284: The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

SPEAKER_06 0:04

I am the terror that flaps in the night, Darkwing Duck 2.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

Fucking Darkwing Duck? Are you serious?

SPEAKER_07 0:11

Bro, where do you get these things, man? Where do you where do where does this come from?

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Oh, I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_06 0:22

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Where the hell did you come from? If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Totally killer. Unintended.

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We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavor of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the super fly space guy Mac.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

I know what a brothel is.

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The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

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The sooner we eat them, the less shit I have to clean up.

SPEAKER_06 1:02

And the paranormal paramour Binks. A boat without rats? Such a thing is against nature. This week we're venturing once more into the foggy world of Dracula by checking out a newly released film that pulls directly from one chapter of Bram Stoker's novel. Navigating treacherous waters from the shadowy realm of Carpathia to the foggy coasts of London, a crew finds themselves wrestling with a growing suspicion that the cargo they carry might be more sinister than they ever imagined. Ready your sea legs, listener, because this week we're talking about the last voyage of the Demeter. What were you all expecting going into this one?

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Man, I could tell you, if I'm not mistaken, this film is basically revolving around chapter seven of Bram Stoker's Dracula, right? So, which is filled with excerpts from various journals, notes, the Demeter's logs, right? It will be really interesting to see what they can do with this one chapter and make it beefy enough for a feature film length of content. Because there is a lot to work with from that chapter. I'm just really hoping for this to set the right ambiance and really bring to life what I have always envisioned this to look like. But at the same time, even though there's a lot of substance to fill when it comes to what was actually happening each night to those crew members on the ship, it just has to be handled with such care. I'm just really curious to see. So expectations are just I don't even know what to expect because how could you make a whole film off of one chapter of a novel when literally everyone else has made an entire film off of the entire novel or tried to go off on their own and did something else like an origin story or something, you know, more modern or something like that, right?

SPEAKER_07 2:49

Well, that's why I kind of expected for them to just use it as a foundation. And then I went into this, you know, watch thinking, okay, well, this is just going to be the bat the baseline. Everything else that I'm probably about to see is just gonna be like whatever they came up with. It has to be because even in the chapter, it's not like they even mention crew members' names or anything like that. So I was just so curious. I was like, you know, what are they really gonna do? I completely agree with just a log within a chapter of a book that is always adapted, a whole book. So definitely was excited. Another thing I was kind of expecting and a little bit worried about was CGI, because you know, you see the trailer, you can tell we're gonna see Dracula in his true form. And so that had me a little bit nervous. I figured it would be decent based on what I saw, but I don't know. I was we only see a little bit, right? So I was like, I don't know, what are they gonna do? Am I really gonna buy into it? But that was the main thing aside from story.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

You know, I think the the trailer gives a good bit away, and we see, of course, Dracula in the trailer, and he's giving very much nosferatu. There's like a a still of nosferatu on a ship, and for some reason that's what I read the trailer as. It's like that one still. But it also, I don't know, we we see the creature and it kind of looks like the sire from what we do in the shadows.

SPEAKER_05 4:13

Yes, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

And so I'm feeling kind of a mixture of both in in watching this trailer. So I figured if they're gonna show that much in the trailer, most movies are about Dracula. They're following him very closely. This movie is not gonna be like that because we're seeing so much and he looks so gnarly that that can't be the case here. It's gotta be about the crew.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Yeah, well, that makes sense because the chapter in the novel doesn't give you a whole lot of Dracula. It's very much suspenseful, right? It's very much of what's happening, very hyper focused on what the crew is feeling, right? It's very hyper focused on just the demeanor of the crew and them not knowing what's happening and getting little tidbits of what's happening. So that does make sense to your point.

SPEAKER_06 5:00

Which is really interesting because this movie is made on the premise of potential. We get so little of the actual detail besides the gleanings that you have from what they find and then what the captain had the wherewithal to write in the captain's log. But I couldn't help but feel like this is gonna go one of two directions. Either it's gonna be kick ass or it's gonna feel like a horror version of the Titanic where you're walking in knowing that it's doomed. You know what I mean? Yes. Okay, we already know how it ends, so they gotta give us a really compelling, really interesting ride to make it feel like it's worthwhile. Now, Titanic did that with a love story in classism. So, what is the Demeter gonna do for us? And I was really, really expecting for them to go in a very chronological kind of order. I was actually curious, thinking about this. Okay, I've read Dracula, I've seen a lot of Dracula material. I wonder how many people are experiencing this film without that context, knowing, okay, it's a Dracula movie. But I was just talking a little while ago. I met someone recently who knows Dracula from Hotel Transylvania, bro.

SPEAKER_05 6:08

Right.

SPEAKER_06 6:09

Like he doesn't know any actual Dracula content besides the being the ble blah blip.

SPEAKER_05 6:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 6:15

So could he go into this movie and understand what it's gonna be, or is it gonna be a wildly different ride for him? So I found that when I was watching this movie, I was feeling really, really entertained. Also, there's like this really cute moment where there's a very significant event that happens within this chapter in the book and it gives it a certain date, and that is today's date as we're recording this. This movie's release date lines up with this event in the book, which I thought was like a really cute play on the timeline. I felt really entertained, I felt really grim, but also surprised with some of the choices that they made.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

I I gotta say, feelings-wise, I I enjoyed the narratives throughout the film where they were kind of giving you the excerpts from the novel itself, which I thought was was a good kind of layer that they put in there. I didn't feel the same level of dread and hopelessness that I did from the novel, not from the crew members on the ship, maybe towards the end, but it just didn't hit the same for me. I did feel this was tapping into a different type of horror than Dracula usually gets. They really tried to, because I think that they were deriving everything from this one chapter, that they really tried to incorporate really the jump scares, which honestly makes sense given the part of the novel that they are deriving the story from, but it just felt like they were giving you a different type of horror than we're used to seeing Dracula in, and or at least just really focused on that one aspect of Dracula.

SPEAKER_06 7:45

This is Apex Predator Dracula.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

It is.

SPEAKER_06 7:48

This isn't charismatic rich guy Dracula who's hiring an attorney and stalking the former love of his life. This thing is just a monster.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah, this is really like a creature feature in a way, right? And so when you're watching it, you sometimes expect, of course, when you're watching a Dracula movie, to see the charming Dracula, but you don't get that feeling here at all. And so it's it's almost like we're watching a wild animal that's unleashed, which is pretty interesting because we get to really focus on the other people on the ship. And and I think when watching it, it was it's actually kind of great because it gave the actors, I think, a lot of room to try to go into some depth with their characters, which is a compelling watch, to be honest. Because I think if we just went shallow with them, this would have been a really boring creature feature. It would have been like piranha or something. So it was nice to actually like get into some of the minds of some characters, whether or not they survive, which actually that like that was a great surprise, which is like we know what happens to the ship. We don't know what happens with every character, though. And so they really let us like get to know each of the characters, no matter how small, and kind of get in tune with them and feel for them if something does happen. And I don't think you really expect that going into a vampire movie.

SPEAKER_07 9:08

No, you definitely do not. And I definitely resonate with everything that you guys have shared, but can I, of course, be a little bit funny and share something personal in terms of my viewing experience? I have to admit, there was a brief moment there where I was actually kind of getting a little sleepy, which is crazy because I definitely saw this movie not around nighttime. But I realized it wasn't because of the movie, it was because I consumed a lot of theater snacks. And I bring this up because it is a testament to how invested I was in the film and like how it was making me feel that I wanted to fight sleep. Like I'm not already like I'm not feeling super great. And so I was like, you know, I really want to see this movie. I'm invested. Like Bianca, do what you need to do to wake up, you know. Theaters don't sell coffee. And I think that says a lot. That says a lot about the movie. I I I was feeling tense, I was feeling invested, despite like you really not knowing what's gonna happen to these characters per se, especially since we're diving deeper and going off of what I know in the chapter, we don't get that context. So there's that part. But I think also this kind of goes into what surprised me about this movie, which is the brutality, man. Let's get into it. Some of these kills I can't wait to get into later. Um, some of the damage that's done. This movie had some moments where I cringed big time from the impact of some of these injuries and kills. And I think that's what really did the biggest number to like get me up and running, because when it starts, it freaking starts.

