Written by: Sam Santiago
We’ve been hearing whispers about Robert Eggers‘ Werwulf for months. It seems like ever since the credits rolled on “NOSFERATU,” fans were eager for more Eggers. He didn’t disappoint and announced his next flick pretty fast in Werwulf.
We can confirm that a handful of early fan and test screenings have quietly taken place, and while attendees are understandably keeping their mouths shut, we’ve spoken to a few people who were lucky enough to see it. Their lips are sealed for obvious reasons, and honestly, we’d rather keep it that way.
The only thing anyone has been willing to say?
From the very first frame, you know you’re watching a Robert Eggers film.
That’s it. That’s all they told us. That’s all you’re getting.
Today, however, Focus Features finally gave horror fans something official to chew on, releasing the first image from Werwulf alongside the film’s official synopsis and some fascinating comments from Eggers himself that shed light on just how different his take on werewolf folklore will be.
The official logline reads:
“Witness Robert Eggers’ most visceral and haunting experience yet. Focus Features presents Werwulf, a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation and the devil within.”
If you’ve followed Eggers‘ career from The Witch to The Lighthouse, The Northman, and most recently Nosferatu, you’ll know he has little interest in recycling familiar horror mythology. Instead, he digs into the historical beliefs that existed before Hollywood simplified monsters into recognizable rules. Don’t get us wrong now, we love us some Universal Monsters type lore but this, definitely ain’t that.
That’s exactly what he’s doing with Werwulf.
Speaking with Esquire, Eggers explained that audiences shouldn’t expect the traditional werewolf mythology that’s become second nature through decades of horror films.
As Eggers explained, “The cool thing about going back into the past is that you can kind of hit a reset button. So all the clichés of being bitten by a werewolf and silver bullets and a lot of the stuff that has become almost campy doesn’t exist in the mythology of this movie.”
That’s a bold statement considering just how much modern werewolf mythology has been shaped by decades of cinema cuz we love us some Wolf Man.
Eggers continued, “So you don’t need to have seen Lon Chaney Jr.’s The Wolf Man or An American Werewolf in London to get what’s going on here.”
Instead of building on the foundation laid by classic horror films, Eggers looked much further back into English history while researching the project. We’re huge history buffs ourselves so whenever we hear about Egger‘s attention to detail, we find ourselves over analyzing his work for period accurate phrases and items. We’re nerds, what can we say?
“I learned that basically because of protections for the wool trade, there was a big effort to get rid of all the wolves in England. It was pretty successful. So the movie takes place around 1300, and that’s as late as it could be because once there were no wolves in England, there was no more werewolf lore in England.”
It’s exactly the kind of historical rabbit hole we’ve come to expect from Eggers, whose attention to period detail has become one of the defining characteristics of his filmmaking.
As he puts it, “That became interesting, that it was going to be set so medieval.”
That medieval setting could prove to be one of Werwulf‘s greatest strengths. Rather than relying on familiar transformations, silver bullets, and the mythology audiences have seen recycled countless times, Eggers appears to be reaching back to a time when these stories were still evolving through folklore rather than cinema.
The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, and Bodhi Rae Breathnach, assembling another cast that feels perfectly suited for Eggers’ bleak and atmospheric world.
Werwulf arrives exclusively in theaters on Christmas Day.
Based on the reactions we’ve quietly heard from those fortunate enough to catch an early screening and everything Eggers has officially revealed today, don’t expect a traditional werewolf movie. Expect a Robert Eggers film.
Those are two very different things.