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Robert Eggers is once again wreaking Gothic period havoc upon theaters this coming Christmas.
The “Nosferatu,” “The Northman,” “The Lighthouse,” and “The Witch” writer/director is working with Icelandic poet Sjón (co-writer on “The Northman” and the horror movie “Lamb”) for a mythic tale of lycanthropy — or the ability to shapeshift into a werewolf — with his signature troupe of actors.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily Rose-Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Ralph Ineson star in “Werwulf,” whose trailer premiered on Monday. The first official footage shared publicly only hints at the terrifying transformation that awaits Taylor-Johnson’s character, here seen writhing, foaming at the mouth, and exhibiting the otherwise classic signs of turning into the half-man, half-beast creature.
Taylor-Johnson told us earlier this year that re-teaming with Eggers is a high compliment to the actor. “I feel very fortunate that I’m at an age now where I’ve been in the industry long enough that, in the last couple of years, I’m getting the opportunity to work with the same directors again for a second time, for a third time,” he said. “I sort of really romanticize the idea of being an actor, so to be in the same company twice and to be asked back is so flattering.”
Focus Features’ synopsis tells us little about their next team-up, but here it is: “Witness Robert Eggers’ most visceral and haunting experience yet. Focus Features presents ‘Werwulf,’ a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation, and the devil within.” We know it’s set in a 13th-century village, where a fog-enshrouded countryside is stalked by a terrifying being.
As we wrote out of CinemaCon where the footage first screened, “Eggers is again working in a very classical aspect ratio, some black and white sequences, and some truly demonic, monstrous material, including some disturbing body horror as we see glimpses of a man becoming a werewolf.”
The cinematography is handled by Jarin Blaschke, who has shot all of Eggers’ features. “Werwulf” shot throughout the U.K. in 2025.
Werewolves have been a source of fascination in movies dating back to Henry McRae’s 1913 silent film “The Werewolf”; while Universal does run Focus Features, it’s not clear how far back into the Universal monster movie canon Eggers has reached for inspiration, such as with 1941’s “The Wolf Man.” This looks like a fully, singularly Eggersian experience.
Focus Features opens “Werwulf” in theaters on Friday, December 25. Check out the film’s first trailer below.
English (US) ·