In this film, he is evil incarnate, as though sprung from the deepest, darkest regions of the human imagination. They rid him of any of the hypnotic charm he may have had in the hands of Lugosi or Christopher Lee. It eschews the Bela Lugosi vampire model in favor of a more rough-hewn, demonic aesthetic, like Nosferatu, with needle teeth and wings. It's a nice twist on the usual Dracula movie. When the carnage begins, Øvredal keeps the bloodsucker mostly out of sight, hidden in corners, shot in tight close-ups, building anticipation for the eventual monstrous reveal. Then, he builds tension slowly, shrouding the screen in fog and dark shadows where strange things just might be lurking. Director André Øvredal takes his time introducing the characters and setting up the situation on the ship before the first kill. We get some of the usual vampire lore, and he is certainly a presence, but this is the story of the crew fighting against a great unknown. “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” isn’t exactly Dracula’s story. “In the night it drinks our blood, and he is on the ship. “The thing wears the skin of a man,” says stowaway Anna (Aisling Franciosi). That evil comes in the form of Dracula (Javier Botet), a 400-year-old aristocratic vampire who feeds on the crew, killing them one by one, to regain his full powers. “Evil is onboard,” says Olgareen (Stefan Kapicic). When someone or something begins attacking the on-board livestock at night, rumors fly amongst the crew. The bonus pay will be hard earned by the crew… if there is any crew left by the time they hit dry land. “Our charter has agreed to pay a bonus for timely arrival in London,” says Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham). Set in 1897, the story begins when the Demeter is chartered to carry fifty mysterious, unmarked wooden crates, contents unknown, from Eastern Europe to England. A claustrophobic nineteenth century thriller, it swaps out the commercial space tug Nostromo and Xenomorph creature for the merchant ship Demeter and the most famous vampire of all time. Haven’t read the book? Then think of it as “Alien” on the high seas. “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” a new horror film now playing in theatres, is based on the chapter "The Captain's Log" from Bram Stoker's novel “Dracula.” Told through news clippings and notes from the captain’s log of the Demeter, the chapter details the horrifying voyage that brought Count Dracula to England. THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER: 3 ½ STARS
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