SPEAKER_06 10:39

Yeah. And let me just say, I too was really sleepy watching this, not because of the movie, but because I've been up a long time today already. I'm gonna be up a long time editing this episode and publishing it so that you, listener, can enjoy this on the Friday that this movie officially releases. But not falling asleep was largely in part to how menacing Dracula tended to feel in this movie. And honestly, really, even more than Dracula, just the atmosphere of that. And it really dropped me back in to some moments I had when I was in my early 20s out to sea and just thinking about long corridors, something moves in the distance, what was it that was there? And I was on a ship with thousands of other people, so I had no reason to really even be that creeped out. But this would have spooked me. And I think I was surprised how well it worked. You know, I mentioned earlier, is this gonna be like Titanic? And Titanic really tells you on a love story and just like keeps you along for the ride. But I was really skeptical on whether or not I could feel a whole lot. You know what I mean? I went into this with pretty low expectations because I wanted to give it a chance to just feel fun. And I was surprised how much I felt because of that like sinister, menacing nature.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

You know, there's there's a lot of factors I think that contribute to that. And and one of them is the set. I am a huge fan of 90s sci-fi TV shows. There's many that I love. And they made do, they made a lot out of a little, to be honest. There was, you know, alien corridors that they would run through and then they would be cut so that it looked like they were running for miles. And when in reality, there was like three different hallways that they built and they just kind of looped it. And we're talking about a crew on a ship in the middle of the ocean, there's nowhere to go. So for almost the entire film, we're in this one setting, but for some reason you don't really think about it that much. It's not a limiting factor for the film. And that was a great surprise because I don't like being on boats. They make me feel sick, and I don't like the fact that I can't just get off and walk away on land. So I don't want to feel necessarily isolated on this as a viewer. I don't want to feel like, oh man, I wish there was a little bit more to work with here. And I didn't. I didn't feel that the entire film. I really felt like they made the most out of a ship that you possibly could.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Yeah, I think that's really great that you got that out of the film. I think for me, I don't know how much surprises there were. I'll get to that. I was a little disappointed in what I mentioned a few minutes ago, just disappointed in the way they were able to capture the emotions and the demeanor of the crew members on the ship, or like the lack thereof, for that matter. But it it just the way the novel describes the situation, and I think this is what's that this is what really gets it for me, is like the way the novel describes the situation, how it builds this ever-growing sense of dread and hopelessness of as the men on the ship slowly descend into madness, right? Like that's what like I just got so enthralled in the novel with, and I just didn't feel that same vibe from this movie and the way they they depict they depicted it. Now, don't get me wrong, they did show emotion, like there was stuff going on. It's not like they just didn't give the a performance by any means, it just wasn't the performance that I think I was expecting. You know, as someone that loves Dracula, as someone that loves the novel, the classic horror connoisseur, right? Like I love the OG Draculas. So that was a little disappointing for me. But I was honestly surprised that they added full-on characters into the mix. I mean, I I did expect them to have to fill in some gaps, right? But I guess I just didn't expect to see added characters.

SPEAKER_06 14:27

Well, that's what I think I appreciate. I think the addition of these characters really tricked me for a moment into thinking, oh, maybe this isn't gonna go the way that you expect. And I thought, how could it possibly not go the way I expect? We all know what the fuck this movie is about. It starts a certain very particular way. And I found that even to be really, really surprising. Just the approach to how they chronologically tell this story. It felt truer in some ways to the book than I expected it to. But I will say this: for as menacing as I found Dracula to be, as intense as the atmosphere was that I found an appreciation for, this is a very safe movie to take someone to who wants to get into horror, who wants to be like, eh, but not like if that makes sense. Like if your friends are too scared to go see Talks to me, take them to see this shit. Because you're gonna get gore, you're gonna get that brutality that Binx was talking about, but you're not going to get so scared out of your socks just being on a boat with a vampire.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. This film is very dark, it's very atmospheric. It really plays off the darker side of Dracula and tries to deliver on some jump scare tactics, but overall, I don't think they were super effective and didn't find this film to be super frightening, despite how dark and gruesome some of these scenes really are. So I see where you're coming from there. Like visually, you're getting a really great horrific vibe of a film, but is it actually frightening? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_07 16:01

Okay, leave it to me. But there is one particular moment, and I have to say it for my people that get that get me, right? Like, there's one particular moment though where you might say, fuck that, you know what I mean? There is one. So you might have a moment or two of some jump scares or just like some really creepy stuff that might have you scream, ah, you know, just a little bit. But here's what I'm gonna compare this to. This is kind of like the type of fear that you would equate to an intense thriller, maybe, or like a really like dark action film, you know, that kind of vibe. Because there's gonna be some moments that might kind of get you or just catch you off guard, but nothing like complete terrified. I agree. If your friends can't take talk to me, this is the movie to take them to instead. But there is one particular moment that I thought was like a no fuck that noise. No way on this planet.

SPEAKER_06 16:58

I can't wait to hear what that moment is. But let me say that you mentioned it's more like an intense thriller for you. I think I put this movie, aside from it being a Dracula film and a classic universal monster, I think I put it in the same bucket that I would put the shipwreck movies in, like the Poseidon, and thinking about like a tsunami that overturns a boat and then the boat is overturned and people have to climb up to the top of the boat, and it's horrific in the sense that there is a lot of death, but it's like a disaster movie level of of situation with a creature thrown in the mix, which I find very interesting to walk away from this movie from.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

I think there's something that ruins it in terms of fear, and it's in the trailer. It's Dracula. Dracula, I think, is what ruins the fear in this movie because you can see from the trailer for the movie that they show a lot. Like a lot, a lot. And they show that I think a little bit too often as well. They have some really great shots where there's shadows, there's shapes, there's like a mangled kind of visual of Dracula, and those are incredibly effective, and those probably should have been all we got. But instead, we see full-on CGI Dracula, and it's not bad CGI necessarily, right? But we see full-on CGI Dracula a little bit too early on, and so you already know what's going on here, and I think that should have been saved for much later, because the shots where we get this mangled kind of look or we get a figure moving through the shadows, those I think work in a more traditional horror sense, and I think those would be more effective at like giving you a little bit of a chill.

SPEAKER_06 18:41

I have to agree. I would say that to an extent, this movie takes the teeth out of Dracula in some very small moments, but then there are so many teeth on this fucker that I can't literally say that and feel good about it. For as disappointing as I could have found Dracula to be in a couple moments, let me say that it redeemed itself with how it approached this story. Because there are elements that you would expect, and it's completely natural. This is a chapter from a book, we know this story, there's only really one direction it can go, and yet it still insisted on bobbing and weaving a couple moments.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Yeah, I mean, you say that there's only one direction it can really go, and it kind of went off on its own direction to an extent. So we're gonna talk about that. But is it purely original? No, because it is derived from a chapter or portion from the actual novel itself, but where it gets its originality from is how they fill in those gaps in what the novel did not describe to you, and for that it takes some careful thought, and that I think is where the originality comes into play and where this film can shine in just how they can, you know, kind of paint the picture for you. Because when you read that chapter, if anyone out there has read the has actually read the novel, it doesn't give you a lot of the substance, it gives you what's going on. Like you you get the gist of it, but you don't get the substance, and that's where this film has to be really creative, and so that's where the originality comes from, inevitably.

