The Last Voyage of the Demeter; Making Way for the Nosferatu

Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes:

Based on a single chilling chapter from Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula, The Last Voyage of the Demeter tells the terrifying story of the merchant ship Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo–fifty unmarked wooden crates–from Carpathia to London. Strange events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship. When the Demeter finally arrives off the shores of England, it is a charred, derelict wreck. There is no trace of the crew.

Review:

I love the Universal Monsters and I think their Dracula revisions have been a mixed bag. They don’t quite fit new ideas with the old tropes.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which is based on a chapter from the Bram Stoker novel is very old school. It doesn’t mess with the formula. Demeter is content to be the archetype, an introduction for new fans not fully familiar with the Universal classics.

Demeter also makes an attempt to connect itself to Nosferatu (the counts Germanic folklore twin) — indirectly, with its creature design, and in style, directly to the German Expressionist classic directed by F.W. Murnau and which starred a very scary Conrad Veidt. A version of that German masterpiece, scripted and directed by Robert Eggers, is scheduled to be released later this year. It’s being distributed in a joint deal by Focus Features and Universal.

In Demeter night replaces the moody black and white of the original Bela Lugosi film. The ocean serves as both castle and mansion setting for the coming blood sucking kills which are not overly graphic. A game male and one lone female cast gives credible performances. To cover the plot hole of why the count doesn’t kill all the crew at once- well, the count is not a sailor, the voyage to London is long and he needs to ration the crew after draining all the livestock for his blood fix if he wants to get there as undead rather than Romanian cinders. Also, this is the Count’s introduction to humanity, they don’t discover that the Count can’t survive sunlight until halfway through Demeter.

The film doesn’t waste a lot of time on characterization. The cast is creative and talented enough to fill in the details through method absorption. There are small nods to racism and feminism. The damsel knows everything about Dracula, so she’s essential personnel. And she can shoot a rifle. It’s a perfectly enjoyable setup feature for the coming Robert Eggers Nosferatu.