Robert Eggers has carved out a terrifying niche in historical horror. In works like The Witch and Nosferatu, he’s told folkloric stories in excruciatingly accurate settings, but for his next movie, Werwulf, he’s going back further in time than ever. Set in the 1200s, a nameless farmer finds himself transforming into a monstrous creature every full moon.
Anticipation has been building for Werwulf ever since Nosferatu’s box office success; the film features many of the same actors, and, uniquely, a script full of Middle English. Now the first trailer is finally here, and we can see how it all comes together. In Eggers’ trademark dark style, we see our protagonist (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and then we flash back to him as a teenager being lured into the forest by a strange man. “Do not dread the darkness,” the man says. “Embrace it.” As he speaks, we see roaring flames and levitating, shaking bodies. Back in the present, he’s married to a woman played by Lily-Rose Depp, another Nosferatu alum, and is the father of three children. Check it out below:
