The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

Score: 3 / 5

The premise is brilliant. Taking a single chapter of a classic -- one often skipped in adaptations, or reduced to a feverish montage sequence -- and dramatizing it as a standalone work. It's a much smarter way of making a new movie about an old monster than something like Dracula Untold or Renfield, in my humble literary purist's opinion. Something about this particular story, too, feels catered to a dynamic and terrifying horror film. It's one of the scariest chapters in Bram Stoker's novel, written in segments of a captain's log as crew members of the titular ship start disappearing and paranoia sets in. The isolated nature of a ship on the high seas and the limited number of resources available turn the episode into an And Then There Were None situation, but with a bloodthirsty monster stalking the decks by night.

But telling this story is not without its risks, not least because of course its premise allows for remarkably little tension or suspense. Anybody even remotely familiar with the source material or its plentiful adaptations knows full well the fate of the Demeter and its crew. Everybody -- but everybody -- knows, moreover, that Dracula is the monster hiding onboard and that he does indeed make it safely from Transylvania to England. So if you're the kind of audience member who wants to be surprised by plot, and who feels jaded by anything familiar, steer clear of this voyage.

For me, director André Øvredal's (Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) latest film is at best a middling work between these exciting possibilities and dangerous pitfalls. His flair for thickly stylized visuals is on full force here, and clearly he's enjoying making movies with larger budgets these days. The problem with this is that he spends a lot of time with wide shots of the beautifully realized ship -- the production designers here deserve accolades -- drifting through sunrise- or sunset-adjacent ocean vistas and these repeated shots leech any claustrophobic tension from the film. The horror would be more effective had he taken more inspiration from Lifeboat than Life of Pi, if that makes sense. I'm glad he made a beautiful movie, but fewer color-graded waterscapes and more long takes in the bowels of the ship would have made it more appropriately atmospheric and effectively scary.

Not that there aren't scares aplenty, and most of them are expertly conceived and executed. By the time the Demeter leaves Varna and takes to the ocean, we're aware of mysterious boxes in its hull with diabolic insignia. We meet Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham), his grandson Toby (Woody Norman), first mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian), and most importantly, last-minute addition Clemens (Corey Hawkins). Clemens, a doctor, is fortunately added to the ship's roster, as his medical knowledge and skillset will soon come in handy. Perhaps the greatest surprise of the film is when, not long into the voyage, one of the Romanian boxes is accidentally opened and a stowaway is revealed. Her name is Anna, and she's played by the brilliant Aisling Franciosi; sickly and pale, and clearly afraid, she requires multiple blood transfusions facilitated by the good doctor.

While Anna's presence is unexpected, it does thankfully add some variation to the cast list. She was apparently offered to the vampire by her village; the idea seems to be that she is his reserve blood supply, which is creepy and weird, and doesn't make full sense as Dracula seems much more intent on eating the animals and crew. Each time night falls, the movie takes on the pacing of Alien, with a particularly monstrous Dracula preying on various seamen. I personally didn't like how monstrous they made him, though the mostly practical effects are wonderful. He's such an interesting character, and most of what makes him interesting is taken away when he's portrayed as a nonverbal gargoyle-like demon. I'd have much preferred, as in the novel, to see a shadowy man wandering around the ship, because that level of uncanny menace is much scarier to me.

But the internal logic of the film -- whether a fault of editor or writer -- hamstrings even these attempts at effective horror. The first scene of the film is of the Demeter washing ashore in Whitby, England, so that just in case you weren't quite sure what would happen to the ship (if not its crew or cargo), any curiosity or doubt is immediately put to rest. It's not unlike walking through a haunted house with a lit flashlight: some things may still frighten you, but you've got a lifeline and lots of warning time. Similarly, though perhaps less a problem for some viewers, the film's ending does not match up with the source material, which to me marginally defeats the entire premise of this film. In fact, even Dracula's modus operandi doesn't quite match up, and I was distinctly annoyed that the film suggests merely his bite can "infect" someone and make them become a vampire as well, which is absolutely unfounded in Stoker's work. The manner in which Dracula "escapes" the ship for England, the manner of the death of some of his victims, and the survival of one crew member who then embarks on a vendetta aren't supported by the novel, and I wish the screenwriters had asked themselves what exactly their goal was, then, in dramatizing this one chapter. The final minutes feel like a cheap gamble to open the door for a sequel, which is patently absurd.