SPEAKER_07 20:13

100%. Yeah. I mean, rereading the chapter, it's like there's really just a shell of of something here, and what they did is they just filled in those gaps with the characters. The originality is all in the characters, in my opinion. And man, in my opinion, great job. Because I don't think it was too much either which way. I think it was just right. I mean, we'll get into some thoughts in just a quick second. But, you know, I I think for the most part, they really did a great job of filling in those gaps with the characters and just like further building up on that great meal that is this chapter, because it's a fun story. It could have been a little bit shallow, it could have been like all right, but they even like made some removals to the chapter that I can think of, you know, that I think just makes it just right more realistic in terms of the story. So I think a bravo job in terms of writing and what they did with this chapter that makes the whole story in Dracula fans kind of happy, at least I am. I mean, I don't know. That's probably a bold statement. I can just only speak for myself. I'm not gonna talk for Sean. But I was I was super happy with how they did this chapter and and it could have gone wrong so many different ways.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah, you know, this to me seemed like a really masterful riff on a theme or something, right? So it's it's kind of like they they read the chapter, right? And they were like, okay, be flat minor, great. Let's let's play a tune based on that. And I think they were able to execute that well. Where it didn't it didn't have to fit a mold, it didn't have to like match exact happenings and exact people's and you know, names and everything. And even if they did, they didn't really have to. Because I think when you say they filled in gaps, I think they were able to craft a story, and it was character-based the story, and I think that part was really. Really, really well done. Yes, we know this is based on Dracula, as you've mentioned, it's based on a chapter from Dracula, but like they didn't let that hold them back from telling a complete story with complete characters.

SPEAKER_06 22:11

Okay. This different approach that we're talking about, let me tell you that I think the most original thing I think it did was take this ending and combine three movies I can think of off the top of my head that are not this movie or this book while still doing something different. And I kind of respect that. I liked the ending of this movie. For some reason, and I don't know why. I'm still really sorting this out for myself, and I can't wait to hear what our listeners think. I can't wait to hear what you all think. There was something in me that was trying to stifle and suppress a little bit of laughter at the very, very end. But I really love the direction that this movie goes. Like I have no complaints. I found it to be very, very satisfying. I don't know why. There's just this brief moment before the credits that I just couldn't quite take it a hundred percent seriously. I'm finding myself, I'm discovering myself.

SPEAKER_07 23:05

No, you aren't the only one. We all kind of felt it. It was a vibe. And I re realize I just went on a whole tangent just now. But I'm gonna like run it back just real quick and say, all I still stand by everything I just said. I'm not full of shit. However, this ending was great, however, cheesy. I do have some small gripes, and I and I also have something that it reminded me of a television show that I will spoil later on. But this is also the moment, if I may, to once again speak something into existence like we just did for Talk to Me. It's giving sequel vibes, and I don't know if I necessarily love that or not.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

So we never know. We never know if we really love that or not, you know.

SPEAKER_07 23:47

Exactly. You never know, but I'm just calling it here. And you might be thinking, well, Bianca, it is a chapter from a book. Yeah. Friends, watch the movie and come back to me. Jump into our Discord because honestly, I think we might be thinking two different things after that, you know?

SPEAKER_01 24:05

I'm so curious if they're gonna make a sequel based on this, because like you said, the ending feels that way. I was in my heart of hearts watching and waiting and hoping to see Gary Oldman show up at some point. Had we had that tie back, it would have been the cheesiest possible way to do things, but it would have made me so happy with nostalgia. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_07 24:24

Oh that would have been the moment.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

The ending, I think, is actually for me one of the parts that I feel really good about in this film. I wasn't mad at the way they chose to take this ending. It made me feel like they were trying to tie in a particular character into the mix, if you know what I mean. And I don't know if that's aligning with what you're talking about, Chris. So I guess we're gonna have to find out because what'd you say, two or three movies that it's tying in? Three movies. Three movies, three movies that it's tying in. That's that's crazy. But I I was really getting the vibe of a specific character happening or forming from the end of this movie, which I thought was an interesting direction for this film to go in. Not mad about it, not mad about it by any means. It was definitely one of the things that I felt really good about, though.

SPEAKER_06 25:11

Well, it sounds like we've had some good and we've had some bad to say, but I can't wait to see how this shakes out in its ratings. Before we actually score this movie, though, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Well, this one definitely had its gore. Although not super plentiful, I would say, it did have some pretty good looking blood and some graphic shots that should earn itself a solid medium gore score.

SPEAKER_07 25:33

And what about the animal report? I just want to say, and I don't mean to be mean, but if you think that this animal report would be safe in a Dracula film, you're delirious. Absolutely. You're absolutely delirious. It is very much fucked. You're gonna see some things. So prepare yourself, prepare your stomachs a little bit as well.

SPEAKER_06 25:52

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings and the last voyage of the Demeter, now showing in theaters. Was it a hacker or a slash?

SPEAKER_07 25:59

This movie surprised me, truthfully. And it's not that I expected to not like it, but more that I didn't expect to like it as much as I did in comparison to other Dracula count content we've gotten this year. No shade. I've already mentioned Renfield Plentiful today. This was a blast, honestly. It's brutal, it's inventive, but not too off the cuff. It took a chapter and it went like really, really to the depths of I didn't even w know what to expect with these characters, and I was expecting it to just be cheesy, like overall, like really bad cheesy, and it wasn't. It was like fun. I thought it was just really fun. I loved exploring these characters when we didn't really have that ability in the book. So I think it already set the bar pretty high just by doing that alone. But on top of that, you know, it's it's the visuals too that I really appreciated and I can't wait to get into in a bit. And I think it's something that even if you don't really know too much about Dracula, at least visually you also will appreciate this film. And like you shared earlier, a great entryway for someone that's wanting to get into horror but is terrified of like the more traditional horror stuff we've gotten this year. So honestly, as a vampire fan, I feel like there's no other way to go about this but to give it a slash.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Listen, I'm I'm glad you really enjoyed this film. I don't know if anyone out there is waiting to hear what I have to say. I imagine that people are waiting to hear what I have to say. And here's the thing when you start messing around with classics, you have to be careful. This film for me, it's not it wasn't a bad film. They did a lot of really cool stuff. Visually, it was really great. This film chose to make a feature-length film derived from basically a single chapter in Bram Stoker's novel, and with that, they had a lot of empty space to fill to accomplish this goal, and it chose to go in some directions that I enjoyed, and others that I didn't enjoy as much. They added some characters for substance, played around with the story, and even chose to change some actual things from the novel itself. Some were good, some were bad. Look, I get it, but when you're talking to the classic horror connoisseur here, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't that great either. And I feel like if I'm gonna watch a Dracula film, this won't be it. It's a hack for me.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

I respect that though. I've never actually read Dracula. I don't know, I think I might be the only one here who has not read Dracula, and so I did not have that level of knowledge that you have going into this, right? Where I have no idea what's in that chapter because I've never read the book because I'm a heathen apparently. So I approached this, I think, very differently, and I wanted to look for really good storytelling. And so, in in my eyes, if you're if you if you've got good storytelling, right, where you're, let's say you're telling me a joke and you talk about a person, I don't know, walking into a bar. What color are their shoes? What do they have for breakfast? What have they gone through in life? What's going on with them mentally? Those are ridiculous levels of detail that you can get into, right? But it makes it so rich, and I think that's what we got here is they said, here's a small thing that we're gonna take and we're gonna extrapolate it. We're gonna give you some more characters, we're gonna give you some backstories to the to those characters, we're going to have a set that is like so real feeling that you feel like you're in a completely different world or a completely different time. And I enjoy that. I think what we got here was good storytelling based off of a simple idea. Hey, let's take that chapter and let's make a whole movie about it. Were they tried and true and completely based on the book? Of course not, because which movie actually ever is? But I think what they did here is they gave us some characters, they gave us a good story, they put it all together with a beautiful set, and they're able to say, let's make an enjoyable watch. And that's what I was looking for. Good storytelling, good characters, an enjoyable watch. So it's a slash.

