Two anticipated blockbusters—Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three—will be competing for moviegoers’ attention this December 18. But a week later, on Christmas Day itself, Werwulf hits theaters, continuing the festive counterprogramming tradition set down by Robert Eggers’ previous release, Nosferatu.
As this first trailer suggests, Eggers’ 13th-century tale of a man (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) plagued by a terrible curse continues the director’s love of gloom, grit, and period detail. Werwulf co-stars Willem Dafoe as a seemingly malevolent character, but he’s just one creepy element in what looks to be a completely unnerving viewing experience.
Could Werwulf be Eggers’ most experimental work to date? There’s certainly nobody else making mainstream movies like this in Hollywood right now, and considering the viral success of Nosferatu, it feels likely that Werwulf will find a similar niche among horror fans and the weird-curious, even if it lacks a vampire sporting a luxurious mustache.
“Witness Robert Eggers’ most visceral and haunting experience yet,” promises the press release. “Focus Features presents Werwulf, a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation, and the devil within.”
Along with Taylor-Johnson (looking hairy and haunted) and Dafoe (sinister as hell), the trailer also gives you a look at Lily-Rose Depp as the understandably worried wife of Taylor-Johnson’s character. Throughout, there’s unsettling imagery and a deeply grim sense of foreboding. Even the font looks like it crawled out of a nightmare.
Werwulf hits theaters December 25—can’t wait to see if Focus churns out a novelty popcorn bucket for this one.
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