The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 11, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
17
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiAug 11, 2023
An often striking take on the tale that makes up for what it lacks in surprise with a lot of style and some undeniably effective scare moments. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 14, 2023
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a harrowing journey but, for those who appreciate horror, it’s well worth taking. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedAug 11, 2023
It’s pretty foreboding, loaded with atmosphere, dark as midnight and thick as a deadly fog. Also very well made and justifiably terrifying. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonAug 10, 2023
This is good, fun summer fare, shot in ominous shades of darkness by cinematographers Roman Osin and Tom Stern and fueled by an effective score by Bear McCreary that isn’t obtrusive. Ovredal knows how to stage atmospheric horror sequences, and the Norwegian even gives us a variation on a Viking funeral that serves as the film’s biggest emotional moment. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMatthew JacksonAug 10, 2023
Despite this unevenness, there’s a lot to love in The Last Voyage Of The Demeter for horror fans and casual moviegoers alike. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 16, 2023
What truly distinguishes Last Voyage of the Demeter, beyond its thick atmosphere of dread, is its gleeful cruelty, the delicious mean streak with which it sets up its suspense set pieces and its kills. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 11, 2023
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a threadbare high-concept story given the high-thread-count treatment — a lovely piece of luxury pulp. It’s also the creepiest and classiest bit of late-summer counterprogramming you’re likely to find, which may say more about our current landscape of cinematic pleasures than the movie itself. Read full review
70
IGNMatt DonatoAug 10, 2023
The Last Voyage of the Demeter should delight horror fans raised on Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and offers an R-rated bite of vampiric brutality for genre fans with a stronger bloodlust. Øvredal does well to transport his cast to a time when scary stories were told around lanterns in the dead of night, and even if the moodiness evaporates due to a protracted runtime and the foregone conclusion of Dracula’s landfall, the director accentuates the basics of violent feeding sessions in hair-raising fashion. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAug 10, 2023
As much as Øvredal tries to evade all the modern blockbuster conventions that are bound to keep the Demeter from its best destination, it’s too bumpy a journey to ever feel quite on course. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekAug 10, 2023
Overall, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a middling entry in the Dracula canon. Read full review
67
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonAug 10, 2023
Admittedly, big stretches of Demeter are a bit overwritten and unnecessary; there’s no real need for a film like this to exist, especially considering we know how it’ll all turn out. But as long as it’s here, it might as well be celebrated for what it is: lean, effective nautical horror of a type we don’t often get anymore. Seaside scares are a rare thing these days, especially when Øvredal packs this much atmosphere and characterization into such a wafer-thin premise. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah HagiSep 22, 2023
When it does get fun and gory, the moments end too quickly but provide enough gore and a few jump scares to leave you satisfied. Read full review
60
Time OutStephen A. RussellSep 8, 2023
Did we really need this Dracula footnote to set sail at all? Perhaps not, but while Øvredal’s expansion on the world isn’t as fun as the grim fables from which it draws blood, it still has some bite. Read full review
60
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaAug 10, 2023
I don't know if I'd call this a memorable take on Dracula, but as a simple little monster movie with plenty of atmospherre, it does the trick. Read full review
58
ColliderChase HutchinsonAug 10, 2023
For all the ways Botet and company put their hearts into giving it some life, the film is persistently defined by death of not just its characters, but of creativity itself. Read full review
50
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonAug 14, 2023
The Last Voyage of the Demeter fails to deliver on its early promise of being a compelling horror experience. The focus on jump scares and a skeptic character detracts from the potential scares and fails to bring authenticity to the storytelling. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 10, 2023
Adapted from a chapter in Bram Stoker’s novel, the picture initially has some gory fun with its close-quarters suspense, but Ovredal unsuccessfully tries to elevate his monster movie with flimsy psychological depth and unconvincing emotional underpinnings. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 10, 2023
That’s the most poetic thing in the movie. The rest of the time, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is too explicit, too dawdling yet rapid-fire, too much like other horror films. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckAug 10, 2023
[Ovredal] handles the darkly creepy atmospherics expertly and makes fully convincing the ship’s fateful voyage through stormy and vampire-besieged seas. But he’s not able to bring much spark to Bragi Schut, Jr. and Zak Olkewicz’s slow-paced, formulaic screenplay, which lacks the dark wit necessary to keep us invested in the gory proceedings. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellAug 10, 2023
The Last Voyage of the Demeter makes a decent attempt at reinventing the Dracula mythos, but foregoing the early tension in favor of all-out action proves to be its undoing in the end. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAug 10, 2023
But for now, we have The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which actually was a pretty good idea that just didn’t have enough wind in its sails. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenAug 10, 2023
Every plot twist is easily anticipated...The ending hints at the possibility of a sequel, but that’s a prospect that leaves one cold. As far as “Demeter” is concerned, enough is enough. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 10, 2023
The script provides a few good lines and the cast a few decent moments. But “old school” Universal horror — dating from the studio’s 1930s history — means “old hat,” in most cases. Read full review
45
Paste MagazineTrace SauveurAug 10, 2023
The real problem with The Last Voyage of the Demeter is just how nondescript and unmemorable it is. Read full review
45
PolygonJoshua RiveraAug 10, 2023
There are no surprises in The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Just about everything in the story plays out exactly how the average horror fan might assume it would, exactly how they know it will, because the movie begins with the end of the story, then does little to play up the dread that comes with that knowledge. And most of us, unfortunately, know too much about this story already. Read full review
42
The Film StageEthan VestbyAug 10, 2023
A bit of a bad feeling about Demeter‘s overall direction came when the “save the cat” screenwriter device, as penned by Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz, was used less than ten minutes in. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeAug 14, 2023
It’s ultimately a doomed voyage: for the crew, for the audience and for Universal’s monster movie strategy at large. Read full review
40
TheWrapKristen LopezAug 10, 2023
Overall, there’s just nothing about this interpretation of the character that makes him stand out as Count…Dracula versus just another standard vampire, a fact that only becomes more troubling since it’s doubtful most people will equate the Demeter with Stoker’s novel at all. Read full review
40
The Daily BeastNick SchagerAug 10, 2023
Whether hewing to the letter of Stoker’s source material or branching off in novel directions, this B-movie distends itself without purpose. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithAug 10, 2023
The film suggests a gene splice of a slasher flick and supernatural horror. But as enticing as that combination may sound, André Øvredal’s rendering of it is as bland and listless as the blues and grays that dominate the film’s color palette. Read full review
30
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanAug 14, 2023
The script does find time for a feeble feminist gesture — the story’s sole woman can cock a rifle — and a monologue about racism. These efforts to update the tale are about as successful as those of the sorry crew, whose fates were written over a century ago. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 10, 2023
As always, Dracula sucks blood. But his latest movie simply sucks. Read full review
25
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 10, 2023
If you’re going to make an R-rated horror wank about Dracula slurping throats with a smile on his face, make sure that the rest of the movie doesn’t suck as hard as he does. Read full review
More From This Movie

52 Critic Reviews

5.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 63 Normal
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL