edward Thomas for some of the strongest production design work of 2023. All of the previously mentioned attributes make for the kind of rich, authentic, detailed experience that demands to be viewed on the biggest screen possible.
Further props to the effects team. Dracula as presented in this movie is genuinely frightening and for large chunks of the movie, he’s hidden in the shadows. This lends the film a kind of suspense that leaves quite a bit to the imagination. When we do eventually get a good look at him, he is the absolute personification of evil.
Taking its cue from Bram Stoker’s original “Dracula’ text, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is a horror film of the grim variety but given the title of the movie, that should come as absolutely no surprise. Despite its extremely dark nature, though, this is still a very entertaining film to watch, most notably for horror fans. And I’ll be darned if I wasn’t surprised by the direction this movie took in its final moments. It’s a shame that the poor box-office suggests we won’t get to see Øvredal have an opportunity to expand on this particular universe because I’d love to experience more of it. Therefore, here’s hoping “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” finds life in streaming and on physical media because, if you’ll pardon the pun, I feel like a lot of horror fans missed the boat on this one.
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