Why So Blu?

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter – Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray Review)

One of the last efforts of Summer 2023 at the movies was a horror film that had been waiting in the wings for a good many years before being made and then releasing to theaters. The Last Voyage Of The Demeter released to some positive reviews, but then wound up being a hot target for a couple weeks in terms of its underwhelming box office and people wondering why it went theatrical. Now it arrives to Blu-ray (No 4K as of yet – frown). Surprisingly enough, its coming in a Collector’s Edition with plenty of bonus material on it. Released on October 17th, you can order yourself a copy from the paid Amazon Associates link at the bottom of the review.

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Film

One of the classic monsters that never seems to leave our big screens for long at all, is that of Count Dracula. This year alone, we have had two films with him. First of all Renfield and later The Last Voyage of the Demeter. This isn’t the first time the Prince of Darkness has had multiple films released in the same calendar year either. And this year had two quite different takes. Demeter was one that had been gestating for a while and finally came to fruition.

I first took note of this film when Neil Marshall became attached to direct it. In a world of doing cinematic universe, spin-off and other extended media – this was one of the more brilliant ways to do so. The Dracula story has a side quest that is sort of brushed over and its that of Dracula’s boat ride to his new residency. The boat arrives, but everyone aboard didn’t survive the trip. This is shown most effectively in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu (Which, this film adopts that Dracula look) and is the starting point for Jon Badham’s Dracula.

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter makes for a nice little spook show aboard a ship that deals in paranoia, gore and jump scares for a solid time. It can’t overall justify its 2 hour runtime as there are some pacing issues that have the film feeling sluggish at times. A swift 90 minutes might have been the perfect idea here for something that is more genre-basic in terms of what its doing. And its not a need for constant action, there was some great autopsy sequences thanks to the wonderful Corey Hawkins leading a charge and finding some good chemistry with both Liam Cunningham and Aisling Franciosi to keep this ship in drive.

One thing that might’ve helped lift the film in esteem are some more memorable action or scare sequences. There are many of them that feel a little bit too paint by numbers. And its not that the film isn’t delivering visually. The climax features some really nifty stuff and there are some haunting imagery that appear throughout. This Dracula is also a strength here as they choose to keep him a monster in the shower with the only form of communication being violence and bloodshed.

There are names that were attached to this movie and eras that may have made a more memorable or higher esteemed version of The Last Voyage Of The Demeter. But, as it is, its still a pretty good flick to catch. It delivers on core horror goods as well as having a swell cast of characters that are fun to watch trying to solve a mystery and stop a beast. Those who collect and love the classic monsters definitely will want this in their collection, though others may want to rent or check it out on a streamer first.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Unfortunately The Last Voyage of the Demeter didn’t receive 4K disc (Luckily, we got an Atmos track). Nonetheless, this is a clean, crisp and sharp image. Details are quite strong and the image plays with some good confidence. This is about the best you could ask for on the dated format.

Depth: Depth of field is pretty solid. With this having loads of digital playgrounds, its merely solid, though the scale is sort of intentionally claustrophobic. Movements are natural and smooth. No issues occur from rapid motion causing any sort of blur or jitter.

Black Levels: Black levels are deep and rich. There’s an impressive degree of shadow and nighttime while still being able to keep details visible as well as darker fabrics showing texture pattern. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: This isn’t the most colorful of films, but the browns, grays and rustic, normal colors look quite bold and carry their own palette. There’s a nice blue tone to the ship exterior and candlelit gives a nice bright contrast to the darkness.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish. Facial features and textures are visible from any reasonable distance in the frame. Make-up effects hold up to HD scrutiny.

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, English Descriptive Video Service

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Dynamics: The Last Voyage Of The Demeter has a very impressive Dolby Atmos track. It has one of the most immersive I’ve heard of the format. Every scene is airy, loose and engaging. The environments are well crafted and present and the effects and layered with plenty of depth to them.

Height: Ropes, pulley clinking, flight, sails flapping, rain, echoes and so much more come from the ceiling. This is one of the most fun upstairs Atmos tracks around.

Low Frequency Extension: Waves crash, Dracula roars, things impale, splat and more with good impact and thump from the subwoofer, which puts in good work on this one.

Surround Sound Presentation: This mix is all over the room and plenty present. The rear and side channels craft an excellent and present ambiance, making you feel part of the room. Rolling sound travel is powerful and effective bouncing around the room in any direction.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are ever present, clear and crisp. They have a nice well captured nature to their recordings, picking up plenty of mouth sounds and nice deep tones.

Extras

The Last Voyage of the Demeter – Collector’s Edition comes with the DVD version and a redeemable digital code.

Audio Commentary

• With Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer

Alternate Opening with Optional Commentary from Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer (HD, 2:24)

Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary from Director André Øvredal and Producer Bradley J. Fischer (HD, 11:49)

From The Pits Of Hell: Dracula Reimagined (HD, 7:11) – “He looks like your worst nightmare…from the pits of hell” David Dastmalchian opens this featurette up with. This one seems focused with how original a spin they felt like they were doing with this film and their iteration of Dracula from the design to the behavior. Plenty of visualization art and behind the scenes footage as well as interviews from cast and crew. Javier Botet is given a spotlight and praised by his comrades in the film.

Evil Is Aboard: The Making Of The Last Voyage Of The Demeter (HD, 10:44) – “An alien style story” is what attracted the director to the script. This is a brief run through of the film, but with quite good interviews and introspective thoughts from the cast and crew about the legend of Dracula and making this particular film about him.

Dracula & The Digital Age (HD, 8:34) – “It’s just magic, man. It’s magic!” Corey Hawkins praises the visual effects. This one showcases some of the impressive visual work on display in the movie. As the artists go over their craft, we get a lot of slide footage showing each step of how a scene came to be. Plenty of behind the scenes and visualization concepts are showcased here.

Summary

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is a rock solid Dracula adventure for classic monster fans. Surprisingly, while not doing so hot at the box office and only getting a standard Blu-ray release, its got a pretty solid roster of extras. The presentation is top notch and as good as you can do on standard Blu. Pick this one up when it hits a solid $9.99.

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