Monday, September 4, 2023

Old Fashioned Horror of 'Dracula' with 'The Last Voyage of the Demeter' 2023

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER distributed by UNIVERSAL PICTURES (2023). The production budget climbed to $45 million and grabbed $19.9 million at the worldwide box office.

It is based on a single chapter of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" (1897). That chapter was called, "Captains Log." A small ship crew travels to London by sea and there is a vampire onboard. It sleeps by day in a dirt-filled crate. It seeks out blood to suck at night and grows into a beast. 

The film screenplay was re-written several times since the release of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992). Known actors and actresses were attached and dropped over two decades. Amblin Partners bought the rights to the lone chapter (2019) and filming began (2021).

I decided to see this in a movie theater here at Albuquerque. I thought it "harkens" back to the old fashioned style of horror filmmaking. It is of course "Dracula" who is reborn on a ship after a century of killing on land. The audience never sees "Dracula" more than a minute in each scene and that's good. The
horror sets in throughout by not knowing completely what's in the darkness.

There is a survivor and the beast vampire might still be roaming London. A sequel? I hope so because I enjoyed this movie a lot... Check it out if you can.   

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