Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu Is the Opposite of Twilight, Will Make Vampires Scary Again

Robert Eggers wants to make vampires scary again in Nosferatu.

In Eggers’ gothic horror, Bill Skarsgård plays Count Orlok, the titular vampire obsessed with Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hutter. Count Orlok is a menacing creature, the opposite of vampires like Edward Cullen in Twilight. Eggers made sure to have Skarsgård’s vampire be as terrifying as possible to differentiate it from Stephenie Meyer’s fantasy novels.

“We’ve gone all the way to Edward Cullen, where vampires are not scary,” Eggers said to Total Film. “So how do we go in the complete opposite direction of that? Vampires were scary enough that people used to dig up corpses and chop them into bits and set them on fire.”

“I think we deserve a scary, smelly corpse again,” Eggers added when referencing Skarsgård’s transformation into Count Orlok.

What to Expect in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu?

Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 German film, based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula.

Focus Features’ official synopsis reads: “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.”

Besides Skarsgård and Depp, Nosferatu’s ensemble includes Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Friedrich Harding, Emma Corrin as Anna Harding, Ralph Ineson as Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, Simon McBurney as Herr Knock, and Willem Dafoe as Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz.

Nosferatu is written, directed, and produced by Eggers. The vampire tale is Eggers’ fourth feature film behind The Northman, The Lighthouse, and The Witch. Additional producers on Nosferatu include Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Chris Columbus, and Eleanor Columbus. Focus Features will distribute the film in the U.S.

Nosferatu is scheduled for a theatrical release on December 25, 2024.