Director: André Øvredal
Screenplay: Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz
Starring: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, David Dastmalchian and Liam Cunningham
Country: United States
Running Time: 119 min
Year: 2023
I have a complicated relationship with most adaptations of Bram Stoker’s iconic novel Dracula. While I haven’t seen every adaptation (I still need to see the classic Universal Monsters film), the one that really won me over was Francis Ford Coppola’s take on Dracula. It’s bold, theatrical, cinematic and features (mostly) excellent performances from all involved. It’s something that scares me, but also remains a visual spectacle to enjoy too. Some of the unofficial adaptations, such as the Nosferatu films have also been points of contention for me. The recent Robert Eggers film left me incredibly disappointed, outside of some competent directorial efforts so when I heard that The Last Voyage of the Demeter, the recent adaptation of The Captain’s Log, a chapter from Stoker’s novel was getting its home media debut over here, I was conflicted to say the least.
Taking one chapter and splitting it across a two hour runtime didn’t sound like the most appealing thing in the world, but after hearing positive word of mouth from friends, including fellow Blueprint: Review writer David (who covered it in his Weekend of Trash, which you can read here), I came around to the idea. You’re probably curious as to what I thought of it? Well…
Demeter, directed by André Øvredal (who’s past films include Troll Hunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) follows Clemens (Corey Hawkins), a doctor who ends up onboard the Demeter, a ship housing the one and only Dracula on his voyage from Transylvania with an appetite for blood. Other supporting characters include Anna (Aisling Franciosi, of The Nightingale and Stopmotion fame), Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) and my favourite character, the quartermaster Wojchek (played by Polka-Dot Man himself, David Dastmalchian).
The cast is solid, and while they’re not all incredibly well-written by any stretch of the imagination, they get the job done and give the audience a reason to care about what’s going on, particularly with Clemens. Given how much the film is stretching out its narrative, there’s moments where I found it to drag slightly but what really makes the film work so well is the depiction of Dracula. Instead of giving him character and motivation like most adaptations, it treats him like a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise, a monster who wants to kill. Nothing about him is pleasant and the film has a delightful mean streak when it comes to his sequences that really surprised me. Dogs, doctors, children, women, none are safe when they’re in the way of him and it offers genuine stakes which I didn’t expect whatsoever.
My main issues with the film outside of how long it is lie with the lighting. It’s an awfully dark movie, sometimes to its detriment but thankfully, watching it in 4K with HDR helped alleviate this issue somewhat. Make sure you watch this one in the evening with the lights turned off, as I can’t imagine it’d be great with light glaring onto your TV or projector. The film also flips between practical effects for Dracula and some less convincing digital effects, but they’re serviceable and get the job done.
All in all, The Last Voyage of the Demeter probably won’t blow you away if you’ve seen any adaptation of Dracula before, but sets itself apart with a gnarly series of killings that you’d never see in other adaptations. There’s moments where it feels a little trashy, but that didn’t bother me as it’s a fresh place to take the film. I do wish it was shorter, as a 90 minute version of this would be excellent. But as it stands, it’s a fun time that horror fans will more than likely have a blast with if they watch it under the right circumstances.
Film: 
The Last Voyage of the Demeter released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD February 3rd via Dazzler Media. I was sent a retail copy and viewed the 4K UHD disc for the film and its extras. Offering a native 4K transfer, Demeter looks absolutely stunning and given its absence on physical media prior to this, it’s great to see it hit all three formats at once. Given how dark a lot of the film is, the 4K and its Dolby Vision HDR grade make the film look absolutely incredible. There’s multiple audio options to choose from too, with a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track, a Dolby Atmos track and a 2.0 LPCM stereo mix. I tested them all and found the Atmos track the most impressive, but all three sound spectacular. From an A/V perspective, this is a fairly flawless release. Optional English HOH subtitles are included. The following extras are included:
4K Presentation from the Original Elements
Presented in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
Audio Commentary with Director Andre Ovredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer
Deleted Scenes
From The Pits of Hell: Dracula Reimagined
Evil is Aboard: The Making of The Last Voyage Of The Demeter
Dracula and the Digital Age: Featurette
Demeter recently received a release in the States from Shout! Studios and this release ports over most of the extras from that disc. Missing are two commentary tracks, one with critic Meagan Navarro and another with actor David Dastmalchian, and an interview with writer Dr. Karen Sollznow.
The audio commentary with director Andre Ovredal and producer Bradley J. Fischer is a decent listen, and it’s obvious that Ovredal and Fischer are having a good time as they recount the history of the film, its production and more. It’s jam-packed with information about the filming and the pair have great chemistry on the track. Recommended to fans of the film.
Eight deleted scenes and an alternate opening are included, all viewable with optional director’s commentary.
Three featurettes are included, all of which dive into the making of The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Evil is Aboard: The Making of The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is a 10 minute featurette describing, as you’d expect, the making of the film. It discusses the inception and influences of the film, including Ridley Scott’s Alien. A decent watch. From The Pits of Hell: Dracula Reimagined is 7 minutes long and discusses the film’s take on Dracula, and how it focused on the demonic side of Dracula instead of every single aspect. It’s a decent featurette with interviews from the cast and crew. And finally, Dracula and the Digital Age focuses on the visual effects of the film and runs for 8 and a half minutes. There’s tons of comparison footage highlighting the before and after’s for the visual effects, including Dracula himself as well as the port, the technical aspects of water in the film and more. It’s easily the most interesting of the three featurettes. Finding out that almost all of the extras during the port sequences were digital blew my mind.
I was provided with a retail copy of this and it’s a very pretty package. Housed in a two disc case, with a lovely slipcover to boot, the package looks extremely pretty and comes with the film on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray.
While the film isn’t going to blow anybody away, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a fun creature feature with a neat little premise. The 4K UHD release from Dazzler is great, with fantastic image quality, a great audio mix and some solid supplements. Die-hard fans might want to grab the US Shout Factory disc if they want even more extras, but as it stands, this is one that will fit nicely in the collection of any horror fan. Recommended.
Disc/Packaging:
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