Universal is currently playing fast and loose with the rights to classic horror characters such as Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man etc that they have held for a century. Arguably the biggest name in the Universal Monster movie roster is Dracula, and we are in for a varied slate of films featuring the iconic vampire.
We have horror comedy movie Renfield coming out on April 14, and several other Dracula movies are (or have been) in development, including an unfortunately now-abandoned Mina Harker movie directed by Karyn Kusama. In better news, Chloe Zhao’s Dracula movie is still in development. And now we have a trailer for The Last Voyage of the Demeter – an upcoming horror movie based on the section of Bram Stoker’s book which is regaled via a newspaper cutting and the Captain’s log.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is directed by Andre Ovredal, who helmed Troll Hunter (2010), The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019). It stars Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, David Dastmalchian, and Liam Cunningham. It’s set for release on August 11, 2023.
The trailer is narrated by Cunningham’s Captain, and we’re introduced to Hawkin’s Clemence, a doctor educated at Cambridge. The livestock onboard starts to be attacked, bitten, and killed. It looks as though Aisling Franciosi’s Anna is from Romania and has some knowledge of the legend of Dracula. She is also bitten but survives. Clemence is determined to kill the demon, who stalks the crew at night. Our glimpses of Dracula are of an enormous bat-like creature with a bald head similar to the version of the character we’ve seen in Nosferatu.
After the aborted Dark Universe, it looks as though Universal is prepared to have fun with its rogue’s gallery of classic movie villains. We’ve had Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man, and we’re hopefully getting a Wolf Man movie starring Ryan Gosling. It’s an exciting time to be a horror movie fan.
Check out our guide to the best werewolf movies.