Grade: B+
There’s a short chapter in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” book that, in film adaptations, either only gets briefly touched on, or wholly unacknowledged. It illustrates how our titular character travels from Transylvania to London (and causes a little trouble on the ship). The team of director André Øvredal, working from a screenplay by Bragi F. Schut and Zak Olkewicz, has tackled an underrepresented portion of one of the most classic literary works of all time with The Last Voyage of the Demeter. It’s an hour and 58 minute expansion upon an obscure part of the story. It’s an inspired idea, and a wildly successful gamble.
With such a focused narrative, there’s no fluff, or extraneous details. We briefly get our characters established, and the Demeter promptly sets sail. It’s 1897. There are several large, ominous, suspiciously heavy crates among the cargo these men are transporting. We find out early on that one of them contains a young woman named Anna, who is quite ill when they first discover her, but is nursed back to health by a series of blood transfusions administered by the doctor on board.
We already know the vampire who needs no introduction is on board, but the characters don’t. Strange events begin happening at night. Animal lovers might want to steer clear of this movie. First, all the livestock are discovered dead one morning, scratched and mauled, with a strange bite mark on their necks. Then the size of the crew begins to decrease. Some, he just kills, but a couple of them enjoy short-lived stints as vampires until the sun puts an end to that.
I’ve apparently seen a few of these actors before, but the only one I knew by name and immediately recognized was Jon Jon Briones – a Broadway/musical theatre performer. I saw him star as the Engineer in Miss Saigon in 2003. He has made a career out of that role, playing him in the 25th anniversary concert film. The cast also features Corey Hawkins (BlacKkKlansman, In the Heights) as the doctor, Liam Cunningham as the captain, and the delightful Aisling Franciosi as Anna.
The cinematography is beautiful to look at. The sound is appropriately effective – with every slurp, spurt, slice, and gurgle in all their glory. It’s emotionally charged and exciting. There were moments where I didn’t do my usual ritual in preparing for a jump scare I think might be coming, because I was so invested in the dialogue and characterization from this top-notch ensemble. Plot points and story arcs have room to breathe and have true poignancy, and I could even forgive the obvious potential sequel(s) setup. I hope we don’t get any more. It would just be diminishing returns. Renfield and The Invitation were two films out within the last year that covered similar ground, and deserved to be quickly forgotten about, like they were. The Last Voyage of the Demeter sheds light on a part of the book you might not be familiar with, and it’s a great journey in many ways. You could say it doesn’t suck.
Grade: B+
Film Reviews by Mark 
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