Two new fanged films: vamps by sea, vamps in history

Two new vampire tales are soon to darken the silver screen. What happens if you take the plot of Alien and swap the drooling, acid-blooded ETs for a vampire? And who knew that Abraham Lincoln was a hunter of the fanged fiends? (Clue: their initials are both TB and they’re film fantasists extraordinaire).

Phoenix Pictures has its eye on Stefan Ruzowitzky (Anatomie, The Counterfeiters) to take the helm of its period horror flick, The Last Voyage of the Demeter. The film is to be based on a segment of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: the Demeter is the ship that carries Dracula’s coffin from Transylvania to England, and by the time it arrives in Whitby port there’s not a living soul left on board. Season of the Witch writer Bragi F Schut penned the script – and at this stage, we’re unsure as to whether that’s a good or a bad thing.

Though we don’t expect this to live up to Alien, we can see the appeal. Ruzowitsky is a talented director and it’s a nice scenario: misty sea air, claustrophobia, panic, nowhere to escape. But we do wonder whether they have missed the boat (ha ha…) on the vampire trend, especially since it seems like we already know how the flick will start and finish – so the central section better be pretty damn compelling.

After producing Shane Acker’s 9 together, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov are another duo that won’t let vampires be undead in peace. They have taken an interest in Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (yep, that’s the same guy who brought you Pride, Prejudice and Zombies – which is also set for the big screen with Natalie Portman starring and David O Russell directing). According to Heat Vision the author got Burton and Bekmambetov’s attention with a trailer made by Grand Central for the book.

The story takes a look at Lincoln’s history, beginning with the vow of revenge he takes after his mother’s early death at the hands of vampires. In the world of this novel, Lincoln’s lifelong fight against the forces of the undead remained a secret until Seth Grahame-Smith discovers the secret journal of Abraham Lincoln, 140 years later. Even by the rather eccentric standards of the two TBs, this is pretty barmy stuff (the trailer comes off like a satirical take on the worst film idea ever). What is going on with them? Not to be too cynical but they are repped by the same agency as Grahame-Smith, so it could be they’ve just agreed to lend their names to this bit of publicity for the novel. We can just chew a bit of garlic and hope.