The Last Voyage Of The Demeter: Release Date, Cast, And More

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Few literary characters have returned to the screen as frequently as the scheming, titular vampire introduced in Bram Stoker's classic 1897 gothic horror novel "Dracula." That hasn't changed in the 21st century, either, with recent depictions of the blood-thirsty monster running the gamut from the serious (Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's "Dracula" mini-series) to the supremely silly (Drac in the "Hotel Transylvania" movies). There are even dual Dracula re-imaginings in the works from directors Karyn Kusama ("Jennifer's Body," "Destroyer") and Chloé Zhao ("Nomadland," "Eternals"), all while Chris McKay ("The LEGO Batman Movie," "The Tomorrow War") prepares to call the shots on a horror-comedy about Drac's put-upon henchman R. M. Renfield.

Yet, out of all the Dracula-related movies on the horizon, none of them have been in development as long as "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" — a film that finally completed production in October 2021 after nearly 20 years' worth of pre-production delays.

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter" is scheduled to open exclusively in theaters on January 27, 2023. The film has seen multiple directors — nearly all of whom know a thing or two about supernatural horror — come and go over the years, with David Slade ("Hard Candy," "30 Days of Night"), Neil Marshall ("The Descent," "Hellboy"), Marcus Nispel ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Conan the Barbarian" reboots), Stefan Ruzowitsky ("Deadfall," "Cold Hell"), and Robert Schwentke ("R.I.P.D.," "Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins") among those set to helm the movie at some time. Interestingly, Noomi Rapace ("Lamb") and Ben Kingsley ("Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings") were the only actors reportedly attached to the project while all those directors played musical chairs — although Viggo Mortensen was apparently in talks for a role early on.

Still, despite the constant stop-and-go progress, Amblin Partners and Universal Pictures never quit on the project, hoping it would eventually see the light of day. There's a joke about Dracula and light in there somewhere but moving on...

Stoker's "Dracula" is an epistolary novel that tells its story through journal pages, diary entries, written letters, telegrams, and newspaper articles. "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" draws inspiration primarily from part of the book's seventh chapter, where the captain of the eponymous cargo ship details the strange and disturbing events that transpire over the course of the Russian vessel's voyage from Transylvania to England in his personal log. Of course, it turns out Dracula is secretly hiding in a crate full of Transylvanian dirt aboard the Demeter and snacking on its crew one member at a time, leaving their shipmates confused and horrified by what's happening.

The premise for "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" begs comparison to "Alien," "The Thing," and other horror movies that revolve around unsuspecting humans being preyed upon by a preternatural creature in a remote, contained setting far from the rest of civilization. Whether things will work out any better for the film's characters than they did in Stoker's novel, well, that's a good question.

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter" stars "Straight Outta Compton" and "Kong: Skull Island" actor Corey Hawkins opposite a cast that includes Aisling Franciosi ("Black Narcissus"), David Dastmalchian ("Dune"), Liam Cunningham ("Game of Thrones"), Jon Jon Briones ("Blood Ransom"), Stefan Kapičić (the "Deadpool" movies), Nikolai Nikolaeff ("Power Rangers Jungle Fury"), and Chris Walley ("The Young Offenders"). However, fans of monster horror cinema may be most excited to learn that Dracula himself is being played by Javier Botet.

For those unfamiliar, Botet is one of the modern "Men of a Thousand Faces" actors in the tradition of Lon Chaney, along with his fellow creature specialist Doug Jones. Botet's most famous roles include the ghoulish Tristana Medeiros in the "REC" movies, the titular specter in Andy Muschietti's "Mama," multiple ghosts in "Crimson Peak," and KeyFace in "Insidious: The Last Key." Basically, if you've watched a horror film that features a tall, lanky, non-CGI monster and/or supernatural entity released over the last two decades, odds are it was either Botet or Jones who played them.

Bragi Schut, the co-writer of the "Escape Room" movies and, amusingly enough, the "Ninjago" animated series, wrote the original screenplay for "The Last Voyage of the Demeter," with Zak Olkewicz ("Fear Street: Part Two — 1978") providing the final script draft. Production began in July 2021 in Berlin under the direction of André Øvredal, a Norwegian filmmaker who broke out with the found-footage horror/comedy "Trollhunter" before making his English-language debut with the critically acclaimed horror/thriller "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" in 2016. He went on to make a bigger splash at the box office three years later by helming "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," a film adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's notoriously spooky children's horror short story collections.

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter" reunites Øvredal with his "Jane Doe" and "Scary Stories" cinematographer Roman Osin and features historical costumes designed by Carlo Poggioli ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," "The Young Pope"). Its production crew also includes set decorator Bernhard Henrich ("Bridge of Spies") and art director Charlo Dalli ("Murder on the Orient Express"), both of whom certainly know how to make a handsome period film.