Focus Features
The first official trailer for the Robert Eggers-directed remake of Nosferatu has been released. The film will hit movie theaters in the United States on December 25, Christmas Day.
Eggers is a filmmaker who’s previously known for his work on movies such as The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman. The Northman, his most recent film, featured Alexander Skarsgaard in the lead role, while Nosferatu stars his brother Bill as the infamous vampire.
Here is the official synopsis for Nosferatu, via Focus Features:
Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Starring in Nosferatu in the titular role is Bill Skarsgaard. Additional cast members include Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney and Willem Dafoe. When the project was first announced in 2017, Anya Taylor-Joy was cast in the lead role but was replaced by Lily Rose-Depp by the time production began in February 2023.
The original Nosferatu, which was directed by F. W. Murnau and starred Max Schreck as Count Orlok, was originally released in Germany in 1922. Since then, the film has been considered to be the definitive template for the horror genre.
A silent film, Nosferatu tells the story of Schrek’s Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife of his estate agent and brings evil to his village.
Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stroker’s iconic 1897 Dracula, resulting in Stroker’s heirs suing the producers. The court ruled in favor of the Stroker heirs and ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.
Despite this, however, copies of Nosferatu survived and were bootlegged for decades until the character became public domain in 2019.
Nosferatu releases in movie theaters in the United States on Wednesday, December 25.