The Last Voyage of the Demeter - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Last Voyage of the Demeter



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



AV NIRVANA is member and reader-supported. When you purchase an item using our links, we might earn an affiliate commission.
​

Movie
Everyone knows the tale of Dracula. It’s one of the biggest horror classics of all time, spanning literally a hundred years of film making (almost) and just as many iterations of the famous blood drinking count. We’ve had Bela Lugosi’s gothic tales, action adventure films in the vein of Van Helsing, or legendary dramas such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula (which is arguably the best adaptation), or horror/comedies with Nicolas Cage’s Renfield. But The Last Voyage of the Demeter takes a “literal” page out of the original novel by focusing in on an untold tale (to my knowledge) of the story, based upon a single chapter of the original story.

We all know the basis for how Dracula turned up on England’s door step. He traveled across the seas on a Russian Schooner, which arrived barren and empty upon England’s shores (so they thought) and ravaged the countryside for years. But what exactly happened aboard that the Demeter? Well, that’s what we’re here to unpack. A take on what happened that mysterious voyage that left a an entire crew slaughtered, and a monster loose upon the countryside of England.

Adapted straight from the Captain’s Log section of the classic novel, we start out in Bulgaria, where Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) is taking on new shipmates for his under staffed cargo ship, as well as 50 private crates from a mysterious Romanian client to England. While WE all know what those crates contain, Captain Eliot is clueless to the danger he brings on board, blithely enlisting the aide of doctor Clemens (Corey Hawkins) to work as both ships hand and ship’s doctor. The voyage itself seems to go decently for the first day, with the crews spirits in high order and the promise of a hefty bonus if they get the ship to England post haste. But strange events start to unfold the first night, with Clemens finding a woman on the edge of death in one of the crates, only for the next night to see all the animals slaughtered by some form of “beast”.

Things don’t stop there, as the mysterious woman named Anna (Aisling Franciosi) warns of a vicious monster on board the ship. A monster that can not be stopped by human hands and feeds on blood. Thinking she’s crazy, the captain poo poos her warnings, only to realize that she may have been right when his crew starts vanishing or ending up just like the live stock each night. With only a few days to reach England, and things getting more and more out of control, Clemens and the rest of the crew of the Demeter make their last stand against a legendary monster who is growing more and more powerful as time goes on, and each feeding relieves the crew of one more member.

I had a lot of hope for The Last Voyage of the Demeter, directed by none other than Andre Ovredal, who is one of the the most underrated horror directors of the last 10 years. He was most famous for making the weird found footage mockumentary Troll Hunter, then crafted the eerie and disturbing flick The Autopsy of Jane Doe (actually my first film reviewed here on Avnirvana), along with 2018s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (which was an INCREDIBLY creepy anthology film), and now he has the chance to work on a Dracula story. The end result is something that I truly enjoyed, but also saw a lot of flaws in. The Last Voyage of the Demeter isn’t going to be an amazing flick, but it does monster horror right in so many ways.

Usually we see the monster form of Dracula mixed with his human Count side, but Demeter and Andre take a very tight and focused look at his monster form, crafting a story that is visually terrifying instead of simply being terrified of Dracula’s power itself. Almost like Man-Bat from Batman, we never really see his “facade” of being human, but rather a vicious bat like monster that is slowly increasing in power and physical prowess the more he feeds on the human crew. Not to mention that Andre shows no fear of showing blood and gore, with child violence, crushed skulls, ripped open throats and various dismemberment is on full display. The movie is never truly gross out, but certainly is not neutered to make it a PG-13 horror film by any stretch of the imagination.

On the other side of the coin, the film feels a bit too long and drawn out. We get a bit too much backstory on the crew members and Clements himself, to the point that by the middle act of the movie we’re wondering if they’re ever going to confront the monster. It drags a bit until the third act where things take off in a BIG way, finally revealing Dracula in all his fury, complete with blood curdling screams and the slaughter of the crew in ungodly ways. A joke I heard during its theatrical run was that The Last Voyage of the Demeter was basically Alien with a vampire, and I can kind of see the comparison. It follows a crew desperately trying to stay alive while an elusive being grows powerful by destroying the entire cast, until only one remains. It may not be a perfect comparison, but the claustrophobic setting is certainly very similar, and leads to a similarly predictable end. Probably the major problem in the entire film is that it spends a bit too much time on the points of view of the human passengers. We get mini tales of human greed, love, angst, and various oddities that side line the major plot, and sort of hamper the tale from being as engaging and attention grabbing as it could have been. A slow burn that seems to pick up the pace, only to slow back down again and repeat that cylcle several times until the non stop action of the final act.




Rating:

Rated R for bloody violence




Video:

Kind of like Strays, I was definitely disappointed that The Last Voyage of the Demeter didn’t get a 4K UHD release. This was the kind of film that would benefit from the advances in HDR/Dolby Vision due to the massive amounts of black scenes, as well as the lovely shade of blue that the color grading leans to. Maybe we’ll see a 4K release next year, as Universal seems to be tentatively releasing lower performing films as Blu-ray only, then when sales are good enough releases a 4K UHD release (M3ghan, Black Phone). But either way, the Blu-ray we have here in front of us is quite beautiful. Shot digitally it has a deep black and blue tone to the film, bathing most of the scenes in utter darkness, while daylight sequences are more of an amber brown hue. Fine details tend to be very good, with every plank and board in the ship showing off individual slivers and textures, while the darkness is deep and inky with fairly few flaws. As is the case with a dark movie that has a heavy blue color grading, we see a little banding going on in the darkness (not a horrible amount, but the foggy scenes show it more visibly), and some crush in the background. Again, this is not some shocking and horrifying amount of artifacting, but on a film like this that pushes the Blu-ray 1080p format to the limits, you’re going to see a little bit. Otherwise this is a great and beautifully textured image.









