10 Best Vampire Movies Of The 2020s So Far
9. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)
André Øvredal returned to the Dracula legend two years ago with a new angle on an old story. Adapted from the chapter “The Captain's Log” in Bram Stoker’s original novel, the film seizes upon what many consider to be the most skip-worthy segment of the story - the sea voyage from mainland Europe to the UK.
Øvredal chooses to spend nearly two hours with the doomed crew of the merchant ship Demeter, focusing on the characters and experiences of Doctor Clemens (Corey Hawkins), stowaway Anna (Aisling Franciosi), Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) and quartermaster Wojchek (David Dastmalchian) as they come face to face with the original villain in his most ghoulish and bat-like form to date.
Little attention has been given to this segment of the story in the past, as it is literally a connecting sequence, designed to swiftly convey the Count from his homeland to our shores, where the real evils can be unleashed. And this may in part explain why the project languished in development hell since the early ‘90s. Nonetheless, Øvredal manages to mount a firm tension throughout and craft a chamber piece quite unlike any other, one that puts many of the previous Dracula movies to shame.