Movie Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

As has been stated various times in previous reviews, the BankofMarquis is always a sucker for “Ten Little Indians” style of films - the ones where a group of people are stranded in some isolated place and are picked off, one-by-one by some sort of malevolent force (a monster, a killer, nature…) - films such as ALIEN, John Carpenter’s THE THING and, of course, Agatha Christie’s TEN LITTLE INDIANS fill the bill here very well.

Add THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER to this list - and, surprisingly, it was quite enjoyable.

Based on a brief part of the classic Bram Stoker novel, DRACULA (where they read the Captain’s log of the ill-fated Demeter, the ship that brought Dracula to England), THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER fleshes out that story with a doomed crew on this doomed ship and plenty of guts, gore and scares to fill an enjoyable 2 hours.

Professionally Directed with a sure hand by Andre Ovredal (TROLL HUNTER), Demeter moves along at a brisk (enough) pace, filling in enough backstory to give the audience some emotional stakes in the 10 (or so) folks that will (probably) not make it to the end of the story.

Corey Hawkins (Dr Dre in STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON) is a winning (enough) leading man to go on this journey with. He brings the right level of gravitas and reality to an unreal situation and he acts (for the most part) somewhat realistically for this type of story.

The rest of the cast is a bunch of competent “B” players - the most recognizable is Liam Cunningham (Sir Davos in GAME OF THRONES) as the Captain of the Demeter. All the rest of the crew chew the scenery (or get chewed) appropriately when their time to shine (or die) comes along quite nicely.

Special notice needs to be made of David Dastmalchian (Polka-Dot Man in THE SUICIDE SQUAD) as the First Mate of the Demeter. Dastmalchian is growing in stature as a performer who always gives a good performance in whatever he is in - no matter how good or bad the script is - and that is no exception here. He captures the attention anytime he is on the screen (which is not enough in this film).

Assisting this “good enough” Horror Film is Bear McReary’s score. This talented composer (known for scoring many TV shows including THE WALKING DEAD) brings a level of eeriness and tension to the trapped sailors aboard the Demeter and the music (as is often the case in Horror films) adds to the feeling of the film.

But, of course, this film IS a Dracula film, so it does hang onto whether or not you “roll with” this film’s version of Dracula - which is much more like the NOSFERATU vampire than it is the TWILIGHT or traditional DRACULA vampire - and this works very well for what Director Ovredal intended this film (and perhaps, it’s sequels) to be - a MONSTER movie and NOT a love story.

All-in-all a very enjoyable 2 hours in the cinema with enough scares and gore to satisfy.

Letter Grade: B (the very definition of a “B” picture)

7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)