He's sent shivers down our spines with cursed goats (The Witch), haunted lighthouses (The Lighthouse), and blood-soaked Viking vengeance (The Northman). After more than a decade of striving to bring his passion project to life, modern horror maestro Robert Eggers is just months away from unveiling his version of Nosferatu to the world. Following a series of eerie posters and a spine-tingling teaser that set the tone for his reinterpretation of F.W. Murnau's classic vampire thriller, the full trailer for Eggers' Gothic horror, starring Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, and Willem Dafoe, has arrived. Check it out below:
It may be chilly outside, but things just got a lot colder in the office after watching that — yikes! As in Murnau's German expressionist masterpiece and Werner Herzog's 1979 rendition, we find a haunted young woman — this time Depp's Ellen — becoming the object of vampire Count Orlok's (Skarsgård) devastating obsession. With its icy palette, meticulously recreated Victorian setting, and oppressive atmosphere of creeping dread, this appears to be a traditional Gothic horror, crafted with the same meticulous attention to detail as Eggers' previous works. Additionally, as hinted at in unsettling glimpses between the nightmares, vampires, and scurrying rats, Eggers seems to be adding a more pronounced psychosexual dimension to Ellen and her husband Thomas' (Hoult) troubled relationship compared to previous adaptations. Suffice it to say, both heebies and jeebies have been well and truly given here.
When Empire spoke to Eggers last year while he was still filming Nosferatu, the director confidently stated that his latest work is, and we quote, "a scary film." Based on current evidence, Eggers' long-awaited tale of brooding vampires, frightened spouses, and resident evil — which also boasts an impressive ensemble including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Ralph Ineson — looks genuinely terrifying. We'll be taking extra precautions, such as pouring salt circles, filling our flasks with holy water, and stocking up on garlic-based snacks, when we head to the cinemas for Nosferatu, which hits US theaters on Christmas Day and arrives in UK multiplexes on New Year's Day.
