Throughout his career, director Robert Eggers has put his spin on countless creatures from myth and legend: witches in The VVitch, vampires in Nosferatu, and even mermaids in The Lighthouse. In his next project, Werwulf, he moves on to yet another famed folkloric being: werewolves.
Written by Eggers and Sjón, who co-wrote The Northman, the film takes place in 13th-century England and stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a farmer burdened by a terrible, beastly curse. (Spoiler alert! It's lycanthropy.) The film's first trailer offers up a glimpse at how he came by that curse. When he was young, he followed a man into a cave, and a devilish ritual ensued. Note to self: Don't follow strange men into caves, even if they're accompanied by an adorable bird like Werwulf's strange man is.
Now, the farmer is all grown up, and his curse is wreaking havoc on his village. Werwulf's trailer doesn't showcase too much of co-star Anya Taylor-Joy's transformation — what, and spoil all the fun? — but it does offer up frightening shots of writhing bodies, corpses, and blood splatters. Plus, this being an Eggers film, it's chock-full of what are sure to be historically accurate 13th-century farmhouses and naturalistic lighting. (Unfortunately for the farmer, I'm going to guess a good chunk of that lighting will be coming from the full moon.)
Werwulf also stars Eggers regulars Willem Dafoe, Lily Rose-Depp, and Ralph Ineson.
Werwulf hits theaters December 25.
