Back at CinemaCon in April, we were lucky enough to see the very first footage of the upcoming reimagining of Nosferatu from Robert Eggers. As the months have gone by, many have been asking when the trailer would be available for all to see (and yours truly to rewatch on repeat). We finally have an answer, the Nosferatu trailer will be playing in the US ahead of The Bikeriders in theaters this weekend!

At CinemaCon, Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski said the film “definitely ain’t your father’s Nosferatu and boy, was he right or was he right. If you’re lucky enough to have seen the trailer (which I hope you are and that’s why you’re here!), you know! The trailer is visceral, haunting, and full of hallucinatory imagery we expect from Eggers, but this feels as if he took a page from the ultimate Dracula adaptation from Francis Ford Coppola. An important theme within the story of Count Orlok is the obsession that turns both horny and bloody yet drowned in romanticism. Many know how Nosferatu was always the goal for Eggers and trusted his vision, but seeing just how expertly it appears he pulled it off feels monumental in terms of director/material pairing.

The trailer opens with Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) seemingly praying, ‘Come to me, come to me, hear my call.’ At first, she appears distraught, but as the fade takes over the screen her fear seemingly becomes a desire as a hand grabs her by the throat and she lets out a blood curdling scream before ‘A Robert Eggers Picture’ is listed on screen (Need this on a sweatshirt immediately). The bone chilling score looms over each scene that unfolds next as Ellen asks Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe) if evil comes from within us or beyond… We get various clips via a sweeping camera of the villages, townspeople protesting and a carriage headed to a crumbling castle filled with dark secrets (a shot for shot of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, if you know, you know). Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) is sulking around the castle yearning to find the source of what is troubling his dear wife, Ellen. ‘He is coming,’ is spoken over shots of candles for an almost sacrifice, rats scurrying across the cobblestone streets, pigeons being eaten, and the shot of the year (we already know) with Count Orlok’s hand shadowing over the town as a literal evil force looming. ‘He is coming,’ becomes a chant that’s whispered and then breathily moaned as both a warning and a prayer. Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz says they are encountering a vampire as the door opens and the first real glimpse of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) is seen in the doorway recreating the iconic imagery from the original film. The trailer ends with Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz simply saying, ‘Nosferatu,’ and the title card blaring on the screen.

It’s taken Eggheads quite some time to get to this moment in Nosferatu history. In July 2015, a remake of Nosferatu was announced with Eggers writing and directing. In November 2016, Eggers provided an update and was a bit shocked that the Nosferatu remake was going to be his second film, saying to IndieWire, “It feels ugly and blasphemous and egomaniacal and disgusting for a filmmaker in my place to do Nosferatu next. I was really planning on waiting a while, but that’s how fate shook out.” During a 2019 interview with Den of Geek promoting The Lighthouse, Eggers revealed that although he had dedicated a lot of time for preparation to bring the film to life, he didn’t know when or if it would happen. The writer/director said, “Look, I spent so many years and so much time, just so much blood on it, yeah, it would be a real shame if it never happened”.

After many casting switch ups from Anya Taylor-Joy and Harry Styles, we finally got updates in 2022 with Bill Skarsgård officially being cast as Count Orlok opposite Lily-Rose Depp. Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson soon joined the cast. Principal photography began in February 2023 and wrapped later that same year in May.

F.W. Murnau directed the original 1922 version of Nosferatu, which is an unauthorized and unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. Even with several changes implemented within the film, Stoker’s heirs sued over the film, which resulted in a court ruling for all copies of the film to be destroyed. In 1979, Werner Herzog directed his own version of the film.

Focus Features will release Nosferatu in theaters for Christmas on December 25, 2024.