Blood-curdlingly delicious.

Dracula: Chapter 7 — LOG OF THE “DEMETER” 24 July. — There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, and entering the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last night another man lost, disappeared. Like the first, he came off his watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear, sent a round robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone. Mate angry. Fear there will be some trouble, as either he or the men will do some violence.

With a screen story and screenplay by Bragg F. Schut co-written by Zak Olkewicz, Troll Hunter and The Autopsy of Jane Doe director André Øvredal takes on the undead dragon himself: Dracula, a name conspicuously absent from the title. This story is an expansion upon a single chapter in Bram Stoker’s novel encapsulating how the vampire and fifty boxes of his native soil were transported to Whitby, England after the procurement of property in Carfax. A doomed crew stuck at sea as a vampire picks them off one by one has been an irresistible temptation for writers to embellish upon. As July blockbuster holdovers are starting to show August fatigue at the box office, can this early spooky-season treat lure its preferred audience into theaters, or is it just as doomed as the ship itself?

“Close these transactions, and your future with this franchise is assured!” (with apologies to Jonathan Harker.) As a late eighteenth-century period piece devolving into a graphic horror film, the drama plays out among the doomed crew between the lines of the novel’s logbook entries, redefining the narrative yet ending up in the same place. To fill in the blanks, the story is sprinkled with theoretical characters who, while not explicitly mentioned, might have existed in the most James Cameron Titanic of ways. There’s nary a comedic bit in sight, setting it apart from pretty much everything else horror-related in 2023. Dracula fans, vampire fans, and good ol’ horror fans will eat this up; the foregone conclusion lets the imagination of the storytellers run wild, and there are things so much worse than death.

It’s no secret Universal Studios has been desperate to relaunch their “dark universe” with a monstrous hit; the studio appears unimpressed with its own offering to the movie gods, understandably afraid to be disappointed once again. Remember Tom Cruise remaking The Mummy, or the good-but-not-good-enough Dracula Untold? In addition to the underwhelming ad trailers, the one-sheet posters do the film a specific disservice, showing the vampire lording over the bow of the ship. With cheap Halloween-mask glowing eyes looking like Nosferatu slept with a Winged Devourer from The Beastmaster, the poster undercuts how well the beast is kept hidden throughout the film in an ever-changing design. Dracula isn’t the main character; he’s an antagonistic thing — a true beast — an intelligent monster who knows everyone will underestimate it. The film itself is a slick blend of practical and computer VFX making it difficult to guess which is which, packed with background details like the constellation of Orion peeking up over the horizon before the late summer dawn. Yeah, some of us notice that stuff.

Centering the story on Corey Hawkins as Clemens makes sense, a shunned man of science lost on a ship of not-so imaginary superstition as a POV for the audience. Joined by all-star actors such as Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Javier Botet, Chris Walley, Stefan Kapicic, and Aisling Franciosi, there are no unconvincing moments throughout the story; even Woody Norman playing cabin boy Toby is jaw-droppingly on-point. Unlike standard slasher fare, no character is deserving of what’s coming, not even so much as a single transgression other than being on the wrong ship at the exact wrong time. The villagers who deliver the earth-filled boxes branded with a dragon emblem aren’t keen to stick around once the sun begins to set, wishing the sailors good luck and that they may reach the end of their journey. Not to worry, old one; they will indeed.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is rated R for bloody violence — very bloody violence — and that’s all the audience needs to know.

Four skull recommendation out of four

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