Is The Last Voyage of the Demeter based on a book?

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is an historical horror movie set on a boat. But is the story adapted from a book?

Written by Bragi F. Schut, Stefan Ruzowitzky, and Zak Olkewicz – and directed by Troll Hunter helmer André Øvredal – the official synopsis for the film is as follows:

“The Last Voyage of the Demeter tells the terrifying story of the merchant ship Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo – 50 unmarked wooden crates – from Carpathia to London. Strange events befall the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship. When the Demeter finally arrives off the shores of England, it is a charred, derelict wreck. There is no trace of the crew.”

The film stars Corey Hawkins as a doctor who joins the crew, Aisling Franciosi as a stowaway, Liam Cunningham as the ship’s captain, and David Dastmalchian as the Demeter’s first mate.

Is The Last Voyage of the Demeter based on a book?

Yes, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is based on a book. More specifically, it’s adapted from a single chapter in Bram Stoker’s horror classic Dracula.

Screenwriter Brad F. Shut became inspired when he was trying to write a story similar to Alien, and was visiting a model maker friend who owned the miniature ship from Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of the vampire story.

“It hit me!” Shut tells Bloody Flicks. “That was my way into an alien-type story. But instead of setting it in the future in space, I would set it in the past, on a boat.”

Taking inspiration from Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Shut then set about taking the voyage from the book, and both extending and expanding it for a feature film.

“I tried to construct the story so that it wouldn’t violate what was in the book,” Shut explains in the same interview. “There are these journal entries told from the perspective of the captain, and I wanted to try to preserve those. But in expanding one tiny chapter into an entire movie, I also knew that I had to expand and invent a bunch of new material. So it was a tricky balancing act.

“There are a few cheats — elements I added that are not in the book— but in general I think it’s very much true to the spirit of the book and the differences can be explained in ways that don’t violate the journal entries that people know from the book.”

As for his take on the Count, Shut says: “This version of Dracula, in my mind, always presented some interesting opportunities. Because of the journey – and the manner in which Dracula is forced to travel – he is particularly ravenous and emaciated and hungry… he is literally feeding off the crew of the ship during his journey and slowly rebuilding his strength.

“So as the crew is gradually weakened and picked off – and finds themselves in a worse and worse state – Dracula becomes more and more powerful… which was a wonderful and terrible and dynamic to explore in the writing.”

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is in cinemas this Friday, August 11, 2023. While for more horror coverage, head here.