Vampires have been a huge part of cinema for its entire existence. One of the most beloved horror films of the silent era is a clever rip-off ofDraculaand there have been plenty of other attempts to alter the material. Since the era of Universal Monsters seems to be making a return,The Last Voyage of the Demeterseems to be setting sail on familiar seas.
The Universal Monster moviesused to be the biggest film franchise around. Decades before the big superhero movie boom, simple horror films based on classic literature ruled the multiplex. Those stories never went away, though people seem to have forgotten how to use them properly. In the wake of the Dark Universe’s deserved demise, it’s time for some new spins on old ideas.
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What isThe Last Voyage of the DemeterAbout?
The Last Voyage of the Demeterdepicts the crew of a merchant ship on a quest from the fictional Balkan nation of Carpathia to London. They’re charged with the transport of fifty unmarked crates and promised healthy pay, so long as they make landfall in London within a reasonable time limit. The ship’s captain welcomes a young doctor named Clemens aboard as he sets sail. While they’re at sea, the crew of the Demeterdiscovers something horrific hiddenaway in their cargo hold. When their livestock turns up dead and drained of all the blood in their body, Clemens and his current allies are forced to reckon with something beyond their comprehension. Luckily, a young stowaway from the region can identify the threat as none other than the vampire Dracula.
Demeterdepicts a group of people in a nightmarish locked-room scenario with the father of all vampires.It’s likeAlienbutset on the unforgiving sea instead of the vacuum of space. The project will come to the screen courtesy of respected Norwegian horror filmmaker André Øvredal. Øvredal exploded onto the scene with his cult classic 2010 horror comedyTroll Hunter. Since then, he’s delivered one of the strongest body horror films of modern memory withThe Autopsy of Jane Doeand directed the well-received adaptation ofScary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Øvredal joined the production in 2019, but the original script was written and revised as far back as 2002. The first draftcame fromEscape Roomscribe Bragi F. Schut, and the latest was written byBullet Trainscreenwriter Zak Olkewicz. With more than 20 years of buildup, the project must have had some strong source material.
What is “The Captain’s Log” About?
“The Captain’s Log” is most of the seventh chapter of Bram Stoker’sseminal 1897 novelDracula. It is a chunk of the story that is left out of almost every retelling or adaptation of the original story, but it is an extraordinarily striking self-contained short story.Draculais an epistolary novel, told almost entirely through various scraps of newspaper articles, diary entries, and interpersonal letters. As such, “The Captain’s Log” is delivered through the entries of the captain of a downed ship. The relevant passages are copied by Mina Murray and sent off as a curiosity.
“The Captain’s Log” is the basis ofThe Last Voyage of the Demeter. The story follows an unnamed captain who explains that strange happenings have gradually made his voyage from Turkey to London. Each night, as a member of his crew takes watch, someone is lost and no body is found. Reports begin to emerge ofa tall thin man, appearing from below deck and skulking around without a place on the ship. After most of the crew is killed, the captain is forced to start taking watch for himself.
While he’s out one night, a mate comes screaming up from below deck. He insists that the tall thin man is here and that he’s responsible for thedeaths aboard the ship. He states that he engaged the thin man and attempted to stab him with his knife, only to find the blade pass through his body like air. He insists that the man is in one of the crates below deck, but the captain maintains that no force will move them. After searching, the mate throws himself from the ship, claiming that only the sea can save him. The Captain insists on going down with his ship, ties his hands to the helm, and dies clutching a crucifix. The Demeter washes up in Whitby without a single living soul aboard, save for a large dog who immediately runs off into the woods.
The Last Voyage of the Demeteris a brilliant horror concept. Take a chapter that most people leave out of a beloved story and bring it to the spotlight. It helps that “The Captain’s Log” is already an incrediblypowerful piece of horror fiction. Øvredal has his work cut out for him with this upcoming film. Look out forThe Last Voyage of the Demeter, as it sets sail on Jun 28, 2025.
