So far as “hooks” go when pitching a horror script, you may’t go fallacious discovering a method to dump a number of characters in a single location, introduce some nefarious menace that they are bodily unable to flee from, and maintain discovering fascinating methods to drive up the stress and totally exploit the scare issue. Apart from the apparent drama inherent in such a premise, the very best a part of this strategy is that it permits completely different filmmakers to place their very own distinctive spin on this time-honored setup. “The Final Voyage of the Demeter” advantages from the ready-made potential of Bram Stoker’s authentic “Dracula” novel, which featured a brief chapter chronicling Dracula’s journey to Europe aboard a ship. Taking that fundamental basis and working with it, André Øvredal crammed within the gaps and combined the epic, sweeping tone of “Grasp & Commander” with the sense of dread and rising stress from “The Factor,” and the atmospheric doom hanging heavy over “Alien.”

Whereas comparatively restrained, small-scale films like “Demeter” really feel like extra of an outlier with every passing 12 months, current historical past offers us a variety of examples that additional confirmed the enchantment of those one-location horror flicks. Dan Trachtenberg’s “10 Cloverfield Lane” is perhaps the epitome of this subgenre, wringing each attainable ounce of battle and stakes out of a doomsday bunker that will or might not be defending the three characters inside from an apocalypse. Jordan Peele took this even additional with “Get Out,” trapping its protagonist within the worst place possible: An prosperous white household’s residence. Hell, the whole historical past of haunted home tales intuitively understands why audiences maintain getting drawn again to this setup.

“Demeter” injected new life (in a fashion of talking) into top-of-the-line weapons within the horror toolbox. It ought to solely be the beginning.