Most of us may have already gotten our Dracula fix this year thanks to Renfield – in which the iconic monster was brought to life by no lesser talent than Nicolas Cage himself – but in no way will that be taking away from the imminent arrival of The Last Voyage of the Demeter, the incoming supernatural horror whose take on the Count isn’t quite as lighthearted as Chris McKay’s action comedy.
Indeed, where Cage’s Dracula was a cartoonishly dramatic narcissist, this Dracula would be a hard sell as anything even remotely human; instead, he takes the form of a jagged, bloodthirsty beast who stalks the decks of the Demeter merchant ship, and anyone familiar with Dracula lore knows that this is one nightmare that the crew have little chance of waking up from.
Ironically, The Last Voyage of the Demeter just might succeed in reducing audience’s chances of getting a good night’s sleep, and with a goal such as that, it’s best to rope in a director who can safely call the genre his bread and butter; enter André Øvredal, whose previous credits include such heart-pounders as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Trollhunter, and his recruitment just might have been the easiest part of the film’s entire production.
In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Øvredal revealed that getting the opportunity to do a Dracula movie, and a wickedly original one at that, was all the urging he needed to say yes to The Last Voyage of the Demeter.
“It’s such a fantastic opportunity for me, as a director, to create a visual space in a world — world creation is something I love — and to be able to do that on a ship in 1897. And the villain is the most famous one in fiction, Dracula!”
It’s always a good sign when such enthusiasm for a film leaps off the words and face of the director as kinetically as it has Øvredal’s, but it ultimately remains to be seen how The Last Voyage of the Demeter ends up tipping 2023’s supernatural horror scale; will it score points for the genre’s reputation like Talk to Me, or will it lose the world of horror a bit of respect like Insidious: The Red Door?
The truth will be revealed when The Last Voyage of the Demeter sails into theaters on Aug. 11.