SPEAKER_06 29:43

I didn't walk into this with exceedingly high expectations, partially because you know how this ends. And it poses the question, is having it all as good as getting it all? And for me, this movie is less about having it all and far more about the process of getting it all. It's the thrill of the hunt. It's the thrill of Dracula's hunt. And it also scratches this special itch of my brain that existed when I was out to sea, and you're thinking about how shitty it would be if something were out there after you. And granted, I imagine this in the context of a zombie apocalypse and not an immortal vampire, but hey, tomato, tomato. The reality is that when you're out to sea surrounded by nothing, no one is coming for you. And to know that your days are numbered by being rationed off, that's chilling. And I think this movie did well enough to have some characters that you could root for, even if you don't completely give a fuck about them, even if you're waiting for them to die, it still makes it entertaining. And this movie, while dark, while bleak, while chaotic, it was still fun for me. So it's a slash. And with that, the last voyage of the Demeter from 2023 has earned three slashes and one hack. But that hack is coming from the classic Horror Connoisseur, so maybe you should rethink things. Now you can catch this movie in theaters, go check it out, then join us in the spoiler zone so we can unpack this voyage together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

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SPEAKER_06 32:32

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for the last voyage of the Demeter from 2023, which has earned 3 slashes and 1 hack. Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we dive into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Well, we do get a total of 9 kills in this film, which is a pretty decent kill count, I would say, especially for a Dracula film. I don't see, you know, getting a lot of kills in in various other Dracula films, and I'm curious to see what all your favorite kills are. I know I have mine, so I can't wait to hear them.

SPEAKER_06 33:06

Okay, listen, I gotta just start it here, and I know it's gonna be a Twilight reference. Shoot me, whatever. Toby got his ass snatched, and it was heartbreaking, and it was sad, and I felt really bad for him. But also the entire time, all I could think was the Voltura are gonna get Dracula's ass for making an immortal child.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Okay, okay, yes.

SPEAKER_06 33:25

Okay, that hits only for one person in this audience. But seriously, it was so sad. And when you see that Toby sees Dracula, you think maybe he has seen Dracula before Dracula has seen him, and he's just lurking in the corners. And then you realize, no, no, he's lurking, he's up there, he's lifting him up. It's just so heartbreaking. Oh.

SPEAKER_07 33:47

But I kind of saw that coming. I kind of figured right off the bat, Dracula knows all. He knows all, and I was like, all right, well, he's at the corner, he's gonna get him from the top, and it's game over. But really, we're talking about like the actual kill here, but the real, real sad part is like the real final kill of Toby, you know? Like oh, how heartbreaking. Absolutely. Which is also kind of expected, you know. You kind of see it coming, and who wouldn't in terms of a loved one wanting to like just grabbing onto any chance that perhaps they're still alive. But that kid was just burst into flames instantly.

SPEAKER_06 34:26

Absolutely. I mean, we should have seen it coming, granted, I know, because 2023 is really the year of fuck them kids, but still.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

It really is. I just realized it sucks for Toby.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Sorry, Toby. It does suck for Toby, and it's so on brand for me because that was the top of my kill list. It is tragic that moment, you know, where you see his actual death with his grandfather, the captain, right? Like coming up, like seeing him move and not wanting to accept his death and lifting the sheet, and like that whole thing of like this him attacking him and the sunlight burning him to death. Like that wasn't that, it was purely the scene with Dracula that made it top-notch for me because he's sitting there, you know, in that in that room, right? And Dracula, you it's just the visual of them looking through into the room, and you see Dracula. I think he's like standing up, he's standing up, and you just that visual was so cool, and then it's him like kind of lurking up on the ceiling, crawling towards him. You see Toby's face looking up and the dread starting to form, and then he gets snatched up. And and you can and oh, you're like, is this gonna happen? Are they gonna interfere? Is this gonna happen? And he does it, he bites his ass, he fucking bites Toby and starts sucking that fucker's blood. And and then you get the visual of like the rosary dropping out of his hand. Man, chef's kiss. I'm sorry, what they do with these kid deaths, it's top notch, and I'm here for it all fucking day. It's on brand for me, I know, but fuck it. Toby's top notch.

SPEAKER_06 36:01

It's really throwing back to the nun when the door says God ends here. Dracula didn't give a damn about that rosary.

SPEAKER_07 36:08

I just want to say that, like, if you're going to kill a kid, you better, you better send it, you know? And I feel like it was sent. Did it meet Sean's standards? I think so.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Yeah, it did.

SPEAKER_07 36:20

Nice. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

That's great.

SPEAKER_07 36:21

That's good, that's good. My favorite kill was Petrovsky. Actually, this is a great opportunity for me to also explain which part of the film that I was referencing to when I said, fuck that. It was Dracula coming out of that small little corner underneath the stairs, like slowly inching their way forward, crawling, because initially you don't actually think you see his head. Yeah. Or I don't even think you actually do. And then it's like slowly coming out of that corner, inching out of there. Fuck that noise. And you know what? If I saw that, it's that I never understood this. Like if I saw that, I would be running in the opposite direction instantly. Nothing crawling out of any corner piques my interest.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

No, but it's it's the it's the crawling on the floor, jumping up in the air out of nowhere with the nail sliced to the throat and the blood gushing on the floor, and him just like going to the floor and like sucking the blood off the floor. That's what it was for that kill. Like, that was oh man.

SPEAKER_07 37:23

Dracula was preserving every like little sliver of that blood.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

For sure. When he sliced the throat and it was just gushing out, I'm like, wow, there's a lot of wasted blood here. That seems a little bit odd for a vampire. And let me tell you, he was like, I'm not wasting a single drop of this. I will lick this shit right off the floor. And that's what he did.

SPEAKER_06 37:44

Yeah, he was really giving his best chupacabra.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

I want to go back to this finger-looking good, like, don't waste the drop kind of situation here because most vampire movies, it's all about the extenuation. And this movie was not about that, and I appreciate that so much. Even a simple like bite kill was pretty awesome because it was a chunk. It was like, I'm just gonna rip your freaking throat out with my mouth, and then I'll I guess I'll drink a little bit of blood too. Like, that's cool. Um, I I really appreciate about this type of Dracula, like it's it's really gross and intense, and it almost seems like he doesn't even have to do it. Like, he's not even taking all the blood. There's a bunch of blood wasted just sitting in that body. It's just a whole full body of blood, and he's not even draining it completely, but whatever, you know, that's it's his meal. He gets to eat how he wants.

SPEAKER_06 38:30

So Yeah. Imagine Dracula as a human who just goes and buys a bottle of coke from the vending machine, drinks two inches of it, and then it's just the rest of it is just sitting there. That sounds like Nicolas Cage's Dracula.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Oh no, it's really given like you're at the party and there's like some there's just like some group of people that are just grabbing beer after beer after beer, and then come to find out that they're just leaving like a quarter of the beer in there and then grabbing a new one. It's like, yo, finish your fucking beer because we all want beer too. You know what I mean? Like that's what it's kind of feeling right now.

SPEAKER_06 39:03

But then they're like backwash, uh well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Then then you got the guy that's super fucked up that just goes around and pours the ends of the beer into a cup and then finishes that because there's nothing left to drink. Not saying that I do that by any means, but I have seen it done and it's disturbing. It's disturbing.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

What if, okay, so he's like that person at the party who who leaves that you know third of a beer left. But what if when he goes to drink the beer, he doesn't like crack it open, he freaking bites out the middle of the can. And that's the Dracula we get here, where he's like, I'm gonna literally just bite out your throat.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

Not leave two little marks on the side of your neck that are cute, almost like a little kiss mark. No, I'm gonna just rip your throat out. Whether or not I drink blood afterwards, whatever. I'm I had a little fun to get there. And so I appreciate that about him. I think my favorite kill here has got to be Olgarin, because man, what a way to go. That was like so epic, smashing his own face into a door to break the door open, and then his eyes are freaking popping out of his head, and his head is just mutilated, his nose is squished into his face, and that wasn't even the death. That's the craziest part. Okay, that is crazy.

SPEAKER_06 40:08

I was gonna save this for favorite scene, but I'm gonna use my backup favorite scene later. This motherfucker is the Michael Myers of this movie. Okay, he is banging his head against the wall like he's a deade, which is impressive, but he was walking like him, and then he also just walked straight through that door like him. It was giving Halloween. He was giving it Michael Myers in a number of times when he's walking through wooden doors. But then also, before any of this, when he is just lured up there and he is severely wounded and his blood is dripping down on Toby, it's Halloween 6, the curse of Michael Myers, when they kill the radio DJ, the radio DJ is strung up in the tree, and his blood is falling on a little girl, and she thinks it's fake blood. She's like, Oh, it's so cool, why is it so warm? And then you realize, holy shit, that everything about O'Garen, so fucking cool.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

Yeah. So you got you got Halloween, Michael Myers, out of that part in that scene, and I got head smashing into the into the door or whatever, and then breaking through the door with his head, and then sticking his bloody face through the door just a tad, really giving Jack Nicholson in the shining.

