There have been so many versions of Dracula on the big screen that we are at the point now that it is really is hard to make a truly unique version of the story of the vampire from the classic Bram Stoker novel.

“The Last Voyage of the Demeter” attempts to do that, taking one chapter from the novel and stretching it into a two-hour feature length film.

The result is a horror film that is a bit of a slog, borrowing from parts of other films in the genre to create a rather lackluster excursion.

“Demeter” begins with the merchant ship of the same name about to set sail from Carpathia to London with 24 unmarked crates.

Clemens (Corey Hawkins) is a doctor looking to join the crew for a chance to travel and get a fresh start. The crew includes the captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) and his young son Toby (Wood Norman) as well as the first mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian).

When a possible stowaway near death named Anna (Aisling Franciosi) is discovered on the ship, mysterious events begin to pile up – with the livestock found slaughtered and then crew members being targeted by a mysterious entity one by one.

Director André Øvredal has described the film as “Alien” on a boat, and you can certainly see the similarities. “Demeter” tries to build the suspense gradually, keeping Dracula lurking in the shadows and framing the film to take advantage of dark, claustrophobic spaces.

Where “Alien” took advantage of its cast, with a breakout performance from Sigourney Weaver, “Demeter” never makes good use of its crew – with most of the characters just broad stroke stock characters that are often seen in the genre.

The film is poorly paced with a voice over narration of the captain’s log used throughout to keep the story moving, but it comes across as some kind of cheesy ripoff of one of those History channel shows.

Then there is the Dracula character, which the film makes the fatal mistake of just having him as this nameless, faceless monster that could have easily been anything else but a vampire.

Dracula is nothing more than a mechanism for jump scares that never quite work the way the filmmaker intended.

It’s already hard enough to root for a crew that the audience knows little about, but when the monster gets just as little detail it really drags everything down.

In the end “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” doesn’t totally suck, but it lacks the bite it needs to separate it from the multitude of Dracula cinematic entries.

”The Last Voyage of the Demeter” Starring: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi Directed by: André Øvredal Rating: R for bloody violence Playing at: Regal Bowling Green Stadium 12, Highland Cinemas (Glasgow) Grade: D+ {related_content_uuid}5012c596-3a61-459f-b38d-42f336d9076e{/related_content_uuid}

Starring: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi

Directed by: André Øvredal

Rating: R for bloody violence

Playing at: Regal Bowling Green Stadium 12, Highland Cinemas (Glasgow)

Grade: D+