We've gotten two theatrically released Dracula films this year. Truly we are living in good times.
I was extremely excited for this movie. A gothic horror film on a ship? A golden premise. And, delivers on its premise more often than not.
The film has glowing, gorgeous cinematography, a haunting musical score, and is acted to perfection, with even the child performance being quite good. And I was even more impressed with the production design. The ship creaks and becomes a character unto itself, with eeriness lurking in the shadows.
The writing is mixed, though. The script does make great use of the small location and has sufficient thematic depth and a few strong character beats. But unfortunately it's also bogged down with a lot of empty characters and too many scenes of meandering, repetitive conversation.
And even with the great visual craft on display, I found the scares particularly weak. Not a single one was unpredictable or frightening.
Even with its weaknesses, I implore you to see this film. We need to keep getting fresh films like this that take risks and show us original concepts.
