The Last Voyage of the Demeter | 2023 | R | – 1.8.5

Why is “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “bloody violence.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a discussion of brothels, many scenes of humans including a young boy being attacked by a winged being with large nails and teeth often with bloody results, many animals including a dog attacked by a winged being (we see bloody remains), many arguments, and at least 1 F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”: A Russian vessel bound for London carries a cargo that, unbeknownst to the crew, contains an evil that threatens their lives and leaves them wondering if they will ever see land again. With Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Chris Walley, Jon Jon Briones, Stefan Kapicic, Martin Furulund, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Woody Norman and Javier Botet. Directed by André Øvredal. [Running Time: 1:58]

The Last Voyage of the Demeter SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man talks about someone spending their bonus money at a brothel and makes a thrusting sexual gesture; he is reprimanded and he stops. A young boy says that he knows what a brothel is and defines it as a place where you pay women to take off their knickers.
► Shirtless men sleep on a ship (we see their bare chests and abdomens). A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and she pulls the shoulder of the dress to the side to reveal her bare shoulder (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).

The Last Voyage of the Demeter VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A man becomes alarmed when he sees a hole has been broken in the protective grate over a hold on a ship: he hears labored breathing and noises as a being lunges at him and slashes his throat, blood gushes from the open wound and the being licks a puddle of blood that has formed on the floor, and then straddles the injured man and bites him on the throat. A man lights a lantern on a ship and hears something moving near him, another man searches for him and cannot find him, and the two men later hear knocking and draw knives to search the deck; a being leaps from a mast onto one man slamming his head onto the deck several times (blood pours from the wounds), then the other man climbs up a mast and is followed by the being (blood drips on a young boy’s shirt and face) and we later see the man hanging by his foot from the mast ropes with blood on his face and neck.
► A young boy’s body is unwrapped and we see his face blue-tinged skin, he sits up with his grandfather holding him and the sun strikes his flesh setting him ablaze; the man also is set on fire (we see the man’s charred and reddened flesh and he recovers), the boy’s flaming body is pushed overboard and we see the body with charred flesh sink. A man acting violently is tied to the mast of a ship, he complains that “it burns” and another man goes to get him water as the sun rises and the rays touch the lashed man causing him to burst into flames; he screams and thrashes until another man shoots him to end his misery. A young woman sails toward the horizon as the sun rises and she bursts into flames (we see glowing blisters form on her face). A being spreads its wings and screeches loudly as it jumps toward a man, wraps him with his wings, a young woman shoots the being twice, the being attacks the young woman and a man slams an axe into the being. A dog below deck barks at a shadow moving in a hallway; we hear a yelp and later a man trips over the dead dog (we see the body bloodied and flesh torn) and he finds all the livestock have been killed in the same manner with bloody neck wounds visible.
► A young boy hears noises in his room and sees a being standing in the shadows, it disappears, the boy sees it creeping down from the ceiling, it grabs the boy, holds him off the floor and bites his neck (we see his eyes turn white, he gurgles briefly and we later see him crumpled on the floor but alive). A large winged being slashes a man across the side of the neck (we see blood trickle), and the man says, “I do not fear you”; the being replies, “You will.”
► A man pulls away as a winged being moves toward him; the man holds up a crucifix to try to protect himself (the scene ends). A winged being swoops toward a man, knocks him off a mast and he crashes to the deck and into the hold with a broken leg (we see the wound with a bit of bone protruding from his pant leg) as a winged being moves toward him and the scene ends. A young boy hears noises outside his cabin door, he opens the door and goes out to investigate and sees a man lumbering toward him breathing raggedly; the man grabs the boy by the shoulder and the boy sees that his eyes have turned white, he runs back to his room and locks the door, the man bangs his head on the door repeatedly (we see blood pouring from his head and nose) and breaks the door. A man with a gun is attacked by another man and they struggle. A man knocks another man out with a blow to the head, he unties a dingy and rows away from the ship; we hear thumping that sounds like the flapping of large wings and see a being appear out of the fog on the nose of the boat; it attacks the man (we do not see the attack) and we later see blood but no body in the boat.
► A giant beam on a ship’s sail slams into a being standing against a mast and it screams but pulls itself free later. Men struggle hoisting a large crate from the dock to a ship’s hold and the ropes slip nearly dropping the crate onto a boy; a man jumps to push the boy to safety as the crate hits the ground. A man tells another man that they have wrapped his grandson’s body in a sheet and are prepared to dump him overboard; the second man refuses to allow it and insists that he saw the boy move and that he is still alive (we see the boy’s face, which is very pale, with his eyes closed and a cloth wrapped around his throat).
