David Slade To Direct Vampire Horror Pic 'The Last Voyage Of The Demeter'

Noomi Rapace & Ben Kingsley Still Tentatively Attached

Director David Slade must reeeaally love vampires as he’s about to embark on his third film about bloodsuckers in a row.

THR reports that the director of “30 Days Of Night,” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” is now on board to helm, “The Last Voyage Of The Demeter,” which was written 10 years ago as an “Aliens“-style film about a crew of passengers that gets picked off one by one as the Demeter ship transports Dracula from Transylvania to London. In Bram Stoker‘s classic tale, the ravaged ship was found washed ashore with one lone, gone-mad survivor.

Noomi Rapace and Ben Kingsley are currently attached to star in the horror film (they came on board last fall), but with financing still being secured, it could potentially lose both actors to other projects depending on when it shoots (if Ridley Scott‘s “Prometheus” butts up against it, Rapace will surely bail on ‘Demeter’). There is still one more lead role to be cast, and filmmakers are currently on the hunt for actors for the role.

Up until recently, Academy-Award winning Austrian helmer Stefan Ruzowitzky (“The Counterfeiters“) was attached to direct, but he recently exited the project to work with Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde instead on the project “Blackbird.”

A genre filmmaker through and through, Slade came very close to directing “The Wolverine,” before Hugh Jackman friend and former collaborator Darren Aronofsky swooped in to take the gig. While “30 Days Of Night,” is an underrated piece of horror schlock and “Hard Candy,” was met with solid reviews, the mediocre effects and script of ‘Eclipse’ made Slade stumble artistically. We’re hoping ‘Demeter,’ will provide him with some much needed redemption.