The Last Voyage of the Demeter

 

Movie Review: The Last Voyage of the Demeter

The summer movie season is starting to wind down, but anticipated films continue to hit the big screen. My latest trip to the theater had me checking out the second Dracula film released this year. Namely, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, based on The Captain's Log from Bram Stokers’ 1897 gothic novel Dracula. 

The production values on this film are great and really set it apart.

Gorgeous sets, great lighting, a haunting Bear McCreary score, rich audio mixing, and strong direction. All combine with beautiful cinematography, strong performances, good CGI and creature effects to create the perfect tone for the harrowing tale to be told.

Sounds promising.

However, the overall film fell/felt flat.

No doubt a large part of that can be attributed to the film’s pacing.  

The Last Voyage of the Demeter clocks in with a runtime of 1 hour 58 minutes, but feels much, MUCH longer.  It takes the better part of an hour before things pop off and there really isn't much going on during the setup.  That’s just too long to wait for the action. Especially given the audience awareness of what’s behind the “mystery” on the ship.  Even once the crew is aware something is off, things continue to drag out before there’s a true sense of urgency or danger.  Undercutting the suspense and tension.  

Precisely what you don’t want to do with a horror film.

The script is thin and lazy as is the resulting character development.  For the all the great acting, there isn’t much to the make you care or root for the characters.  As for their actions (and inaction), to put it mildly they’re nonsensical at best. Silly at worse.

I really had high hopes for an epic Dracula story with The Last Voyage of the Demeter.  I got a visual feast that lacks any real punch.

No need to rush to the theater for this one. It should be streaming soon. 

The Last Voyage of the Demeter gets a 5.5 from me.

#demetermovie