The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Prey Anchor

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

After many, many Dracula/vampire movies, a good, simple idea like this one works surprisingly well, thanks to the fixed, moody setting, intricate sound design, and an eerie, malevolent monster.

It's 1897, and the Demeter has stopped in Romania to take on cargo. Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham) orders three new crewmen hired. First mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian) chooses the men, rejecting Clemens (Corey Hawkins), a Black doctor with a Cambridge education. But when the new crew lay eyes on the ship's cargo, a crate adorned with a mysterious symbol, they storm off.

So — after also saving the Captain's 9-year-old grandson Toby (Woody Norman) — Clemens gets the job. The voyage starts well, and the men are excited about a bonus if they can get the cargo to London in time. But Clemens hears strange noises in the cargo hold and discovers a young woman, Anna (Aisling Franciosi), near death. He saves her life, but it's not long before a more sinister presence begins to make itself known.

For The Last Voyage of the Demeter, writer Bragi Schut Jr. zeroed in on Chapter 7 of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, which told the story of the ill-fated ship bound from Transylvania to London, and turns it into a crackerjack single-location scare-fest, with many dark nooks and crannies in which to hide, but nowhere to run. (It's like a Friday the 13th summer camp or the spaceship in Alien.)

Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal (Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) makes the most of this setting, with pounding storms, eerie fog, shadowy corridors, and a knocking noise echoing through the ship's giant wooden beams. He's also smart enough to not show too much of the vampire so that it's more of a threat (and so that cheesy CG effects don't break the spell). Øvredal keeps up a thrilling pace, with moments of quiet downtime and character interaction in-between attacks, which makes things more gripping and more emotional.

The biggest flaw in The Last Voyage of the Demeter (aside from the unsettling treatment of children and animals) is that we already know the outcome — that the ship will arrive in London with not a soul on board — and the conventional ending is a bit of a letdown, but before that, it's a solid, toothsome entertainment.