Post by PhantomKnight on Oct 12, 2023 9:10:17 GMT -5
Y'know, I wish I could claim credit for the obvious joke to be made here: that both the crew of the Demeter and The Last Voyage of the Demeter itself share the same problem -- neither has stakes -- but I can't; I can only all-too-happily repeat said joke, because it's irresistible and undeniably true.
And I'll be honest: that really is something of a shame, because you take the basic elevator pitch for this movie, "Alien on a merchant ship, where the Alien is Dracula," and you've got my attention. But there's just one hurdle that the filmmakers needed to get over, yet they never do: we know how this story is going to go, so it requires a lot of work to make this be engaging, which the final product most assuredly isn't. Above all else, this movie is perhaps the worst thing that a movie can be, which is just plain boring. Maybe all of the years this thing spent in Development Hell has something to do with how basic this movie feels, but the fact of the matter is this movie feels like it stopped at its premise. If you're going to make an entire movie out of the Captain's Log chapter from the Dracula novel, then you need to make sure that the resulting movie sustains interest. But between a cast of underdeveloped characters and uninspired scare sequences, interest is the main thing that feels like it has been drained out of this film. This movie really could have benefitted from actually taking the time to make its characters more compelling in some form, so that we could actually get invested in their situation and maybe hope there's a sliver of a chance for them to escape the vampire's fangs, but nope, this is mainly just about the hook. Even when they have someone as talented as Aisling Franciosi as one of the characters. all she's given to do is mainly just be an exposition machine and/or unconscious for most of her screentime. Director Andre Overdal at least attempts to craft a sense of atmosphere and genuine tension/dread, but those attempts are routinely undercut by the script's routine and empty plotting. If there's anything this movie does deserve credit for, it's the make-up/design work for the character of Dracula himself, played by Javier Botet. The look of Dracula in this movie is honestly pretty cool, and the practicality involved there is refreshing.
But, in retrospect, there's a reason why this story is best kept relegated to a single chapter of a book. As the basis for a feature film, The Last Voyage of the Demeter feels belabored and stretched thin, ultimately sinking under the weight of the too many problems that result from its efforts. Best to keep this one lost at sea.
*1/2 /****
