I saw The Last Voyage of The Demeter and Talk to Me yesterday.
The Last Voyage of The Demeter is a sophisticated approach to horror that we rarely see, if ever. Dracula was published in 1897. We have countless adaptions about this novel, yet nobody cried about making the same ol' shyt or how Hollywood sucks at coming up with original content. I'm not sure today's horror crowd reads horror books, let alone has read Dracula, to realize where this originates from to bytch about it. But the film only focuses on one chapter, with a 2-hour run time, which let me know from the jump, the effort would be put into this film, so I was interested and had no complaints.
The casting is what made this film. Yes, the dialogue and play-by-play sequences will keep you invested, but this film required really talented actors to pull this off. I love the diverse cast, with everyone having different ethnic backgrounds and the main character being a black man, yet the crew comes off as an authentic crew (we know if this film aired in the 90s, or early 2000s, the cast would have been white Americans). Liam Cunningham was the perfect choice for his role, and he even sounds like the narrator from the audiobook version of Dracula that I have. We know the end result to the film because of the begginning of the movie and if you have read Dracula, but the film still makes you heavily invested into the cast where you hope nobody dies.
I see people saying the film was safe. The focus is on one chapter, and the setting is 95% of the time on a ship, so what can you do besides the best effort given? I agree that it could have been scarier in some parts, but overall the film did it's job making a 2-hour film not feel that long at all, while being entertaining throughout the movie.
I give it a solid 7/10 for a film that could have been a disaster in the wrong hands and cast. I imagine this will be one of those films that the general population will forget existed in five years. But the film will be respected and replayed by horror fans for years to come because I can personally see myself rewatching this a lot.
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I was shocked by the praise Talk to Me had been receiving. The trailer looked stupid as fukk, and I'm tired of people pretending everything A24 makes is a classic. But the best advice is always to try something personally and then form an opinion. Honestly, it's probably not my movie of the year (Evil Dead Rise till the end fukk the haters), but I can proudly say I was wrong. Talk to Me will be considered a horror classic.
The film is innovative, different, and refreshing compared to the same repolished crap we receive in horror films. For example, I'm happy there wasn't some moral message about the cell phone recordings throughout, the film accepts what's normal in society now, and I appreciate that. If there are messages, it's not hitting the audience over the head constantly, say as another A24 film like Bodies, Bodies, Bodies does where the dialogue will throw you out of the movie with how they're trying to deliver a message.
I LOVE the setting in Australia. Horror is a genre in that American fans accept non-American content without pushback compared to other genres. We could know nothing about Asian or Spanish culture, but all of us love their horror films. It was cool being in an American theater watching an Australian movie that included Australian cast members, music, and setting.
This plot could have resulted in a shytty product directed by the wrong person, and this is why I'm not excited if there is a sequel. Part 2 would add a "new twist" to the franchise that wasn't in the first one, but when you boil the movie down to its core, most likely it will be the same rehashed formula that part 1 had, nor will the magic be there.
I give it an 8 out of 10. The film had a vision and was executed perfectly. You'll like the cast members. You'll be on the edge of your seat watching the characters interact with the hand. The beginning of the film was simple yet very effective in setting the tone. And as I said it's innovative so what we're presented with is very interesting.
