Dracula is aboard their ship and the crew of the Demeter may not be ready to handle the monster. Here’s everything we know about the new movie.
What happens when you put Dracula on a ship from Transylvania to England? And what happens when he gets hungry mid-voyage? This is the story of the Demeter, the ghost ship from the book Dracula. The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a new film following this story set to come out later this year.
This film follows the crew as they attempt to deal with whatever horror has boarded their ship. Will they make it out? Will the ship stay on course? Here’s everything we know about The Last Voyage of the Demeter.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter: The Plot
The story is based on a single chapter from the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, written in 1897. For many people, Dracula has been a series of scary movies or even just a legend of horror. However, when first published it was a sensation. One of the reasons was its reliance on an irregular narrative. This meant that it was one of the first to rely on things like diary entries, letters, and other written correspondence to tell the story. One of these was a short chapter simply called “The Captain’s Log.”
For the crew of the Demeter, their journey begins relatively regularly. The captain realizes that his crew is on edge, but he isn’t sure why. He watches as they bring aboard their supplies and a few large, very heavy (and somewhat suspicious) boxes.
After a few days at sea, a crew member goes missing. A few days later a crew member tells the captain that there is a strange man on board. The captain sees it as the sailors’ superstition but agrees to search the ship. They find nothing of interest. When more of the crew begin disappearing it becomes clear that something is going on. Finally, there is a terrible storm during which another member of the crew goes missing, and the first mate begins to lose his mind. He insists there is something on board and that he will find it. However, he soon goes completely crazy and throws himself overboard.
When the captain finally realizes what is happening, he begins to pray, puts a rosary in his hands, and lashes himself to the helm, hoping that if something happens to him, the ship may still reach its destination. That is where the Captain’s Log ends.
The film may take a slightly different turn, perhaps taking cues from the Alien franchise where people are trapped with a monster and attempting to outwit it. There may also be more of a variety to the cast instead of it just being the sailors. However, depending on how the movie decides to function, as a thriller or as a true horror story, it may also have a different ending. Although it may be more interesting to have it end essentially with Dracula “winning” and the ship arriving in England with him on board and ready for the story to continue.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter: The Cast
Since the move was announced two years ago the cast has shifted dramatically. Originally, Viggo Mortensen was set to star as the captain, but he dropped out of the project. This may have been due to the amount of time it was taking to finalize details in preproduction.
However, the cast now features a good number of younger actors with some familiar faces mixed in to round out everything. The captain will be played by inestimable Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones), who will bring his own form of gravitas to the role. Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton) will play Clemens, a doctor aboard the Demeter. Aisling Franciosi (God’s Creatures) will play a stowaway, and David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad) will play Wojchek, Demeter’s first mate.
In an interesting bit of casting, actor Javier Botet will play the role of Dracula. Botet is best known for playing creatures in a variety of films including Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, It: Chapter 2, and Slender Man. The Spanish actor is not particularly known for speaking roles, so this may hint at how Dracula will be portrayed. While we may see him as a creature, he may not have any vocal interactions with the crew of the ship.
The film is being directed by André Øvredal (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) and is being produced by Phoenix Pictures and Universal Pictures.
Release Date
The Last Voyage of the Demeter will be released in theaters on August 11, 2023.
Everything Else We Know
As previously stated, the film has languished in development limbo for a number of years. The cast was originally announced as featuring Viggo Mortensen, Noomi Rapace, and Jude Law. Unfortunately, all three jumped ship when it looked like the film might not make it through pre-production. However, the new cast seems better suited to their roles and the film has potential as André Øvredal has a decent track record when it comes to horror.
There have been over 200 films featuring some form of the Dracula character which often makes it difficult for people to be excited about them. However, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is not a simple retelling. It is a way of filling in the gap in a story that has been remade far too many times. The fact that the Captain’s Log has never been exclusively focused on means that there is quite a bit a director can do. In fact, the story has the option of going in a variety of directions that might be different from anything we’ve seen before. André Øvredal already wowed us with his other horror outings, and now he’s been given the opportunity to try again.
