Nosferatu, a new take on the classic German vampire film that was inspired by Dracula, has received its first full trailer from distributor Focus Features following a teaser released earlier this year. Director Robert Eggers filmed the movie in Prague and locations across the Czech Republic last spring.
The highly-anticipated horror film will release in the United States on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, but fans in the Czech Republic will have to wait an additional week with Nosferatu slated to debut in local cinemas on Jan. 2, 2025.
Eggers’ Nosferatu is an updated retelling of F.W. Murnau’s iconic 1922 vampire tale heavily inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The original silent film was nearly lost to time after Stoker’s heirs filed a lawsuit over clear similarities, but its haunting nature has led to enduring popularity past its 100th anniversary.
The new Nosferatu trailer teases eerie sequences and a Gothic aesthetic that harkens back to classic horror, with a dark and unsettling atmosphere underscored by sweeping visuals. Bill Skarsgård’s transformation into Count Orlok is being kept under wraps, with only shadowy glimpses shown in the trailer.
In an interview with Empire, Eggers hinted at the chilling nature of Skarsgård’s portrayal, describing the character as looking like a “dead Transylvanian nobleman.” He was inspired to cast Skarsgård in the role after seeing the actor as the human form of Pennywise, minus the clown makeup, in scenes from It: Chapter Two.
Lily-Rose Depp plays Ellen Hutter, a woman caught between the menacing Count Orlok and her husband, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult). Eggers emphasized that this version places more focus on Ellen’s character than previous adaptations. Willem Dafoe co-stars as Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, a reimagined version of Dracula‘s Van Helsing. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, and Simon McBurney round out the cast.
Production on Nosferatu took place last spring in several Czech locations, with studio production taking place in Prague’s Barrandov Studio and location filming in Žižkov and Karlín, including scenes shot at the historic Invalidovna complex.
Outside of Prague, filming for Nosferatu took place in Podsedlice, Kostelec u Křížků, Tušť, Milovice, Prachovské skály, Pernštejn, Týřovice, Kublov, the Velká Amerika quarry, and Libochovice Chateau. Rožmitál pod Třemšínem Castle will reportedly play Count Orlok’s decaying home.
This is not the first time Nosferatu has been linked to Czech lands: F.W. Murnau’s original film used locations in what was then Czechoslovakia, and Werner Herzog’s 1979 version was shot in Pernštejn Castle in South Moravia, which was also utilized for the latest adaptation.
With its Christmas release date, Nosferatu is set to become an unusual holiday horror film. Eggers, known for atmospheric projects like The Northman, The Lighthouse and The Witch, has promised a truly Gothic horror experience that makes vampires scary again.
“Dracula in the novel is a sadistic bastard,” Eggers describes in an AnOther Magazine interview with star Skarsgård. “And then somehow, as the 20th century progressed, they became sad vampires. In 1979, Kinski’s sad vampire was the right vampire for that time. That climaxed with our friend Rob [Pattinson]’s Edward Cullen, who’s not scary at all, just a romantic hero. So the idea with this film was to come back around to a scary vampire again – a monster.”
“I think part of the reason I wanted to work with you so badly was that you bring back these dead, folkloric times and you blow so much life into them – they transport you into that period,” added Skarsgård. “Of course, we’ve lost a lot of that magic in our secular, science-driven world. Going back to these ancient tales is a reminder that they’re all in us — the archetypes are all there.”