SPEAKER_07 41:24

I was just gonna say, my friend literally after that happened, he out loud said, Here's Johnny.

SPEAKER_06 41:33

Breaking the door for sure, the shining, banging his head on the door to the bloodiness of it, for sure, mom from Evil Dead Rise.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Yeah. Oh, yeah, look at that.

SPEAKER_06 41:46

White eyes and all.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

I I did like how they used him as as like the way to show that yes, we're sticking to the sunlight rule in a really cool, explosive way. Because that dude went out when they when he was like strung to that post and they have no idea this is gonna happen. They don't know anything about vampires, and then just like poof, he goes up in flames. That was epic.

SPEAKER_07 42:06

That was very, very impressive too. Visually, as well, like that was a lot. They got they got into the detail of that fire for sure. Such trauma as well.

SPEAKER_06 42:18

I also want to talk about a little bit just as fucked up as this is when Toby combusts and his grandfather is holding on to him as his grandfather is also burning. Yeah, all I gotta think about later in the film, as things are going down and the captain is above deck, all that salt water on those fresh burns, that's gonna be fucking miserable.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Ouch. Ouch.

SPEAKER_06 42:44

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

But maybe cleaning suffering. Maybe cleaning a little bit. So a little cleanse.

SPEAKER_07 42:49

Yeah, he he suffered big time with those burns. That was incredible makeup work, without a doubt. But I will say, because Sean, you're a stickler for the chapter. Correct me if I'm wrong. Technically, that's that's the shame in terms of his kill, though, because that he's technically like I understand that maybe the direction that they were supposed to go, but he was supposed to be found like stuck on this wheel, on the captain's wheel, right? Like that wasn't giving the same vibe that it is from the chapter, where it's like very like in you're shocked, he's holding the crucifix in his hands, and it's like, I don't know. I guess I envisioned when you're reading it, you're expecting like something in intense, whereas when you're watching it in this film, it's more like cathartic because of course, you know, it that's kind of the vibe that they went with this captain and the story that they were trying to tell with him, especially with his grandchild, right? With Toby. So I understand the the distinction, but one of my gripes was that was like I it would have been cool to still have that like ominous shock factor when people get on board and they see at least the captain mangled to that whole thing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

That's the whole thing. That's the whole thing. The ship comes flying in on its own, presumably, right? On its own into the into the port and crashes onto the beach or whatever, and they got that chilling image of him, the dead body strapped to it, right? With the crucifix and all that, and the way they depicted it in the novel. And that could have been such a chilling scene in the movie, and they chose to like completely just say, We're gonna do something else.

SPEAKER_06 44:28

Not only are we gonna do something else, we're gonna just straight up undo it. Yeah. Which feels a little more disrespectful.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Hold on though, really, really quick, because I know we're gonna move on from kills and whatnot, but I just want to say, with Toby, just going back to Toby, right? You know, at the scene where he dies, right? He cat catches on fire, and then he gets thrown or goes into the ocean and starts sinking. I don't know. Did anyone else feel like there may have been like a maybe like a a chance that he might still be alive?

SPEAKER_07 45:04

Oh for sure. Big time. Big time. Because like technically he combusted, but then you put him in water where then the fire.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

But it looked like his eyes were still there. Like his eyes were maybe moving. I don't know. It gave me like a little a little glimmer of like hope that he might still be alive. It was giving like vampire Lestat at the bottom of the ocean for a very long time vibe.

SPEAKER_06 45:26

So when you initially said that he might still be alive, I thought you were referencing while he was still under the sheet. Did you think he hadn't fully turned yet? And I was like, oh no, absolutely not. Hell yeah, that motherfucker's alive. He's like darling, it's better, down where it's wetter, take it from me. A hundred percent. He is vibing down there.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Under the sea.

SPEAKER_07 45:47

Even more reason why if this sequel happens, don't be shocked if Toby comes through through the depths of the ocean.

SPEAKER_06 45:54

Immortal child, Toby. You never know.

SPEAKER_07 45:56

Damn it, Toby.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

Yeah. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Well, speaking of the bottom of the ocean, my favorite visual in this movie is not the ocean, but it is the ship. So I think the ship was just so well done. What a beautiful freaking set they made out of it. And the level of detail, I don't know if it's right. I'm not nautical in any way, but it was like incredibly impressive. All the small little textures that they were able to add, everything felt like it's a real ship on the water. I don't know whether or not it is, but it definitely looks like it and it felt like it. It felt dirty. When you saw those rats running across the floor, you looked at that floor and you're like, of course rats would run across that because that's a flora for rats. It felt so real. And then when you're on the actual like top part of the ship, you're on the deck and you're looking around at everything, they didn't like waste details. They had somebody manning that wheel, they had people up, you know, in the in the whatever those things are called in the sails. Again, I'm not a ship person, I like land, but it was impressive that they made use of like every part of that ship that they could.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

Yeah, I I I think the ship looked gorgeous. Like I think I'm aligned with you 100% that the ship looked amazing. That's one of the stronger visual elements in the film, hands down. I think also like that, because that was my number one too. But if I have to think of like another visual element that I think was was really well done, was just you know, we talk about atmosphere and and the things that the film was able to do, and I think kind of what they were able to bring in with the atmosphere of like the dense or billowing fog coming in and and covering the ship in the night and the sea and all of that stuff, and that that really carried those scenes and brought it really close to what I envisioned in the novel. And I put down like an excerpt from the novel right here in my notes. I'm gonna read it really quick because it says masses of sea fog came drifting inland, white wet clouds which swept by in or which swept by in ghostly fashion, so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort of imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were touching their living brethren with their clammy hands of death, and many a one shuddered as the wreaths of sea mist swept by. That what they were able to do with some of the fog and some of the atmosphere of the ship in the night as like Dracula was hunting his prey or you know, trying to feed that night, or whatever it was, that is what I envisioned, and I think they got really close in some of those scenes.

SPEAKER_06 48:38

1000%. And one of the things that was just on my mind as you're describing that is going back to In the Dark, in the night, one of the favorite quotes. 100%. But in my notes, so many times I wrote down, Man, I love a foggy ocean. It just like it's a special feeling to have this wind blowing by you to hear the sound of the waves around you, and then to feel that mist on you. It's so spooky and eerie, and yet it's also so hauntingly peaceful. And I love seeing that and feeling that in this movie. What I think I love even more within the atmosphere is how they combine the two. So the darkness, the depth, uh the the fog, the mist, how they combine that with the beautiful set work that they did, where they built that ship in two pieces. So those are like two sets that they are then filming on. So they did all of this, and we then see how they use that depth to place Dracula strategically. I'm thinking about even a moment where he is lighting a match to try to light a lantern, and we have Dracula lurking behind him. Absolutely stunning. The way they they work with these two things and then work with so much darkness, and even the way that they designed, as much as I'm not a fan in some moments of the way that Dracula is designed, the design they chose for Dracula and how his ghostly skin sticks out in on the darkness of that night, it's fucking haunting.

SPEAKER_07 50:10

Yeah, definitely. And you're bringing up obviously the darkness and whatnot, but let's talk a little bit about how they play around with the light, though. Like it it is such a contrast because even when they are in daytime, it's so crisp, it's bright, and it sounds strange to say, but it's almost like it's so beautiful during the day that it's almost like happy, at least, like right, like it's set in a way where everything is so bright, it's a great saturation of everything to literally contrast how dark and dreary it is when it comes nighttime. You can tell the difference completely, literally night and day. Um, so I definitely love that. Um definitely happy to get into Dracula's design too, because I think it's it's not what I expected at all, but I'm not completely mad at it. Like I said, thought the CGR was gonna be a little strange, but I agree with something that Max said much earlier, which was like the trailer gave you know Dracula a little too much too early on. So that's kind of why I was a little unsure of how CGR was gonna play out. But my favorite visual um actually is technically a kill, I would say. We didn't bring her up, but Anna's kill, I think it was so beautiful, just like how the sun is like the again, the gradients, the colors, the sun is setting. It reminded me of I don't know if you guys have seen this, Midnight Mass, another vampiric um show. Not gonna spoil it, but it is Midnight Mass vibes. So um completely, if you know, you know, and it hit right into the soul. Loved it, loved it, loved it. And actually, talking about Anna a little bit more, there's also like close-ups of her face and it's angled in a certain way that it just gave like pure desperation to me. I loved how they kind of like just really leaned into her face at times and other characters too. Um, but yeah, what they were doing with Anna, it was serving for sure.

