Following the trailer premiere this morning of the long-awaited period horror thriller “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” the film’s acclaimed director André Øvredal (“Troll Hunter,” “The Autopsy of Jane Doe”) has spoken about the creation of the feature.
As we know, the film takes one of the most famous chapters of Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula” and adapts it into its own feature story. The action unfolds on a 19th-century merchant ship chartered to transport fifty unmarked wooden crates from Carpathia to London – contents unknown to the crew.
Strange events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship.
Speaking with Bloody Disgusting, Øvredal says they put a lot of effort into making the film “as unpredictable and as varied as possible in certain aspects”. However he adds faithfulness to the source material was paramount:
“I always wanted to be very close to what the original text was, and I tried to embrace that as much as possible when making the movie. Of course, there are liberties taken because it’s just that’s the way it works. It’s a different medium, but I think we’re still very close to Stoker’s intent, the feeling, and the story. Generally, you’ll recognize many, many solid, clear plot points from the original text.”
Talking about the character’s monstrous appearance, Øvredal says that in doing an “‘Alien’ on the ocean in 1897” tone, it was fitting as we see the creature from the point of view of the completely innocent crew who are transporting freight only to have this monster invade their world – one which they cannot escape:
“You don’t follow Dracula around as a character, as the sophisticated aristocrat that he actually is. You find him as a feral blood addict who needs the blood; he’s desperate on this journey and needs to start taking down the crew one by one to survive. It’s a survival story in some ways on his part. I find that to be a great aspect of this story.”
The film makes major use of practical effects including extensive special effects makeup. He also hints the terror onboard the ship goes beyond even the creature:
“In addition to just being scary on a very classical level, I also think it has existential horror based on what you also already observed, that there are other elements on that ship”
Hawkins, David Dastmalchian, Liam Cunningham, Aisling Franciosi, Jon Jon Briones, Stefan Kapicic, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Woody Norman, Martin Furulund, Chris Walley and Javier Botet star in “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” which sets sail on August 11th.
