Bradley Fischer, Mike Medavoy and Arnold Messer, whose credits include Black Swan and Shutter Island, are producing.

Demeter was the name of the ship that transported Dracula from Transylvania to London in Bram Stoker's classic tale. In that 1897 novel, the ship washes up on the shores of England, tattered and broken, with one raving-mad survivor. Originally written in 2002 by Bragi Schut (Escape Room), the script tells the tale of that journey, in which the crew is slaughtered one by one by a mysterious passenger.

The project has had homes at Phoenix Pictures and Millennium Films, among others, and over the years has attracted such filmmakers as Robert Schwentke and Marcus Nispel. It came close to setting sail around 2012 with director David Slade and a cast that included Ben Kingsley and Noomi Rapace, but winds didn’t carry it far.

Øvredal made his feature directorial debut with the Norwegian faux-documentary Trollhunter (2011). Guillermo del Toro took him under his wing for Scary Stories, which was released by CBS Films in August and performed stronger than expected.

Before he tackles Demeter, Øvredal will likely helm The Long Walk, an adaptation of the Stephen King story set up at New Line. Fischer, who produced House With a Clock in Its Walls for Amblin, is one of the producers of the thriller and introduced the filmmaker to Demeter.

Øvredal is repped by WME, Industry Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson.