2022-2023 Film Journal #55: "The Last Voyage of the Demeter"

2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #55: "The Last Voyage of the Demeter"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #55

By Xavier E. Palacios

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter"

3 out of 5

Directed by André Øvredal

Rated R

Based on the chapter, "The Captain's Log", from the original Dracula novel, the merchant crew of the Demeter sails from Transylvania to England with cargo that harbors the cruel, merciless, and gluttonous vampire, Count Dracula, who picks off the ship's living beings one by one.

Before I start discussing this unofficial, 2023 Universal Classic Monster series entry, (and I viewed this film through that lens), a brief comment on my new thoughts on 1931's Dracula, staring Bela Lugosi, after my proper and recent review of the piece with my brother. I saw the film sometime in college and thought the piece was fine but did not live up to my expectations. I have previously noted my disinterest with the tedious and indulgent plot of the Count's bloodsucking rampage in past film entries such as Interview with the Vampire and Vampyr. Still, I quoted, "Listen to them! Children of the night: what music they make!" and "Come. Here," from time to time because Lugosi is an immortal icon for a reason.

However, after giving the film another chance, I have become fond of 1931's Dracula. Bela Lugosi is perfect. The atmosphere is delectably dark. The story is positively told in a straightforward manner. Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Van Helsing is very fun. There are many memorable moments. Dwight Frye's performance as Renfield, an ordinary chap turned into Dracula's slave who then battles for his very soul, is genuinely one of the best onscreen performances I have ever seen. Dracula is still impactful ninety-two-years after its premiere, and makes clear that my longtime interest in the greatest vampire of them all is justified.

Dracula is also unique in the gang of Classic Monsters in that he has no sympathetic qualities. He is pure evil. Curiously, though cultural imagination has granted him a menacing cloak of almighty evil, in the 1931 film, where the world knows him best, the Count is really just another vampire. Yet, in revisiting the film that began Universal's great horror series, my brother and I noticed this peculiar exchange. During his visit to the Harkers in their opera house box, a morose poem is shared, and Dracula makes this observation: "To die . . . to be really dead . . . that must be glorious . . . There are far worse things . . . awaiting man . . . than death." My brother said that Lugosi's face seems to silently express that maybe Dracula had never really thought of how he secretly felt about being undead until that moment. Now I wonder: is there some pity to Dracula in that, deep down, like one of J.R.R. Tolkien's Orcs, he hates himself for being a parasitic wretch? Man, what a great character.

Indeed, (and related to this 2023 film), the 1931 film has inspired me to revisit and ponder my pitch for my own modern retelling of Dracula; preferably as a psychological horror RPG video game. I always felt Dracula lacked elements that kept him from earning his popular conception as some kind of Dark Lord character. He just sucks peoples' blood yet is feared like he is Voldemort or a Dalek; a Velociraptor from Jurassic Park is far more terrifying than the Count. So, influenced by the torturous transformation of Ken Kaneki in the anime series, Tokyo Ghoul, I thought diving into poor Renfield's torn mind to explore how the Count brainwashes his victims and servants by preying on their internal vulnerabilities, would give the character a threat he lacks for me. All the while, like in the Batman vs. Dracula film, the vampire and his new manservant would amass undead followers; a smashing new take, I think, if one pardons some self-praise. I toot my own creative horn just a tad bit here to emphasize that I have thought about what a new Dracula film could be for a while, even before I became a Universal Classic Monsters fan.