SPEAKER_06 52:16

Okay. Listen, I said earlier that this movie reminds me of three things as I get towards that ending.

SPEAKER_07 52:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 52:23

Two of them happened in this moment. Are we ready for this?

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 52:27

It's giving I'll never let go, Jack, mash up with Josh Hartinett 30 Days of Night. 30 Days of Night! Like it's those. It is Titanic in Alaska in one fucking movie in that moment. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but I am saying I saw it.

SPEAKER_07 52:43

Dad, Josh Hardinett, look at you. Also, great movie. I might I might re-watch that. I was just I was watching a lot of David Slade movies recently. Uh, one of my favorite Twilight movies is a David Slade. Maybe I'll do 30 Days of Night and I'll kind of see that connection again because it's been a while since I've seen it.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_06 53:02

I just went through this whole process of re-watching Titanic with you know current events, and I could not stop thinking about that movie in this movie.

SPEAKER_07 53:11

And I will say, yes, it did remind me of that too. I was like, man, they're hanging on by something much like you know, similar in parameters of that door in Titanic.

SPEAKER_06 53:22

They are in warmer waters, I would presume though. I guess that's true. Maybe not even, right? But just, you know, the time of year it was. This is an August, that was in April. It's just timing, you know. But still, she had no excuse. Do better. Come on, Rose.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

I think it's really funny that you unrelated, but I think it's really funny that you brought up 30 days at night because I just had like a contractor here at my house who was like, Oh, I just got back from vacation on this Alaskan cruise and all this stuff, and he's like, Oh, totally moved there. I love it. And then my wife Ari was like, Well, don't they get like a lot of like night, right? Like, you don't get like full days of sunlight and all that, and he's like, Yeah, depending on where you are in Alaska or whatever. And and I immediately chime in and I'm like, Have you seen that movie 30 Days at Night? Of course. That's my only contribution to that conversation. I love that.

SPEAKER_06 54:14

I love that so much, and also I'd absolutely fucking live there.

SPEAKER_02 54:18

Yeah, let's go. Let's do it. We have mentioned that, or at least one of you have mentioned that they really loved the visual of Dracula, right? I think maybe it was a U Binks, right? You granted it was all CGI or whatever, but one of my favorite scenes in this film was that shot that you got. I forget who was looking at him from the other end of the boat, but when he when you get the shot of Dracula at the other end of the boat, and he stands up and spreads his fucking wings and does that screeching cry or scream or whatever it was, that was such an epic moment. That was such a, I don't know, there was so much terror built and tension built in that moment that I was like, whoa, I was so captivated in seeing Dracula in that moment that I that, you know, no matter how much they overuse the visual of Dracula, that you got a lot of Dracula before you even watch the movie. That shot alone was so good.

SPEAKER_07 55:15

I think it's you're talking about like kind of towards the end when Clemens is giving his own like monologue type moment and it's like a showdown. It's like pouring rain. Yeah, big time. Big time.

SPEAKER_06 55:27

Two things that popped into my head when I saw that I and the terror that flaps in the night, dark winged duck.

SPEAKER_03 55:33

Two. Fucking Dark Winged Duck? Are you serious?

SPEAKER_07 55:37

Bro, where do you get these things, man? Where does this come from? Like this is crazy.

SPEAKER_06 55:43

Joy is where it comes from, Binx. It's okay.

SPEAKER_05 55:46

So good.

SPEAKER_06 55:47

It's okay for me to feel these things, Binx. Don't shame me. Two, was Mac called it earlier, the sire from what we do in the shadows. Honestly, two great moments. And I don't say this in a detrimental way, but it's just more like, damn, that thing is terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

It's kind of cool that we we have a Dracula that sticks to bat form, though. You know, I I'm not a huge fan of how he looks in this movie, uh, except for when we see him not with his wings. I think those are actually really cool shots where he's like slithering almost. But yeah, I I'm I'm happy though we don't we don't see him like hitting it doggy style as a werewolf, you know?

SPEAKER_03 56:24

Oh right.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

We've seen that in other places, right? We saw that in uh Bram Stoker's Dracula.

SPEAKER_03 56:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

And it was completely unnecessary. And so yeah, I think even if I'm not a fan of the Batwings, I'd pref I prefer it.

SPEAKER_07 56:39

Man, so maybe I'm the only one that likes his design. I mean, I just think because yeah, I just expected it to be far worse. And I was like, well, this is looking like maybe, all right, let me be really, really truthful right now. It's that I'm coming off of just having watched Fright Knight, both of them, and it's like, okay, again again, this isn't Dracula, but like how many vampires or even like sometimes Dracula, we see that their monster form or whatever, they're like true vampiric form is still super, still human-ish. And they just like full on made this thing into a monster. Full on monster form. And I appreciated that.

SPEAKER_06 57:19

I like monster form, I like bat form Dracula. What I didn't like was the moments when he wasn't in full bat form, but then he was cuddling in the corner by himself, holding his arms in. It reminded me of the descent, but not in a cool way. It reminded me of this idea of Nicolas Cage's Dracula kind of being reliant on Renfield, which obviously we know that Dracula is reliant on a familiar to bring him his food, etc. We I get that. But it almost made him look pitiful in moments. And it did detract a little bit from that like menacing quality.

SPEAKER_07 57:59

But I think that needed to be there though, because you need to also remember that he is a being to some extent, whether you know, the debatable in terms of Anna, which she's trying to explain, like not a human, but not fully a monster, that whole bit. But like he is dependent on something. There has to be at least a little bit of a weakness that we need to see as an audience to fully believe that maybe perhaps these characters stand a chance, even though most of us know how this goes down, even when you see the beginning of the movie. But let's talk about like going back to him just standing there, because this is the scene that I thought you were gonna mention, Sean, because it is with Clemens. My favorite scene is when he first sees Dracula like first, first sees Dracula, and he's just standing in this like doorway, and it's such a fine like outline of him. I thought that was so cool. And then it introduces the callback from Toby explaining to Clemens about like the the knocking on the wood. I don't know, just that whole bit. It was like, all right, we're establishing that this knocking stuff is gonna come back and it's giving conjuring, so I'm here for it. You know, we've got that like wow, is it something in the doorway? Is it not? Like, that's clearly not your friend, bro. And I think he's pretty established that since he was also spooked. Another great moment when he's looking at the spyglass. I didn't expect that at all. I mean, maybe I'm just I didn't buy into the cliche, but I think that whole scene, that whole establishing scene of like, all right, here we go. Dracula's coming in, it's our first day of night type of deal. Let's really see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 59:38

That gave me hope, honestly, though. When we saw the skinny little Dracula shadow, you can see the figure in the darkness. I was like, ooh, I am into this Dracula. It was ruined, of course, for me because I I don't really prefer sometimes that we see everything always. But there were so many good moments where it was just the outline, it was just the shape. When we get that flash through the broken door of them just staring at his face, brilliant, right? Like we didn't have to see anything too crazy. It was just like the full realization that this thing is real was was amazing. But I love that when they're like they they know something is wrong, they haven't talked to each other about it, and then you know he gets accused of you know lying about seeing it. But that off in the distance kind of feeling where it's like signs where the aliens up on the roof, such a beautiful, brilliant use of not showing you everything. Like, please do more of that, do that the entire time. I loved it so much.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:34

