The Last Voyage of the Demeter (4 Stars)

Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is the story filmed more often than any other. There was an article in Empire magazine listing 50 movie adaptations. It only included direct adaptations of the story itself, not every film in which Count Dracula appears as a character. I read that article twenty years ago, so how many times has it been filmed since then?

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter" is a special case. It's an adaptation of a single chapter in Bram Stoker's novel. It deals with the journey by ship from Bulgaria to England. The ship, called Demeter, left Varna on 6th July 1897 heading to London, but it went of course and was shipwrecked in Whitby in northern England on 6th August 1897. The police found the captain's log, in which the mysterious deaths of the crew members were described. Everyone on the ship was dead.

The main character in the film is Clemens, a doctor who doesn't appear in the book. He's given a place in the crew at the last moment when a superstitious crew member backs out. Clemens is a scientist who only believes what he sees with his own eyes. Even when he sees men and animals with their necks ripped out he tries to find a logical explanation.

I expected the film to show everyone dying, as in the book, but Clemens survives. That disappointed me, but in a way I understand it. Modern audiences don't like tragic tales in which everyone dies. There has to be at least one survivor. For me this spoils the story.

It's a horrific film in a claustrophobic environment. There's no way to escape. The crew of the Demeter fight in vain against Dracula, a seemingly invincible opponent. It's a good film, despite deviating from the original story.