As one of the most frequently-adapted figures in all of popular culture, anyone with a soft spot for Dracula never has to wait too long for the iconic vampire to make his next appearance in live-action, and that remains as true as ever with The Last Voyage of the Demeter lurking around the corner ahead of its theatrical release on August 11.
The downside is that casual audiences and those who don’t have a penchant for bloodsucking horror are well within their rights to roll their eyes at the prospect of yet another fresh take on Bram Stoker’s legendary creation. That’s fair enough when both modern-day update The Invitation and Nicolas Cage’s scenery-chewing Vlad in Renfield failed to set either critics or the box office alight in the last few months alone, but Demeter is worth getting excited about for several reasons.
The first is that it has a blank canvas to tell a completely original story, with the narrative unfolding during the fateful voyage of the titular ship that’s only mentioned in passing throughout the novel. Secondly, the promise of a practical – and terrifying – vampire brought to life by creature extraordinaire and It, Mama, Crimson Peak, and The Conjuring veteran Javier Botet promises much in the way of spine-tingling, never mind the rest of the talented cast that features Corey Hawkins, David Dastmalchian, Liam Cunningham, and Aisling Franciosi.
Last – but by no means least – is director André Øvredal, the genre maestro behind Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Mortal, and Umma, who knows his way around re-painting a set of familiar tropes. In most cases, a new Dracula flick isn’t worth getting excited about, but The Last Voyage of the Demeter demands attention. Unless it sucks, in which case we’ll take it all back.
