Robert Eggers’ ‘Werwulf’ Trailer Shocks CinemaCon With Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Naked Transformation and More Gothic Horror in ‘Nosferatu’ Follow-Up

Director Robert Eggers is getting back into the period horror genre with “Wewulf,” his latest movie after his hit 2024 creature feature “Nosferatu.” A first look at the 13th-century werewolf tale was shown during Universal’s presentation at CinemaCon, the annual convention for movie theater owners that’s underway in Las Vegas. “Werwulf” hits theaters on Dec. 25, exactly two years after “Nosferatu.” Eggers penned the script with his “The Northman” co-writer Sjon.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp are reteaming with Eggers after they starred in “Nosferatu,” as are Willem Dafoe and Ralph Ineson. The film’s logline teases, “In 13th-century England, a mysterious creature stalks a foggy countryside as local folklore becomes a terrifying reality for the villagers.” Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular lycanthrope, and the cast also includes Jack Morris, Jan Bijvoet, Ritchi Edwards and Bodhi Rae Breathnach.

The trailer echoed Eggers’ past movies, with plenty of black-and-white shots of mauled corpses, desecrated graves and frightened townsfolk terrorized by an unseen beast. A nude Taylor-Johnson convulses and transforms into the werewolf, with spit filling his fanged mouth, but his full monstrous look wasn’t shown. After breaking out in “Nosferatu,” Depp is back and cements her status as a scream queen with several pained shrieks in “Werwulf.”

Universal’s classic monster movies have had some ups and downs in the past few years. Last year’s “Wolf Man,” directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Chris Abbott and Julia Garner, only made $35 million at the box office and received mixed reviews. Before that, the vampire movies “Abigail” (2024) and “Renfield” (2023) were also so-so. The 2020 thriller “The Invisible Man,” starring Elisabeth Moss, released right before theaters shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic but ended up becoming a hit. It grossed $144 million off of a $7 million budget.

Eggers has established himself as a horror auteur, first coming onto the scene with 2015’s “The Witch,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Ineson. He followed that up with “The Lighthouse,” a two-hander with Robert Pattinson and Dafoe, then took on period action with “The Northman,” led by Alexander Skarsgard.