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The vampire craze continues with news, via Bloody Disgusting, that Oscar-winning director Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters, Anatomy, All The Queen’s Men) is bringing The Last Voyage of the Demeter, to the screen.

The film, written by Bragi Schut (Season of the Witch), details the journey of the Demeter ship which carried a cofffin and Count Dracula on board…only one person survived. Well, two people if you count Dracula.

The script has been sat gathering dust for a decade. Written by Season Of The Witch scribe Bragi Schut, it’s been described by The Hollywood Reporter as “reminiscent of the first movie in the Alien franchise”. And while this film would be hard-pressed to measure up to the masterpiece that is Alien, we could have the makings of a solid claustrophobic shocker here.

For those not au fait with the Dracula novel, the Demeter carries Dracula from the sea port of Varna and turns up on Whitby’s shores on a stormy night, a ghost ship. The captain’s log reveals the strange journey and how the crew knew something terrible was going down. This could be an atmospheric horror and gory horror movie. And for those who love a bit of irony, Demeter was also the goddess of fertility and harvests…the only thing reaped on the Demeter’s journey is death and lots of blood.

Schut wrote the screenplay back in the 1990s and what with everybody going gaga for vampirism, this looks like a nice spin on a segment of Dracula’s journey to England. If this comes off, it could be, potentially, pretty amazing. German director Marcus Nispel was attached but it looks like Ruzowitzky is steering the production towards the screen.

Phoenix Pictures are backing the film.