I think my favorite scene is more like a moment though, and it's when the captain is talking to Wojciech, we're towards the end, and he lets him know that you would have been a great captain. And it it kind of comes out of nowhere, right? Because it's like at this point, they're not really talking like that yet. But he's obviously had that realization that it's game over and there's nothing that's gonna come from this. And I think the actor who plays Wojciech is is able to like show on his face a little subtlety where he's like, Well, wait a second, but then he's like, Oh shit, you're right.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:03

Which I think it's that exact type of moment to show the full journey that these characters have been on. And isn't it wild that this shit always happens when it's someone's time to be a couple days away from retirement? It sucks. You make it your whole career, then Dracula fucking lands on your boat, right? Really sucks. But I think the tenacity and and the way that resilience is tested on these men and and on Anna. A, let's just talk about the dynamics of that group in general. You have people who are hardened people, right? They are shaped by the roughest seas that they've been on, and then there's this platitude, this phrase that says, A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor, and these guys are fucking rough, right? Yeah so you know they've been through some shit, they've seen some shit. You see a character in the beginning who's like, nah, you didn't say anything about dragons. I'm out of here. And so I think it really sets a really great tone here. And the more that you go on, the more that you see they're losing themselves, they're paranoid. But I do agree, Sean, that it's not to the extent that I think it could have been to really sell that even more. We got some characters I liked, but they could have done more here.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:21

Yeah, they definitely could have done more with the characters. I I will say though, one character that I enjoyed a lot that was an addition was Clemens, and he was a focus of the movie. He was the main character, right? And I think Clemens did a phenomenal job. I think they incorporated him into the story at ease. Like I didn't feel like it was out of place really as I was watching the film, no, even knowing in the back of my head that this was not a character that was featured in the novel. I did I just really enjoyed what he brought to the table throughout the movie and what he was able to bring as far as like everything that was kind of happening throughout the movie and how they centered it around him. It just felt almost natural in a way. So I was really happy what they did with Clemens. Uh alternatively, though, when you look at someone else they added like Anna, I feel like Anna just didn't need to be there at all. Like, I get it, she was in there, like she that it gave some backstory, she gave a little bit of uh like a piece to the puzzle, right? All of that stuff, but I don't think it really added to the movie. I think if you if you subtracted Anna out of the film, it still would have been the same film. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:35

I don't know, man. If you didn't have Anna, she wouldn't have shot the fucking door, and then they never would have got to Toby. Anna was doing some shit, she was making some people very capable and pulling some strings here, providing the lore, and then also being the scapegoat that people blame. I really loved Anna.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:53

Yeah, I was actually gonna say I loved Anna, but also because once again, we are proven that men are not listening to this woman. If you had listened to this woman from the beginning, all of you would have been alive. But because alas Wait, would they have though?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:11

Sure.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:11

Is there anything they could have done?

SPEAKER_07 1:04:15

Yeah, stopping in port immediately. Nah, but we gotta get that coin. Alright, well, die.

unknown 1:04:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:21

Well, I guess yeah, that's true. Pride cometh before the fall.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:25

That's true. I mean, you gotta you gotta stay hungry, you gotta hustle, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

Yeah, well. I mean, a good captain, honestly, shit's going down like that would have just stopped in port anyway, but you know.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:35

Yeah, I did I did like Anna. I did appreciate that. Although I will say, I was kind of I don't know. I was surprised and also not about her character, because I figured, of course, I I mean I saw the trailer and I had an idea of like, all right, well, I guess he does like feed. And again, maybe we could really twist this in terms of how Dracula is and the hopeless romantic, like he's kept his wives, right? Like, you know, has kept the this woman around to feed on her in the sustenance. That I thought that maybe in some crazy way, I was like, are they gonna have more women in these freaking crates? But I guess not. Which is also okay because I what are we gonna do? A whole horde of women are just like just chilling in these boxes until they wake up suddenly.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:23

Yeah, it's the women that predate Lucy from the novel. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:30

Can you imagine though, being like just stored in that box and then just being, you know, just you know, you're just getting fed on and then just shoved back into whatever. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_07 1:05:41

Like that just feels that takes that takes buried to the next level. Like that movie buried that we talked about recently with Ryan Reynolds. Like that that's buried, buried.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:51

Yeah. You're buried and then unburied to be fed on and then buried again. It just doesn't sound like a great time. I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:58

Nah. So I want Take a quick moment to shout out the actor that plays Wojtek, uh David Dasmalkian, I believe that's how you say his last name. I want to say that 2023 is his year. I'm gonna make that declaration right now. We've seen him already in Boogeyman, we've talked about him in Boogeyman. He was also in Boston Strangler, that was like a I think I went direct to streaming with Kira Knightley, Oppenheimer, and I promise I won't bring it up again, but you know how I feel about that movie. And then also An-Man and the Wasp. This man is rolling in the dough, and it's August, so who knows? Just saying, just saying. I saw him and I I did one of those moments like that Leonardo DiCaprio meme where you're just like pointing at the screen and you're like, hey, because I guess I didn't recognize him in the trailer, and I was like, Oh my god, this guy again? He's in everything. Good for him.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:49

And he did not have a bad accent, which was fantastic.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:52

And he did not? Yeah, he didn't have a bad accent. I he was doing a great job. I I hope the best for him.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:59

It was a good job for sure. I also want to just highlight for just a brief second Joseph, because I think in the novel they just refer to the cook, and and they really had to elaborate a little bit more to bring the cook, as in Joseph, to life, which I thought was great. And Joseph added just enough of just like a kind of like a bright comedic value to the film that I thought was really well done and well placed. And even when we look at his kill, right? Because we didn't talk about his kill, but even thinking about him, he's like, you know what, fuck this. I'm out. I'm gonna grab this boat and I'm gone. And he thinks he's you know, he's he's just the smartest one out there. He's rowing his way away from the boat, and all of a sudden, boom, Dracula just flaps his wings and lands on the back of his boat, and that's it for him. But I just thought, you know, it was a nice touch to elaborate a little bit more, bring that character to life with literally nothing to go off of.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:58

And I think it's again, it's that realistic part I was talking about in terms of the characters and what they bring. Like you're going to have someone that's like really leaning into uh like their religion and that whole lore of demons and and and the devil and like sinning and all that's I don't know. I just for the time that this is set, it makes sense that there was going to be someone that was thinking that way. Did it have to be him? I don't know, but I'm glad that someone I guess had that element to them. Do want to make a comment about his kill because you're right, we didn't talk about it. I love how Dracula was so polite enough to return the boat back though. He was like, let me just send this back to you guys, just so you're aware.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:39

Let me just show you that there's literally no escape.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:42

Yeah. Let me make myself abundantly clearer. Since you probably can't understand the words that I'm saying, since I have like this weird little vibe when I talk, but I'm gonna make I'm gonna show and tell.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:53

May I just say though, that even as baffling as the decision is to hop on those lifeboats as their big exit strategy, the worst part of this movie for me was you mentioned it banks, the sound. I cannot wait to revisit this movie at a point where I can watch it with captions and subtitles because I still don't fully have all of the last monologue that he had as he was showing down with Dracula. There's a lot of moments in this movie where I feel like there's some really key dialogue that my ears just couldn't understand. Some of it is with the sound design and the way that that was balanced, other parts of it are just maybe my hearing, but that is something that really was a pain point for me here.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:40

Yeah, definitely can't wait to do closed captioning a thousand percent. My worst part is actually the ending and the parts where I think we're all kind of on the same page-ish, where we're like holding back laughter, because I think for me it is the moments of like, oh, here we go again. This is definitely gonna be a sequel, but you're approaching it very cheesy. And like, why is Dracula? Like, I understand why Dracula is caressing my neck and like making it clear that he is just as much onto you as you are onto him because he hurt you, but it was giving a little bit too much sensuality, and I was like, ooh, sir, what's going on here? It was the weird like teaser of like, yeah, we know that that's Dracula there, but why are you like making it in a sense where like, should I be anticipating Gary Ullman? Like, should I be anticipating Nicholas Cage? Like, what are what are you about to show me right now? This is strange. I don't know. It was it was such an odd, like final, final ending to set up this whole like you know, Clemens is gonna go get Dracula, you know? It w it kind of like cheapens it uh just a smidge, almost reminded me of like a CW kind of situation. I mean, that might be dramatic, but around the vein of that.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:58

