Nosferatu Footage Reaction: The Director Of The Witch Sets His Fangs On A Vampire Classic [CinemaCon 2024]

CinemaCon 2024 is well underway and the latest film to be given the sneak peek treatment is Robert Eggers' "Nosferatu." The upcoming horror remake from the "Northman" director will star Bill Skarsgård as the titular vamp, alongside Lily Rose-Depp, Nicholas Hoult, and Willem Dafoe. Until now, there's been no footage from the film or trailers released, but after the Universal presentation at CinemaCon, that's all changed.

Following in the footsteps of Werner Herzog's 1979 effort "Nosferatu the Vampyre," Eggers' film will reinterpret F.W. Murnau's 1922 "Dracula" adaptation "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror." The director has promised a gothic horror movie that will actually scare audiences, which is exactly what we were hoping to hear. But the real test for "Nosferatu" will be whether it can succeed where so many modern vampire films have failed — namely, at the box office. Still, with Eggers at the helm, this surely won't be another "Last Voyage of the Demeter"-level box office disaster.

The official synopsis for "Nosferatu" promises a "gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her," which pretty much adheres to the classic tale told in the 1922 film — a film that, despite its standing as one of the finest horror films of its time, was also a blatant "Dracula" rip-off. Eggers' take on "Nosferatu" won't hit theaters until December 25, 2024, when it will deliver exactly the kind of horrifying depravity we all crave on Christmas day. In the meantime, we now have a much better idea of what to expect thanks to /Film writer Ryan Scott, who's on-location at CinemaCon and just witnessed the grand "Nosferatu" footage reveal.

Fans of Eggers' previous films know he has a great understanding of creating mood and recreating different eras from history, from the Puritan frontier of "The Witch" to the frozen Viking battlefields of "The Northman," and it sounds like he's managed to totally nail the vibe of the late Victorian gothic. 

In the footage screened for CinemaCon attendees, a muted color palette and gorgeously constructed costumes helped sell the setting, along with lots of dark, creepy shots of the city where our vampiric villain, Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), resides. The footage shows Lily-Rose Depp rising from a bed crying and yelling for someone to come to her before a hand reaches out and grabs her throat, likely Orlok. He sits at her bedside and asks her "Does evil come from within us or from beyond?" which sounds kind of sweetly paternal, maybe. But then the vampire appears to be fully naked and shown from behind as Nicholas Hoult approaches. (What is it with Hoult and vampires? Maybe he just has that Victorian-era look about him. He is very pale.)

Eggers has said that his "Nosferatu" is meant to be a movie that really scares you, and from the description of the footage, it's going to be very scary indeed. Depp bleeds from her eyes. Count Orlok wears a big, badass coat. It's going to be scary and gorgeous to look at despite the limited color palette and the movie's Christmas 2024 release date truly cannot get here soon enough.

"Nosferatu" opens December 25, 2024.