'Alien' Meets 'Dracula' in Peacock's Chilling Streaming Thriller
Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wonderful wife and precious daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, interviews, and breaking news on select occasion. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own, from supernatural thrillers to historical fiction. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" in 2025 from the Western Writers of America, of which he is a member. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.
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Just in time for “spooky season,” Peacock has unveiled several new movies and shows on its platform to usher in the haunted holiday — and if you're in the mood for something a bit more thrilling, this unique take on Dracula that goes beyond the pages of the original novel might be just the thing. If you're interested in one of the most imaginative takes on the literary monster in recent years, head out to sea with The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which tackles the "Captain’s Log" chapter from the Bram Stoker novel in striking horror detail.
'The Last Voyage of the Demeter' Follows 'Dracula's Most Harrowing Chapter
Few Dracula flicks take the time to uncover what the crew of the Demeter experienced on their harrowing journey from the Port of Varna (modern Bulgaria) to England with Count on board, but The Last Voyage of the Demeter focuses entirely on this often unexplored chapter. Sure, it's been done before in certain adaptations — perhaps most notably the seductive BBC re-imagining of Dracula — but even those don't give this damned voyage the proper time of day. While the novel is scarce on many of the details, The Last Voyage of the Demeter fills out the sleepless nights with complex characters like Clemens (Corey Hawkins) and the stowaway Anna (Aisling Franciosi), and horrific haunts that will make even the least claustrophobic viewer wish they could get out. As Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) fights to ensure the Demeter arrives at its destination, the merchant ship undergoes its most intense trial, with an unforgiving Dracula (Javier Botet) regaining his strength the only way he knows how.
Most Dracula features do their best to create some sort of seductive appeal around the classic literary vampire. We see this in the performances of the iconic Bela Lugosi, the prolific Christopher Lee, and even Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula — a film in which, ironically, The Last Voyage of the Demeter finds its origins. But while most depictions attempt to nuance Dracula beyond his unholy appetites, in this picture he's little more than a bloodthirsty creature unable to be reasoned with. But it’s that monstrous appeal (we need more monsters that are actually just monsters) that sets the film apart. With eerie visuals and a solid cast that also includes David Dastmalchian, The Last Voyage of the Demeter isn’t your typical Dracula fare, but it’s a riveting and underrated period monster movie worth jumping aboard just in time for Halloween.
No 'Dracula' Adaptation Has Ever Been More 'Alien'-Like
Surprisingly, one of the biggest inspirations for director André Øvredal when crafting this dark and dreary take on Dracula's most unexplored chapter wasn't another historical gothic horror — it was actually Ridley Scott's Alien. While the respective horror movies couldn't be more different in terms of their settings or antagonists, anyone who has embarked with the Demeter crew will see clear similarities. Even the way Javier Botet performs as a lanky, bat-like Dracula is a bit more alien-like than typical adaptations of the vampire. Of course, The Last Voyage of the Demeter replaces the interstellar Nostromo with a 19th century vessel slowly crossing the Medeterranian Sea, grounding the picture in a past reality rather than a possible future.
With The Last Voyage of the Demeter now on Peacock for the Halloween season, there's no better time than now to revisit this underrated vampire thriller. Whether you missed it in theaters back in 2023 or finally got around to reading Dracula and are looking for something fresh, spooky season is the right time for fangs and frights. Just be careful about going out after dark.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is available for streaming on Peacock.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.