And this is where I have a third movie reference, which still debating which movie it is, but it is like insert this category of movie here. Actually, no, I take that back. I think it's gonna be TV show, it's gonna be Smallville. It is Clark Kent becoming Superman. And I felt like this was just him turning into a superhero. Like, now you know my origin story. I'm gonna go hunt Dracula. Except you don't know who I am because I'm just a fresh edition here.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:30

Uh okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:31

Why did Okay why why what I want to know is why did you say Smallville specifically? Because I'm just thinking about the vibe of that. I'm thinking of the image of Clark Kent finally we finally see him ripping his white shirt, and he gets into his Superman logo, and that's what that moment felt like. I was originally gonna say Batman, because that felt very appropriate with Bats, but then I was like, no, there's not a single Batman movie I can think of that ends the way that I'm thinking, and it is Smallville.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:01

Yeah, I I can see that reference, that vibe, that kind of match. I I was thinking along those terms, but I was thinking origin story for like Van Helsing.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:12

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:15

That's literally as soon as I saw well, as soon as I realized that people were gonna live, because nobody lives in the book on this chapter, like no one survives this this voyage. Um, and and as soon as I realized that people won were gonna live and and Clemens was gonna be one of the survivors, and then we get that scene afterwards in the tavern or whatever, and he says the line of like I'm gonna you know hunt you down, or whatever he says, like that for me was like, Okay, is this just is this just Clemens turning into Van Helsing? Is that what's happening here?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:52

As long as it's a Van Helsing who's not an angel who turns into a werewolf. Yeah, for sure. Because what was that? For sure. It did seem like a strange choice, like to end things that way, though, because sure, he survives. He makes it to he makes it to England. Great, that's the end of the movie. Like, let's move on. Maybe he's always looking over his shoulder. Great, let's move on. To make him run after him in the night down the alley. If you're not gonna make a sequel, that was just weird. And if you are gonna make a sequel, why?

SPEAKER_06 1:13:26

It is that like this movie could have ended with the cane knocking and the hand on the cane without even having to see that is literally Nosferatu Dracula with a fucking top hat on.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:40

I would actually run it even further back, just the knocking and leave it at that. I don't need to do the hand on the cane because it's also giving a little bit of Marvel. Like, leave it be, dude. Leave it be. I don't I I just don't understand why there would need to be a sequel to this, regardless, because it's like you already achieved something with the chapter that you were given. There's no need to go ahead and franchise this. We know how this goes. Clemens is not in this story, and should he be? Maybe, I don't know, but like, right, it is giving Van Helsing, and it's it's weird. It's not I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:10

Yeah, absolutely. I I will tell you, like, the best part of the film for me, and I know I've talked about it a little bit overall, but it's just the the way the film looked and the and the ambiance, the set design, the atmosphere, it was visually very beautiful to watch. It really played off of the darkness and the shadows and the use of the fog and and all of that with the dimly lit ship at night and the things like that. Like, all of that was probably for me the best part because it got so close to what I envisioned in the actual novel as I was reading the novel, is specifically obviously around this chapter. Um, so I think well done there. You know, I was I was just wanting to touch on one thing. Like, if if we're gonna talk about what really made or broke this film for me, it's really just the use of it's not that all the characters are bad, because a lot of the things they did with the characters are really good. Even some of the additional characters that weren't part of the initial storyline were really good. It's just what they chose to specifically leave out of the film that that kind of ruined it for me, and what and the direction that they went in, right? Like if you're gonna, if you're gonna take away, we talked about it earlier, take away the captain's death, uh, the way that he died in the novel, man, I don't know about it. And if you're gonna and if you're gonna end the film with survivors, I don't know about it. Like, I I want to see the hopelessness at the end of that story. I want to see the mystique of that story. I want to see what the feelings of the people in that town were feeling as they saw this happening, the way they depicted it in the novel, of the of the townspeople watching this this storm happening and watching this ship, you know, roll in and finding this horrific event and this dead body attached to it, and and finding the logs or the note in the in the glass bottle or whatever, and and really just just getting a glimpse of what happened, you know, they just went in some directions that I don't think they needed to go in, and they took away things that I don't think they should have taken away. And I think it's those specific things that ruined it for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:32

Wow. I mean, I I still respect the fact that like you know enough to be able to feel strongly about it because I feel bad for not for not having read the novel, you know. I don't even know the details. I didn't even know this existed until we talked about this movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:49

One does not simply be called the classic horror connoisseur and then not come prepared to feel the way he feels. Yes, it's true. But now you gotta compliment it. So good luck.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:00

I I think I'm gonna stick to my worst part being Dracula's design. And I actually really like pretty much the rest of the movie. I think Dracula's design is weird because it's so good in several parts. The type of good that I enjoy, where he's in the shadows or where he's like slinking around, or when he's when he's mostly humanoid, I think that's when I really appreciate Dracula. I really, I really like the spots where you can't fully see him or where you can only see a part of him. But when we get the full wings out Dracula, like flying through the air, I think that's the part where I wasn't really into the design. And I think it was ruined because it happened super early on that we see him almost in entirety, like within like 15 minutes of the movie starting, which is crazy to me. Um, but I think it's only worsened by the fact that they chose to show so much of Dracula in the trailer. Because if you're like me and you like to watch trailers you get kind of hyped up for stuff, you're like, oh, so basically I've seen the movie now. Thank you so much. That kind of ruined everything. But even if you haven't seen it, and you're 10, 15 minutes in and you see everything going on with Dracula when it's not a regular human-looking Dracula, it's kind of a it's kind of a letdown. But it's only worsened by the fact that we have that flying version of him in my book.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:14

But do you think that experience is enough to prevent you from ever watching this again? You feel like it sullies the experience?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:22

I don't think it does. I think it was still a really enjoyable movie to watch. And I'm actually curious about your suggestion of inserting it into Bram Stoker's Dracula from 1992. I think that would be really ridiculous in terms of the time it would take to watch it, but also kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:39

Give me Machete Order Dracula, and we can figure the shit out.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:43

And then have, you know, have Renfield be like a sequel. Modern day.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:48

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:49

You know, we're talking about where to put this film in terms of, you know, Bram Stokers and all that, but like I would definitely watch this movie again, without a doubt. Would love to do a Dracula Marathon, but probably not anytime soon, because we're already doing the Dracula Marathon, it feels like, right now. So I'm gonna put a pin in it after this year. Maybe not next October, maybe the following. I don't know. Stay tuned. But I will watch this movie again, because I intro I was highly entertained, and I think it would be a good fit in terms of watching all the other Draculas that are out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:26

Yeah, it's tough. I don't know. Could I re-watch this movie? Maybe, but probably not. I mean, I I don't know. I I'm trying to think of a of a situation or a scenario where I feel like watching a Dracula film, and this one pops up in my head as something that I actually want to watch when I want to get my Dracula fill. If I'm gonna watch Dracula, of course I'm gonna go 1922 Nasferatu, 1931 Dracula, even Horror of Dracula with Christopher Lee. Like those are ones that I really enjoy watching. This one, I don't know. I mean, I might find myself watching it again, but I just can't see myself at this time ever wanting to watch this when I feel like watching a Dracula movie. So I guess time will tell. We'll see if it's whenever it comes back around for me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:16

Well, you know, Sean, I'd like to think that sounds promising, but I think we can just call it there. It is what it is. I think one of the most exciting things about this is to get to hear your perspective from a deep love and admiration for Dracula and all the many ways you have ties to it. You know, it it seems only appropriate and fitting that The Last Voyage of the Demeter from 2023 has three slashes but one hack in the classic horror connoisseur. Now, we certainly had a robust discussion here, but this doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:48

We want to know what you think. Did you think this movie did great with the source material or disgrace Dracula like Sean thinks? Let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:02

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SPEAKER_02 1:21:17

And I've decided this is to be my final voyage.