The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a film that "fills in" what happened on the ill fated boat that took Dracula and his boxes of earth from his homeland to England. The basics of the story are taken from the captain's logs found the Bram Stoker's original novel and then it adds characters to flesh out the details. In the book we simply know the ship arrives with everyone dead, filled with boxes of earth and rats. The logs tell of something that killed the crew members while at sea. The horror in that part of the book comes from not knowing what happened in any detail. As readers we know it's Dracula feeding on the crew until he reaches his destination and it reinforces him as a source of evil.
In my opinion that is all there needs to be, this idea of backfilling fictional stories (looking a you Star Wars) so there are no gaps from one event to another is something that really bugs me. Those gaps are often what makes the story work. The viewer fills in nebulous details with ideas of their own and, in the case of a horror movie, that is where the fear and dread comes from. Our own fears can make the film seem much more personally scary.
The new characters are not bad ones, the lead as the black doctor is well acted and interesting and the woman found in one of the crates - put there as a way to keep Dracula fed on his trip so no one will know he is there - is also a good movie idea. Just not one where we already know what is going to happen. There is also the issue of a few pages in a book or a few minutes in a film allow you to not notice some things that a 2 hour film gives you plenty of time to mull over. In this case while watching we kept asking if they know the "thing" is attacking at night and hiding on the ship, those mysterious boxes would be a good place to do a day search and when they realize that they are where the creature is hiding during the day why not throw them all overboard and save yourselves? Why does it take 90% of the film before they start making sure no one is ever alone at night?
Dracula is also an issue in how he is portrayed. They are going for a Nosferatu type of vampire, fair enough, but that does not work for the rest of the story after this film ends as we all know already. He is naked and sometimes has wings, sometimes he doesn't. They seem to appear as needed in the plot.
The ending is truly a mess. I won't totally spoil it but there is a survivor who decided to dedicate their life to destroying Dracula, leading to the typical opening for a sequel. Thing is I would guess most readers have read the book especially anyone who would watch this and by the time you are 5 you have some idea who Dracula is and what the story is about so we KNOW this ending cannot have happened!
I think if this was not about Dracula but some other creature it would have worked much better.
2 comments:
I, too see no reason to go back and rehash things that were better left alone. This voyage doesn't interest me at all as we already know what will happen. And this guy who 'dedicates his life' is going to be sorely disappointed when he reaches shore. His job's already over! Unless they try to make HIM out to be Van Helsing which would be awkward and dumb. Thanks for watching this for me!
You are welcome. I heard mixed things about it and its in the well made but should not have been made catagory for me!
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