Together with Renfield (2023), The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) is the most exciting movie about the legend of Dracula to come out this year. And especially after its director André Øvredal described it as “basically Alien (1979) on a ship in 1897“, which makes total sense after watching the movie trailer.
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter is the Olympian goddess of harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. Although she is mostly known as a grain goddess, she also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, and marriage, and had connections to the Underworld.
Based on a single chapter, the Captain’s Log, from Bram Stoker‘s classic 1897 novel Dracula, the story in The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) is set aboard the Russian schooner Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo – 24 unmarked wooden crates – from Carpathia to London. Strange and horrifying events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage from Transylvania to London, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship, a legendary vampire known as Dracula. When it finally arrived near Whitby Harbour, it was derelict. There was no trace of the crew.
In 2002, Bragi F. Schut (Season of the Witch (2011), Escape Room (2019), and Samaritan (2022)) wrote the initial screenplay for Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023), First, German filmmaker Robert Schwentke, familiar with Holywood productions after being behind RED (2010), R.I.P.D. (2013), The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015), Allegiant (2016), and Snake Eyes (2021), was set to direct, being finally dismissed. Other directors that were attached to the project were Stefan Ruzowitzky (Cold Hell (2017)), Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)), David Slade (30 Days of Night (2007)), and Neil Marshall (The Descent (2005)), with Noomi Rapace, Ben Kingsley, and Viggo Mortensen rumored to star.
In October 2019, it was announced André Øvredal, known for Troll Hunter (2010), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), and Mortal (2020), was the final decision to direct the film with a final screenplay written by Zak Olkewicz, also the screenwriter of Fear Street: Part Two – 1978 (2021), Bullet Train (2022).
The main cast in The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) is formed by David Dastmalchian, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, Corey Hawkins, Stefan Kapicic, Nikolai Nikolaeff, and Javier Botet as Dracula.
DreamWorks Pictures and Amblin Entertainment are producing with Universal Pictures distributing. The official theatrical release date in most of the world is August 11, 2023, although countries like Germany, Austria, and France will have to wait for one more week.
A new clip attached to the movie trailer of The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) has been recently released where we see a very scary Count Dracula arising from the dead. Here you can watch it.
