Set Sail for Disappointment: The Last Voyage of the Demeter
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)
Directed by André Øvredal
Starring Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, and Woody Norman
I enjoyed Troll Hunter (2010), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), so I was excited for André Øvredal’s latest film. With such a strong filmography, Last Voyage of the Demeter seemed destined to be another solid horror feature from the Norwegian director. Corey Hawkins as the lead felt like a great call, and with Game of Thrones’ Liam Cunningham as a grizzled ship’s captain and young Woody Norman from C’mon C’mon (2021), the cast looked promising—at least on paper.
From the start, the set design pulled me into the world of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The shipyard and the vessel itself felt authentically lived in and accurate for the time period. During the setup, I was eager to see where this alternate take on a small portion of the vampire story would lead. But once the characters were established and the ship departed from Carpathia to London, the film’s promising start took a nosedive. Each character fell into overused period-horror tropes, and the dialogue—which already felt clunky—became even more unbearable.
Aisling Franciosi’s introduction as Anna in the second act did nothing to increase the tension or the sense of danger on board. Instead, it felt like a forced attempt to add a token female character to a “man’s ship,” along with some verbal exposition to spell out vampire lore. Woody Norman’s young Toby does what he can, but the lines he delivers, especially in moments of danger, feel robotic and out of place—almost as if written by an AI trying to mimic a child from the late 1800s. Beep bop boop indeed.
By the time the third act rolled around and the creature was fully revealed, I had to give some credit where it was due: the creature design was impressive. It looked at least partially practical, avoiding the usual CGI overload. Combined with the beautiful set designs, this effort makes the film worthy of a stream at least.
If Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) was an A-, and this year’s Renfield (2023) was a B-, then Last Voyage of the Demeter is a solid C-.