Director: André Øvredal
Year: 2023
Country: USA/United Kingdom/Canada/India/Germany
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Setting sail from Bulgaria for England, the crew of a sailing vessel starts to encounter a slew of odd accidents during their journey which is furthered by the discovery of a stowaway that alerts them to a deadly presence onboard killing them one by one and must stop it.
Review:
This was a fairly solid and enjoyable effort with a lot to like about it. Among the better features here is the means through which it builds up the central story present which won’t be familiar due to the end-game being obvious from the source material but is still fun enough. The build-up of the first half dealing with the crew setting out on the fateful expedition, with the locals being scared off by the warnings and strange symbols found on the cargo to take on the doctor as a new crew member and getting him involved in the rest of their antics that spurns this along. It goes in-depth enough on them and the crew during this section that it maintains enough of a hold on their styles to be quite fond of them as they go about their journey so that the later attacks fare quite nicely.
This all provides a fine launching point for the incidents that interrupt their voyage to start to grow more ominous. After getting enough of a build-up with the way the local sailors who refused to sail treat its presence before the journey, the series of incidents afterward slowly start to hint that something is on the ship with them starting with the bits unknown to the characters of the shadowy figure hunting the rats in the bowels of the ship to the discovery of the half-dead stowaway. This starts the incidents quite well with the discovery of the dead animals slaughtered in their holding cell drained of blood with the same wound displayed on all of them, the apparent lack of other animals on the ship which brings about the idea of someone or something is there with the crew the longer the trip continues.
That gives the film a great series of fantastic attack scenes where the creatures’ attacks are given a grand space to work. The first few attacks in the middle of the night where it grabs them from above or just wanders across them unaware of what’s going on until it’s too late has a lot to like and brings about the frantic final hour. With the crew aware of everything and now determined to put a stop to it, these scenes have a much more feral and animalistic quality to them as the savage creature bites into necks spilling blood all over or launching out of the shadows before disappearing after the strike. This all brings about the rather fun battle to stop it as the masterplan is revealed and the race to stop it from coming to fruition manages to be quite fun, and alongside the great gore has some positive aspects.
There are some slight drawbacks to be had here which do drag the film down slightly. One of its few issues is the series of limitations imposed upon it by the source material as it fits very awkwardly into the spaces left behind. Very little of this fits into the established canon and lore usually provided by and it’s difficult to assume this could be placed into that universe with the animalistic hunting behavior, vampirized followers hunting down victims, or the bizarre finale which makes very little sense with how it’s supposed to tie into the proper context. As well, the slow-paced beginning that has the build-up of the crew and their journey together does drag the film out a bit longer than it should which also occurs later on with several hunting scenes milked longer than they should and being the few detriments of this one.
Overview: ****/5
A fairly impressive genre effort even with some minor flaws, this one manages to be rather fun for what it is with a lot more to like about it than not which holds it up rather nicely. Those with an interest in the subject matter, tend to prefer more mainstream fare than indie genre efforts, or are just a fan of the style in genre will find it quite enjoyable while only those who aren’t into these factors should heed caution.
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