The adaptation of a singular plot thread in chapter seven of Bram Stoker’s century-old tale, Dracula (1897), has taken nearly two decades for The Last Voyage of The Demeter (2023) to come to fruition. In 1996, Screenwriter Bragi Schut Jr. had always wanted to do his version of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), yet couldn’t quite crack the code for how to actualize his monster movie vision. Schut came up with the notion of taking the Captain’s Demeter logbook and turning it into a feature-length film while working as a model maker at Digital Domain. A colleague who worked on Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) showed him a miniature of the Demeter ship used in the film. From thereon, Schut, multiple studios, directors, writers, and actors would become intertwined in the horror show that was development hell for the project, as it would almost reach the finish line of being green-lit, only for things to fall apart. 

Dracula has become even more immortalized in movies, tv shows, books, and comics—Guinness reported that Dracula is the most portrayed literary character in over 270 films, surpassing even Sherlock Homes. The non-human entity has haunted many of our cinematic nightmares as the charismatic vampire has endured over a century and remains a culturally iconic figure in media. Universal Studios released another version of Dracula earlier in the year: the offbeat horror-comedy Renfield (2023), where Nicolas Cage opted to chew scenery and lean into his cartoonish persona that rendered the undead figure as an SNL skit. Director André Øvredal and the immensely talented physical actor, Javiet Botet, have decidedly reconfigured the Dracula figure into an animalistic creature, yet consciously aware of its motives and actions, producing an intense genre mixture of claustrophobic horror and brutalist man-versus-monster survival horror film. 


Even for those unfamiliar with the novel or the many adaptations, the film from the beginning boldly emphasizes the bleak outcome that befalls the poor crew of the Demeter. The cards are revealed, thereby banking on the journey: how did we arrive in the state of the vessel having crashed onto the shores of Whitby? The suspense, horror, and atmosphere are emphasized to the forefront, and Øvredal realizes this by going about the Carpenter school of enclosed dread—trapping a group of characters in an environment of overwhelming violence and seeing who rises to a leader and who succumbs to their impulsivity. Clemens (Corey Hawkins) is a local doctor, and he tries to convince Demeter’s second-in-command, Wojchek (David Dastmalchian), to come aboard the ship, as it needs extra crew members. Through conventional screenwriting circumstances, Clemens manages to save Captain Elliot’s (Liam Cunningham) son, Toby (Woody Norman), from an accident. Thanks to his heroics, Clemens is welcomed on board. 

The first act does its best to establish some fun, hokey dynamics with the crew members, as their personalities will play upon how they deal with their vampire problem. Yet in the stretched-out two-hour runtime, the film makes his interactions with the crew sparse and abridged, as the only other notable character given personality is the ship’s religious cook, Joseph (Jon Jon Briones), whose paranoia becomes heightened by the presence of the winged creature later in the film. Speaking of which, Dracula breaks free from his wooden bed and starts feasting on the shipmates—one person a night, and is hellbent on rationing his meal portions until he reaches London. The crew suspects nothing of it until they encounter a stowaway in one of the wooden crates, Anna (Aisling Franciosi). Everyone slowly realizes they’re trapped with a supernatural bloodthirsty force and must let go of their preconceptions of the natural world and work together to survive. 

Øvredal understands this is a tricky line: with everyone’s fate sealed, the film’s construction is complicated by the finale but by the rising action that culminates into what will be the last person standing. The notion of trapping Dracula on a ship allows us to forego our years of Dracula knowledge and place ourselves into a crew of hardened men unable to comprehend the unfathomable horror that has invited itself onto the vessel. While the film can never match up to the heights of Alien or The Thing (1982), Øvredal, the impressive makeup team that transforms Botet into the ghoulish feral creature, and production designer Edward Thomas (the ship is intricate and tangible, never relying on shaping the interiors with CGI or skimping out on detailed quarters—this is a set where the actors interacted with everything) help elevate the thinly-written material into a sinisterly, gnarly monster movie that touches on survival horror and gothic imagery. The Transylvanian, German fog-ridden scenery follows the Demeter, as does the sparks of contemporary horror jump scares that burst through the eerie dread. This Dracula is as cunning as Michael Meyers while maliciously barbaric as the Xenomorph on the Nostromo. Thankfully, the bleakness of the carnage never sacrifices its core cast of actors from managing to infuse their characters with more dimensions than what’s written on the page. 

Corey Hawkins is a welcome addition as the sore thumb of the Demeter crew, mainly occupied by adrift strangers and bedfellows picked up on the voyage and have more callouses on their hands than the learned doctor. He maintains a demeanor of level-headedness once the bodies start to pile, and he discovers Anna, entrusting each other with the dark secret of the supernatural undead creature wreaking havoc on their ship. Franciosi sadly only becomes prominent near the end of the second act, having to be unconscious due to lack of blood for being Dracula’s boat snack. Once awake, she brings about a despaired state of acceptance, realizing no one stands a chance at the creature that’s feasted on her village for centuries.

Hawkins and Franciosi’s dynamic plays wonderfully well. David Dastmalchian continues to be the most engaging character actor of every ensemble, and his performance as Wojchek is no different—he transforms the stubborn first-mate from being a one-dimension caricature to a man desperate for earned respect as he tries to quell the suspicions of a supernatural force hunting the crew. It’s a subtle performance that only an actor of his caliber can synthesize through his pathetic attempts to maintain peace.  And Liam Cunningham brings an assured commanding presence as the ship’s captain, always considered and measured in his abilities to be an active authority figure while allowing a tenderness with his relationship with Toby. 

The film is not interested in being a Dracula film, but more so about a creature called Dracula killing unsuspecting people. It’s a dour survival horror film that sadly overextends itself with an egregious epilogue that bookends the film to being a backdoor sequel into this universe. A misguided studio note that otherwise ruins a better-than-average monster film filled with talented actors interacting with the physicality of Javier Botet’s Dracula creation. He makes the horror scenes palpable and real when you know it’s an actor underneath all the prosthetics and makeup and not a computer-generated creature (although there are instances of special effects taking place when the creature is in flight). The journey may prove to be tedious once you realize the dramatic beats are in a cycle of a person being killed each night, yet, the film delivers its premise: it’s Dracula on a boat, not the most refreshing of adaptions, but a film that lends itself to being a ravenous bloody good time if you’re down with the bleakness of watching people realize their ultimate demise. 

Review Courtesy of Amritpal Rai

Feature Image from Universal Studios via New York Times