► Two men with guns stand in the crow’s nest on a ship and watch for a being to move onto the deck, fog billows all around and a young woman says, “He will come for me.” A young boy holds a small knife, hides under a table and prays while holding a cross as a man tries to get into his room. A man with a gun threatens a man and then a woman (he does not shoot). Men and a young woman with guns search a ship for a killer. Police pound on a man’s door in the pouring rainstorm at night and report a ship having blown in during the storm; a large cargo vessel is shown crashed on the rocks as a young officer reports that there is no one on board and we see bloodstained sails. A man panics and yells when he sees a crest with a dragon on a crate and he refers to it as the devil’s serpent as he storms away from a ship.
► We see a being slithering along floors and walls in the shadows while people are unaware in several scenes. Something moans from inside a crate and we see fingers stretching out with long nails. We hear what sounds like deep growling in a dark cargo hold and rats skitter and screech. A man sees something through a spyglass (a wrinkled face with long pointed teeth) and when he puts the glass down, there is nothing there, but he sees wriggling maggots on the deck. A man opens several shipping crates and finds soil inside them; another crate contains soil with wriggling maggots and a walking cane. A man hears pounding in a pub and sees a being seated in a booth tapping a cane on the floor, the man imagines the being dragging a nail across his throat and jumps up to see the booth empty. A ship lists and a man is thrown against a heavy door that he opens and finds out that some cargo has been shifted; one crate has broken open and what looks like dirt has poured out on the floor, and the man lifts a cloth that is mixed in the dirt and reveals a young woman under it; she lies unconscious, gasps and her flesh is very pale. A man draws a knife on another man and they argue. A man jumps and is startled when another man touches his shoulder. An injured man is tied to a table and when he wakes up, he thrashes violently. A man slams an axe into the hull of a ship to open a hole and allow water in to sink it. A man and a young woman jump overboard and cling to fallen ship parts to stay afloat.
► A man reads from a captain’s log on a crashed ship a warning to anyone that boards the ship. A man declares that he will not tolerate anyone taking the Lord’s name in vain. A woman screams and says that they have to get off the ship, and repeats, “He’s here.” A woman says that something “feeds on the blood of the innocent.” Men argue about what to do to save themselves. Men discuss sinking a ship with a being onboard in order to get rid of it. A woman talks about “The box he kept me in.” A young woman says, “He takes what is good and he rots it from within.” A newspaper headline reads, “Ghost ship arrives with no survivors.” A man is dismissed from consideration for a ship’s crew and told that he is neither strong enough nor capable enough. Men argue about women being on a ship and say that it is bad luck. Men discuss the possibility of a rabies outbreak on a ship and we see them disposing of animal remains by throwing the bodies overboard. A man says, “A boat without rats, such a thing is against nature.” A man describes that victims’ “arteries were ripped open.” A young boy tends to livestock in the hold of a ship and remarks about having to clean up feces. People talk about something chasing the rats off a boat.
► A dog barks at a grate over the cargo hold and a boy and a man go to investigate; they find the animals caged below decks agitated by something unseen. We see a large ship crash into rocks during a heavy lightning storm. Rats skitter across the chest of a man while he sleeps on a ship. A doctor performs numerous blood transfusions on a woman that has been unconscious and says that she has an unidentified infection; we see the needle entering flesh and we see blood moving through a tube in a couple of scenes. A man eats something from the blade of a knife. A young woman pulls the top of her dress to the side to reveal her bare shoulder and we see many bite marks and bruises on her shoulder, back and arm.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, 2 sexual references, 1 scatological term, 5 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for Black people, name-calling (boy, stinking bunch of cockroaches, joke, terrible, animal, idiots, evil, powerful evil, Gomorrah, savage, beast, fat pig, mutt, bleeding idiot, diseased whore, heinous, devil), 14 religious exclamations (e.g. God, God help you, Jesus Christ, Lord help us, for God’s sake, God’s anger, Jesus, oh Lord, dear Lord, God have mercy on your souls, God save you, thank the Lord, a man declares that he will not tolerate anyone taking the Lord’s name in vain, put our trust in God, a man genuflects). | profanity glossary |

The Last Voyage of the Demeter SUBSTANCE USE

 – Crewmen on a ship appear to be inebriated and dance on deck, and there are a couple of comments made about a man being drunk and falling overboard. A couple of men smoke cigarettes on a ship.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Progress, vampires, loyalty, punishment, evil, science, reason.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter MESSAGE

 – Evil is hard to dispatch.