Focus Features has released a new trailer for Werwulf, the upcoming horror film from director Robert Eggers. The film is set to hit theaters on Christmas Day, continuing a pattern Robert Eggers began with Nosferatu, which also opened during the holiday season.
The trailer leans heavily into Robert Eggers’ signature gothic style, shot in a grainy 4:3 aspect ratio reminiscent of his earlier work. Willem Dafoe’s character, a knight tasked with ridding the countryside of wolves, is shown declaring, “Every wolf shall die!” while another voice pleads, “Please, make him safe from his cursedness.”
An ominous narrator describes a curse that has taken hold over the central family throughout the footage. The trailer closes on Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character shaking and looking up toward the sky as his transformation into a werewolf begins to take hold, showing the early stages of what has been described as a particularly painful and gruesome physical change.
Set in 13th-century England, Werwulf has been given the tagline “a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation, and the devil within.” Beyond that, an official plot synopsis has yet to be released. Robert Eggers has said the project grew out of his long-standing fascination with folklore and monster mythology, and that he drew heavily from medieval accounts of werewolf legends while developing the story. He had originally planned to shoot the film in black and white, similar to The Lighthouse, but ultimately decided to shoot it in color instead.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the cursed farmer at the center of the story, marking his fourth collaboration with Eggers following Nosferatu. He’s joined by Lily-Rose Depp as his wife, along with Willem Dafoe and Ralph Ineson, both of whom have also worked with Eggers on previous films. Newcomer Bodhi Rae Breathnach, known for her role in Hamnet, rounds out the primary cast.
Robert Eggers has built a reputation as one of horror’s most distinctive voices, known for The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman and Nosferatu, all set in richly detailed historical periods. Nosferatu remains his most successful film to date, earning four Oscar nominations and grossing $182 million worldwide against a $50 million budget, while also posting his strongest opening yet with a $21.6 million three-day debut and $40.8 million over five days.
Werwulf continues his run of historically grounded horror, though Eggers has said his next project will be a notable departure: a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The film is written by Robert Eggers alongside his frequent collaborator Sjón, who also co-wrote The Northman and Nosferatu with him. Focus Features financed and is releasing the film, with Eggers, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Garrett Bird and Sjón producing. Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus and Bernard Bellew are serving as executive producers, with Chris and Eleanor Columbus’ Maiden Voyage banner also attached to the project.
With its new trailer now out, Werwulf looks set to continue Eggers’ recent run of atmospheric, folklore-driven horror when it arrives in theaters this Christmas Day, giving audiences another dose of the director’s meticulous, historically rooted style before he moves on to decidedly different territory with his Romeo and Juliet adaptation.
