Robert Eggers is ready to haunt your holidays again. After his chilling Nosferatu remake became a surprise Christmas hit in 2024, the director is unleashing his next gothic folk horror, Werwulf, on the same date this year. The first trailer has arrived, and it's a fog-shrouded, mud-soaked glimpse into a world where lycanthropy isn't just a monster—it's a curse that tears a man apart from the inside.
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a 13th-century English farmer, the film swaps vampires for werewolves but keeps Eggers' signature bleakness. The trailer teases a creature that feels less like Hollywood's classic wolfman and more like a medieval nightmare, drawing from Dark Ages folklore rather than silver bullets or bite-spread infections. Villagers set traps and whisper in fear as the beast rampages, but the real horror lies in Taylor-Johnson's haunted eyes.
Eggers has promised this is his most brutal film yet. In an interview with Esquire, he described the world as "a really brutal, unforgiving, merciless, grotesque world. More than ever, it's mud and blood and dung and rain and pain and suffering." The transformation scenes, he says, are "incredibly extreme," with Taylor-Johnson delivering what Eggers calls a career-best performance that's as emotionally harrowing as it is physically demanding.
The cast includes returning Nosferatu alums Lily-Rose Depp (as Taylor-Johnson's wife) and Willem Dafoe, alongside new additions. The story follows a farmer plagued by a mysterious curse, with his only hope for salvation lying in the love of his family. Eggers co-wrote the screenplay with Icelandic poet Sjón, his collaborator on The Northman.
For horror fans craving something beyond jump scares, Werwulf looks to be a visceral, folk-horror experience that ranks among Eggers' darkest work. If you're into underrated genre gems, check out our list of 20 Years of Hidden Horror: 10 Underrated Gems You Missed for more chilling recommendations.
Eggers already has his next project lined up: a sequel to Jim Henson's Labyrinth, again with Sjón. But for now, all eyes are on Werwulf, which promises to be a muddy, bloody, and emotionally devastating take on the werewolf mythos. The film hits theaters on December 25.
For more on the best horror franchises, don't miss The Ultimate Ranking of the Best R-Rated Horror Movie Franchises. And if you're a fan of Eggers' style, you'll want to keep an eye on John Carpenter's 'The Ferryman', which drops June 30 and teases a new horror universe.
