Despite its drawbacks, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” treats its terror movie trope seriously, particularly in the logic and likable cast departments. More ghost story than gore fest, it’s decent enough to wind up being a decent movie in return.
What are the drawbacks? “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” chronicles the chapter of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” in which Dracula’s possessions are transported from Romania to England by the cargo ship Demeter. In the course of the film, the terror movie trope reveals itself to be an isolated group getting picked off by a monster- i.e. Dracula via “Alien” or “The Thing.” Unfortunately, you know the outcome already- the Demeter crew’s doomed to die at Dracula’s hands, so the film’s already enveloped in a cocoon of dread. However, as you watch the Demeter crew deal with the undead, you root for them because the decisions they make are ones you’d make yourself.
“Demeter” starts in 1897 at a port in Bulgaria where wooden crates marked with a dragon seal are being loaded onto a London-bound Russian charter tall ship called the Demeter. The locals who brought the crates refuse to help load them as they want to leave before sundown and one of the new deck hands hired at port refuses to board as the crates’ dragon seals denote ‘the devil’s serpent.’ This doesn’t faze Clemens (Corey Hawkins), an England-bred black doctor wanting a ride back home from his stint in Romania.
Once aboard the Demeter, Clemens is quickly befriended and shown the ropes by the captain’s young grandson Toby (Woody Norman). Just as quickly, metaphorical ropes begin to fray: the rats running around the Demeter’s hull disappear, the livestock Toby cares for to feed the crew are fed upon themselves and a storm at sea upsets a crate revealing a comatose Romanian girl stowaway named Anna (Aisling Franciosi). Clemens cares for Anna with a quick blood transfusion and once awakened, Anna has the answer to the weird goings-on aboard the schooner- it begins with a ‘D’ and rhymes with Smackula.
Immediately, you’d ask (as the crew’s characters ask themselves) why not rush to the nearest port? Because the crew is salivating over the bonus money they get for quick delivery of Dracula’s crates to London. When the overnight one-man watch winds up disappearing on a blood-soaked deck come morning, why doesn’t the captain double the detail? He does, which just gives Dracula double the pleasure, double the fun. One of the film’s strengths is the backhanded compliment that, logically speaking, it’s nice to know if you were in the crew, you’d be screwed too.
Whether watching bitten survivors burst into flame by sunlight or a dwindling crew hatch a suicide plan to destroy the Demeter to ensure Dracula doesn’t make shore, “Demeter” works well enough to work. With a likable cast to lend your support and an un-CG’d Dracula (Javier Botet) skulking the schooner as a grey winged man made up with a Nosferatu facial nod. the Demeter may be a ship of fools on a fool’s errand, but you won’t feel like a fool watching it.