Playing in Theaters
The Last Voyage of the Demeter has a beautifully chilling atmosphere, a talented & promising director, and some great performances in its favor. There is enough here to warrant more from most of this creative team. However, while I enjoyed the parts of genuine and surprisingly nuanced moments of storytelling, given the kind of film this is, too much of my enjoyment was bogged down by an unnecessarily long running time and painful sound design (more on that later). Not to mention that even a passing familiarity with the source material renders the film almost entirely moot. Although the film does attempt to remedy this with a decent surprise additional element, it only further demonstrates the issues that come from enforcing (if not demanding) name recognition, which, in this critic's opinion, is a more dangerous monster than the one stalking the boat.
Loosely based on a solitary section of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the story follows Dr. Clemens (Corey Hawkins), a Cambridge graduate with an intense curiosity, who searches for a ride on a sailing vessel from Carpathia back to England. He finds work on the crew of the Demeter helmed by Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham), transporting unusual and ominously marked cargo. Not long after setting sail, strange and horrible things befall the crew: the livestock is killed and drained of their blood, a stowaway is found within one of the cargo crates, and the crew starts seeing something seemingly inhuman hiding in the shadows, picking them off one by one. Armed only with their wits, a few firearms, and the will to survive, they must determine the nature of this beast and pray to make it to England before it's too late.
The most significant problem with the film is that it desperately wants to bank on the name recognition of Dracula without actually being another adaptation of the whole story. While taking a singular aspect of a known property and building an entire film around it is in and of itself a potentially fun idea, some aspects are better suited for such treatment than others.
As a character, Dracula is known for being suave, sophisticated, and predatorial. He is also a monster and, as such, has a primal side to his character. While most previous adaptations haven't shied away from showcasing and exploring that aspect of his character, and focusing on that side of him makes the most sense in the story & setting of this film, it still raises questions that ultimately make you wonder why it has to be Dracula in the first place, other than being a recognizable property. I'm just saying that it's sometimes better to take "inspiration" from previous works rather than insist upon being a direct "adaptation."
Even so, when the film isn't causing you to question the validity of its merits as an adaptation, it's bombarding you with excessively aggressive sound design. The entire film plays as though its volume has been cranked to the highest levels, especially during moments of terror that are bombarded with build-ups to loud jump scares. Granted, the film utilizes jump scares to their proper effect (having the thing that jump scares you remain as a present threat rather than a thing that jumps out and proclaims "BOO" before retreating back into the shadows), but they lose their effect when the majority of the film sounds as loud as those annoying attempts at an instant scare. It is possible that this was the byproduct of a negligent technician at my theater. Still, when compared to all of my previous experiences at the same theater with films featuring moments of similar sound styles, it's hard to suspect anything else. Still, sound designers must stop playing with their loudness settings in horror films.
As I alluded to before, a few positive aspects of the film make it worth examining potential future works from the creative team behind it. Director André øverdal, previously known for Troll Hunters and the criminally underrated horror treat, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, succeeds in delivering a chilling and visually striking atmosphere, along with a surprisingly nuanced narrative that tackles themes of perception, race, and courage. It's the kind of narrative choice that deserves a better movie.
The cast is remarkable all around, especially the MVP, Corey Hawkins. He carries the movie's weight on his shoulders like a champ, delivering an award-worthy performance with a character that demands another (better) movie. His dedication makes the whole experience worth sitting through.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a Dracula movie that should not have been a Dracula movie. While the connection to the classical monster is understandable, it can't help but prevent what might have otherwise been a clever idea for a film from reaching its full potential. On top of the painstakingly loud sound design, the film left me with nothing but questions and a slight headache. What little entertainment value can be found here is not worth the price of even a matinee theater ticket.
If you're curious, wait for it to come out on streaming. At least then, you'll have complete control over the volume.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
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