Franchises are a standard part of Hollywood production. In a search for successful projects, studios may sometimes rely on a pre-existing brand and tell untold stories from there. Revival films, like prequels or remakes, have a relatively poor reputation. However, when done well, they can provide a fresh perspective on a franchise—like Rogue One. The Last Voyage of the Demeter tries to be one of those films.
Universal is trying to restart Dracula as a franchise with Demeter on Friday and Renfield earlier this year. Yet none of these films seem as if they’ll reignite the franchise. Most of Demeter’s failures stem from Bragi F. Schut, Stefan Ruzowitzky, and Zak Olkewicz’s lackluster and arduous script. Based on the chapter “The Captain’s Log” of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, unfortunately, they don’t do anything interesting with the material or, for that matter, the rest of the material, which feels recycled from countless straight-to-video movie releases.
The Voyage of the Demeter is a film meant to appeal to no one. It’s not thrilling enough for horror lovers. Also, it’s not entertaining enough for casual audiences nor intelligent enough for Dracula fans.
Not to mention that the movie isn’t thrilling at all, which is surprising since André Øvredal is typically good with horror. Fear of the unknown is the most powerful fear of all, and unfortunately, they reveal everything too quickly. Thus, the suspense of Dracula’s killings is gone before it arrives. It doesn’t help that we don’t care about any of the would-be victims. Corey Hawkins and Liam Cunningham are acceptable in the film. On the other hand, the rest of the crew are interchangeable. As a result, the two-hour runtime feels like an eternity, making one wish the Demeter’s final voyage would hurry up and end so that the credits could roll.
Overall, The Voyage of the Demeter is a film meant to appeal to no one. It’s not thrilling enough for horror lovers. Also, it’s not entertaining enough for casual audiences nor intelligent enough for Dracula fans. It’s the kind of underwhelming movie where audiences ask themselves, “Why was this boring movie even made?”
Rating: 2/5 atoms
The Last Voyage of the Demeter hits theaters on August 11th.
