The Last Voyage of the Demeter is an American supernatural horror film. It is an adaptation of “The Captain’s Log”, a chapter from the 1897 novel Dracula.
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- The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a 2023 American supernatural horror film.
- It was directed by André Øvredal.
- It was written by Bragi F. Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz.
- It is an adaptation of «The Captain’s Log», a chapter from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
- The film stars Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, and David Dastmalchian.
- Its plot follows the doomed crew of the merchant ship Demeter led by Captain Elliot (Cunningham) who attempt to survive the treacherous ocean voyage from Transylvania to London while being stalked by a legendary vampire, known as Dracula.
- Planning for the film adaptation of “The Captain’s Log” began when Schut Jr. wrote the initial spec script when he befriended a colleague who worked on Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).
- It did not come to fruition by languishing in development hell for more than two decades.
- After Amblin Partners obtained the rights in October 2019, Øvredal was announced to direct the film.
- The main cast members were confirmed in 2021.
- Principal photography began on June 30, 2021, in Berlin, continued in Malta, and ended on October 1.
- Some of the movie scenes were also recorded in the fortress city of Mdina.
- Thomas Newman was originally hired to compose the film’s score, but was replaced by Bear McCreary due to Newman’s scheduling conflicts.
- The Last Voyage of the Demeter was theatrically released in the United States on August 11, 2023, by Universal Pictures.
- The film received mixed reviews from critics.
- It grossed $15.5 million worldwide against a budget of $45 million, making it a box-office flop.
- Director André Øvredal described this movie as “basically Alienn a ship in 1897”.
- Dracula has a cane with a wolf head. In the book, Dracula transforms into a wolf in addition to a bat and fog.
- In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth.
- Although she is mostly known as a grain goddess, she also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, and marriage, and had connections to the Underworld.
- Bestselling horror writer Stephen King praised the movie in spite of some initial skepticism: “I was doubtful about The Last Voyage of the Demeter, but it’s a throat-ripping good time. It reminded me of the best of the Hammer movies from the Sixties and Seventies”.
- The journey from Transylvania (presumably Bran, home of the famous castle associated with Dracula) to England would have been arduous indeed at the time. Transylvania is inland from the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, so first the cargo would have traveled by road and then by river to the ship. Then down the sea through the Bosphorus Straits, across the Sea of Marmara, and into the Mediterranean. From there, out the Straits of Gibraltar and up towards England. Under sail, the journey would have lasted many weeks, with calls made at other cargo ports along the way.
- The song in the film’s trailer is “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins. The lyrics express an antagonist trapped in a confined situation and making life miserable for anyone around him.
- The second of two 2023 Universal films featuring Count Dracula, the other being Renfield (2023).
- Although the credits read “Based on the chapter ‘The Captain’s Log’ of ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker”, that is not entirely accurate. Chapter 7 of ‘Dracula’ is actually entitled ‘Cutting from ‘The Dailygraph’, 8 August (Pasted in Mina Murray’s Journal)’ and within that Chapter is a section ‘Log of the Demeter’. This section and parts before and after the section within Chapter 7 is what this film is more precisely based on.
- Viggo Mortensen was attached to star for two years before ceasing involvement.
- Director Guillermo del Toro commented: “I enjoyed Last Voyage of the Demeter so much: gorgeous, lavish and savage!!”.
- Screenwriter Bragi F. Schut first conceived this movie while working in a model shop in Hollywood and seeing the miniature of the Demeter used in Dracula (1992).
- The wolf head cane Dracula carries is a reference to the cane used by Lawrence Talbot in The Wolf Man(1941)
- Göran Lundström served as makeup designer on the film. Lundström initially declined the position when it was offered to him by Fischer in 2021, as Lundström was then working as a makeup artist on the biographical crime drama film House of Gucci, but he later joined the project.