Audio:

Audio wise, this is an absolute treat to behold. The Dolby Atmos track is simply stunning, taking full advantage of the claustrophobic nature of the ship, as well as the creaking and groaning mixed with guttural slams that come from heavy wooden doors and planks. As a result we get an absolutely rich and powerful audio experience that really is quite active in the surrounds and overheads in the bowels of the ship. Complimenting those more subtle aspects is the sheer ferocity and power of Dracula’s encounters. Bass literally punches you in the chest with every “thwap” of the vampire’s wings, or the crushing weight of a crew member slamming his head into a giant wooden door. Dialog is always crisp and intelligible at all times, even with various Eastern European accents or brogues. Simply put, the Atmos mix is utterly marvelous, with stunning low end, great dialog and absolutely immersive surround usage that makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of the creaky old Schooner.












Extras:

• ALTERNATE OPENING - Commentary available with Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer
DELETED SCENES - Commentary available with Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer
-- Clemens Picking up a Stone in Varna
-- Bosphorus and Constantinople
-- Clemens Following Huck's Blood Trail
-- Clemens and Anna Talk on Deck
-- Crew Discuss Where the Beast Is Hiding
-- Finding the Corpses in the Crate
-- Wojchek Finds the Captain
-- Clemens Visits His Father's Grave
• FROM THE PITS OF HELL: DRACULA REIMAGINED - Learn how the creative team behind THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER conjured a new nightmare.
• EVIL IS ABOARD: THE MAKING OF THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER - Set sail for an exclusive journey inside the making of the movie with the filmmakers and cast.
• DRACULA & THE DIGITAL AGE - Visual effects supervisor Brad Parker leads a detailed look at the imaginative work that adds fresh layers of fear to Dracula, creates realistic water, and enhances scenery with bleeding-edge VFX.
• FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR ANDRÉ ØVREDAL AND PRODUCER BRADLEY J. FISCHER

Final Score:
​

The Last Voyage of the Demeter was fun, but never an amazing Dracula story. I truly appreciate that it tells a never before told tale rather than simply regurgitating the same well worn Dracula tales, and turns it into a prequel rather than another remake/origins story. We don’t care who Dracula is, or what his back story is coming from Romania. Instead the characters are simply looking to survive something that seems to be unstoppable and mysterious. A sort of tense, sci-fi, mystery horror tale that unfortunately is a bit TOO predictable due to the fact that we know what’s going to happen at the end due to the fact that it’s end is the beginning of Dracula’s tale. That being said, the Blu-ray looks and sounds great, and the extras are more than beefy. A definite fun and unique watch that may not be 100% horror.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Francoisi, Liam Cunningham, , Chris Walley
Directed by: Andre Ovredal
Written by: Bragi F. Chut, Zak Olkewicz, Bram Stoker (Novel)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), Spanish DD+ 7.1, French DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: R
Runtime: 119 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: October 17th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Been waiting for this to go on sale on Kaleidescape. Anxious to see it, especially because it is UHD HDR on K.

 

[Michael Scott]

Been waiting for this to go on sale on Kaleidescape. Anxious to see it, especially because it is UHD HDR on K.

yeah, this film definitely would seem some improvements with HDR application. Especially with how much darkness there is.

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review! We did see this one at the theaters and enjoyed it however like you said it is shot too dark.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Just finished watching the UHD HDR version on Kaleidescape and it was glorious. You were 100% correct about the Atmos mix - perfection.

As for the image, perhaps it’s the Lumagen tone mapping, but I thought it was beautiful. Yes, the bulk of the film takes place at night, but there was tons of detail in the shadows, and the image was pristine throughout the luma range. I didn’t find this to be too dark at all. I thought it was just right.

 

[Michael Scott]

Just finished watching the UHD HDR version on Kaleidescape and it was glorious. You were 100% correct about the Atmos mix - perfection.

As for the image, perhaps it’s the Lumagen tone mapping, but I thought it was beautiful. Yes, the bulk of the film takes place at night, but there was tons of detail in the shadows, and the image was pristine throughout the luma range. I didn’t find this to be too dark at all. I thought it was just right.

I would never say that it was "too dark". Rather that it's the type of film that's going to stress test the black level capabilities of your display. A great display is going to make this look AMAZING, but one that struggles with black levels is going to have a hard time. Not as hard a time as the 2014 Godzilla remake lol, but still it's a black level stress tester for sure

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I would never say that it was "too dark". Rather that it's the type of film that's going to stress test the black level capabilities of your display. A great display is going to make this look AMAZING, but one that struggles with black levels is going to have a hard time. Not as hard a time as the 2014 Godzilla remake lol, but still it's a black level stress tester for sure

Agreed. I was referring to the post directly above mine that put the words “it was shot too dark” directly into your mouth.

It wasn’t, and you didn’t say that.

 

[Michael Scott]

Agreed. I was referring to the post directly above mine that put the words “it was shot too dark” directly into your mouth.

It wasn’t, and you didn’t say that.

Gotcha. That's what happens when I reply after not having my first cup of coffee for the day lol