David Farnor | On 29, Mar 2025

Director: André Øvredal
Cast: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian
Certificate: 15

What do Dracula and Sherlock Holmes have in common? They’ve both been taken from the page to the screen umpteen times. That means it takes a lot for a film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel to stand out from the crowd. Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is undoubtedly the modern Dracula retelling to beat in 2025 – even though it’s a remake of FW Murnau’s film that didn’t use the name “Dracula” for rights reasons – but a special mention deserves to go to The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

Directed by André Øvredal, the film takes a refreshingly different approach to Stoker’s iconic character – by zooming in on the very beginning of his story and leaving the rest out altogether. The script, by Bragi F Schut Jr and Zak Olkewicz, is based on the chapter The Captain’s Log from the 1897 book, and takes place almost entirely on board the titular ship, which sets sail for London, England – and pauses in Bulgaria to pick up cargo that incudes some sinister-looking crates. It doesn’t take much for us to realise something’s afoot – but, of course, the film makes sure the people delivering the suspiciously large boxes are fearful of staying about past sunset anyway.

Your mileage for what follows may vary, depending on how much you like knowing what’s coming next – the only downside of the film’s prequel strategy is that we know Dracula will make it to the other side, that the ship will run aground and, in theory, that basically everyone we meet is a walking future corpse. But helmer André Øvredal leans into that ominous sense of foreboding, crafting an ill-fated voyage that’s dripping with dread.

From the music by the always-excellent Bear McCreary to the gorgeous production design of the Demeter itself, there’s a brilliantly lived-in grubbiness to the setting – Alien has been cited as an inspiration and you can see its influence in every part of the project. There’s a careful, patient restraint to the storytelling, punctuated by graphic, close-up bursts of terror that keep things enjoyably nasty.

The cast take things seriously enough to bring some stakes and heart to the journey. Aisling Franciosi has a short straw as Anna, who is literally shipping in to serve as a snack, but finds some meat in her character’s resilience. David Dastmalchian has fun as the loyal quartermaster Wojchek, alongside an ensemble that includes the suspicious chef Joseph (Jon Jon Briones) and the intense Olgaren (Stefan Kapičić). Liam Cunningham, meanwhile, adds grit and heft to the deck as the gruff and determined captain, Eliot – who, just to add to the portent, is about to retire and has brought along his grandson for the ride.

Cunningham’s grizzled surface naturally conceals kindness beneath, and he finds an unexpected but trusted ally in Clemens (Corey Hawkins), a doctor who joins the trip. Hawkins elevates what could have been a thankless role into a Van Helsing-esque hero, facing off against prejudice from other crew members but also finding a steely thirst to defeat evil in the boat’s shadowy depths.

The result is a beautifully conceived spin on a familiar story, one that makes up for a lack of surprises with slow-burn claustrophobia. Dracula himself might be underwhelming when he appears in full – the lavish rendering of the ship appears to have eaten into the CGI budget – but a glimpse of him in aristocratic mode on land reinforces the contrast between the Count we know all too well and the savage beast now cast in a new, dark light.

Add to Watchlist