The Last Voyage of the Demeter

André Øvredal and his gothic boat vampire horror based on Stoker's novel. I have to say that I like Øvredal, he is an active horror filmmaker and chooses interesting and unconventional horror genre films, though not always as good as The Autopsy of Jane Doe (he probably won't top that one), but he never outright pisses me off and doesn't try for any arthouse or ambitious works. In short, rewarding horror entertainment, of which there is never enough. A lot was expected from The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and early overseas reviews suggested it probably wouldn't be the horror film of the year, which I can confirm, but it's still very attractive and likeable, and as a true horror fan, I feel the need to express my gratitude that we didn't get another bland ghost movie, another bland slasher or another family friendly twillight vampire flick, but a shipboard vampire gothic horror, I welcome that. I’m pleased with the above-par craftsmanship, the likeable characters, the good music, the decent looking Dracula (again it could have been some ugly CGI shit, but there's a Javier Botet creature feature again!). The atmosphere works: the ship, fog, storm, sailors and a dangerous Cargo is simply rewarding. It's nice to that it’s not PG-13, and it's pretty gritty in places, I found it relatively satisfying. I appreciated that the film isn't afraid to break down conventional horror boundaries, like the breaking the rule that women and children are safe, which I applaud. Sure, the scares don't work, but who cares. It's a fun clash between Dracula and the sailors on a ship. Take it or leave it. 7/10. (30/08/2023)

A DreamWorks/Universal cinema release at the same level of quality as a below-average Netflix B-movie. The film starts promisingly with nice production design and the well-rendered and well-lighted gloomy interiors of the ship. Dracula’s first appearance and the atmospheric murders of the initial victims are spectacular. However, the film starts to fall apart in the second half, as the escalating tension is replaced by badly edited dramatic scenes, the nice CGI is supplanted by tacky dawn combustion and, thanks to the hopelessly deteriorating screenplay, the characters lose the contours of meaning that they possessed at the beginning. The self-assured Van Helsing-esque epilogue is then nothing more than laughable. (17/09/2023)