Robert Eggers returns with Werwulf, a 10th century horror film shot in 35mm black-and-white that promises to redefine historical terror.
Eggers Werwulf is here to remind you that horror used to be art before it became a conveyor belt of jump scares and CGI ghosts. Robert Eggers, the man who made you care about 17th century Puritan paranoia in The Witch and who put Robert Pattinson through psychological hell in The Lighthouse, has unleashed the first trailer for his latest period nightmare—and it looks absolutely brutal.
The film is set in 10th century England and follows a family terrorized by werewolves, which is exactly the kind of premise that sounds simple until you remember who is directing it. Eggers does not do simple. Eggers does “meticulously researched historical accuracy that happens to include monsters.” His werewolves are not the CGI-enhanced hulks you see in modern horror. These are practical effects, body horror, and the kind of transformation sequences that make you grateful for modern dentistry.
What makes Eggers Werwulf immediately compelling is the visual approach. The film was shot on 35mm black-and-white film stock, which means it looks like a nightmare you might have after reading too much Old English poetry. The trailer features flickering candlelight, dense forests that seem actively hostile, and creature designs that suggest Eggers consulted actual medieval bestiaries rather than Universal monster movies. This is folk horror in its purest form, the kind of film where the landscape itself wants you dead.
The cast includes Bill Skarsgård, who knows a thing or two about transformative horror after playing Pennywise, alongside Lily-Rose Depp and Willem Dafoe in what appears to be another unhinged performance from cinema’s favorite chaos agent. Focus Features is distributing, which means Eggers had the creative freedom to make exactly the film he wanted without studio notes asking him to “make the werewolves more relatable.”
Why Eggers Werwulf Matters for Horror Purists
Eggers Werwulf arrives at a moment when horror is either micro-budget indie fare or franchise IP recycling. There is very little middle ground for filmmakers who want to make ambitious, adult genre films with actual craft. Eggers occupies that space almost by himself, proving that audiences will show up for historical horror if it’s made with enough conviction. The Witch grossed $40 million on a $4 million budget. The Lighthouse made $18 million and became a meme factory. Both films established Eggers as a director who treats horror with the seriousness of a period drama.
The 10th century setting is crucial. Eggers Werwulf is not a werewolf movie in the modern sense—it’s a film about medieval fear, about a world where the woods were genuinely dangerous and the supernatural was just another hazard of daily life. The trailer suggests a family drama that slowly curdles into terror, with the werewolves serving as both literal monsters and metaphors for the breakdown of social order. Or maybe they’re just really scary wolves. With Eggers, you never quite know.
The film hits theaters later this year, and the trailer alone has generated the kind of buzz that suggests Focus Features might have another awards-season horror contender on their hands. After The Witch and The Lighthouse both earned critical raves and indie box office success, Eggers has earned the benefit of the doubt. Werwulf looks like his most accessible film yet while maintaining his signature intensity.
See Eggers Werwulf in theaters and experience historical horror that actually respects your intelligence.
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