‘Alien’ Meets ‘The Thing’ in this Underrated Horror Flick from 2023

2023 has been quite the year for horror movie fans, with a lot of great releases seeing the light of day and getting justified praise. But, there have been some overlooked horror entries that got lost in the chaos of the movie release schedule — and one such film is that of The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

For those unfamiliar, the title may have just hinted at some B-grade ghost ship flick, but The Last Voyage of the Demeter is actually a Dracula movie (gasp), and a pretty damn good one.

Based on a single chapter, ‘The Captain’s Log’, from Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel Dracula, the story is set aboard the Russian schooner called the Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo – twenty-four unmarked wooden crates – from Carpathia to London.

One such piece of cargo is actually the coffin of none other than the greatest blood-sucker of all time, and the film details the strange events that befell the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a terrifying presence on board the ship.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a great blend of the paranoia and mistrust reminiscent of The Thing, as the crew try and determine what is picking them off one by one. Furthermore, it’s got some serious Alien vibes with a claustrophobic setting and some otherwordly entity floating around the singular location of the movie.

What makes The Last Voyage of the Demeter so engrossing though is the ‘less is more’ approach from director André Øvredal, often showing tiny glimpses of the iconic monster in the background or misdirecting you with clever lighting tricks that make for some truly haunting scenes.

All in all, it’s a solid horror film that brings something new to the vampire genre, and truly encapsulates the terrifying, savage creature that Dracula is — a far cry from his silky cloak and fancy accent that he so often adorns in other films.

Definitely give The Last Voyage of the Demeter a watch.