The Demeter sinks slowly but surely
There are two pieces of classic literature to which I’m happily devoted in the case of any film adaptation, re-imagining, modern take, or spin-off: Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I’ll save any further reading into my personal attachment to these two stories for therapy, because right now the latter intellectual property has a new entry in a long lineage of film adaptations, The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Based on a short but haunting chapter from the original Dracula text, The Last Voyage of the Demeter continues director André Øvredal’s impressive filmmaking streak, but too many imbalanced components can’t keep this Demeter afloat.
As the story in the original chapter goes, a merchant vessel named the Demeter sails from Romania to England carrying a small crew and a cargo of fifty wooden crates of earth (Dracula is stowed away in one). The crew members go missing one by one and the boat arrives on the English shore, tattered and empty; the crew are never found. Only the captain’s log survives, and the transcription of that log comprises the bulk of the chapter. The film follows a similar course, but instead delves deeper into the tragic happenings during Demeter’s time at sea. Specifically, we primarily follow the point of view of Mr. Clemens (Corey Hawkins), who joins the crew as a doctor at the last minute before setting sail. And unlike in the book, we also see Dracula aboard the ship, of course, because what’s a Dracula-based film without plenty of scenes involving the iconic baddie.
Unfortunately, this particular iconic baddie gets short shrift in The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Dracula is presented to us in many scenes via practical effects, but in others entirely or in part through CGI. Dracula appears monstrous and hokey, more akin to a vicious gargoyle than a charming count lurking in the shadows. Øvredal (Trollhunter; Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) has proved previously that he can deliver effective and inventive horror, and here he musters a handful of chilling sequences, and more than a few impressive shots, but jump scares and frenetic action spoil the artistry. The resulting tone seems aimed at greater market appeal. The musical score is similarly distracted by conjuring up thrills. Composed by the talented Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica), the score caps off an obnoxious amount of transition scenes with stingers. It’s annoying after a few, maddening after many.
The talent involved is greater than the sum of its parts, and buried within The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a notably stylish, grim, claustrophobic horror film. The scenes aboard the Demeter are dimly lit, but you can see everything you’re required to. The actors, especially Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi as a mysterious stowaway named Anna, and Liam Cunningham as Captain Eliot, are all able to rise above the feeble script. But that’s not enough. In the end, too many surface-level details dumb down the whole enterprise. That’s the price to pay when you’re a loyal fan of Dracula (and A Christmas Carol) adaptations: not all of them are going to work. Nevertheless, I’ll remain thirsty for more, like Dracula’s thirst for… oh you get it.
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The Last Voyage of the Demeter opens in theaters Friday, August 11th.
