Of horror cinema's classic monsters, the werewolf has been the most troublesome this century. Vampires have bent into romance, satire and auteur cinema. Zombies conquered television series and blockbusters, and ghost stories became one of the most profitable genres of the decade. The werewolf, meanwhile, has been left as either comedy or failed big-budget productions. Werwulf, arriving in Finnish cinemas in January 2027, could change that.
Why is the werewolf so difficult?
The history of werewolf films includes a handful of classics: The Wolf Man (1941), An American Werewolf in London (1981), The Howling (1981) and Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves (1984). Attempts in recent decades, however, have rarely succeeded. In our estimate there are two reasons.
The first reason is technical. The werewolf's transformation is hard to pull off convincingly. The practical effects of the 1980s were state of the art for their time, but in the era of computer effects, transformations have often looked artificial and taken the edge off the horror.
The second reason is thematic. A vampire can stand for sexuality, immortality or exploitation, and a zombie for consumer society or a pandemic. The werewolf's metaphor – the beast within the human – is so obvious that it easily turns into a cliché.
Eggers' solution: back to a time before the myth
Eggers approaches the problem in a way that is characteristic of his entire body of work. He does not modernise the monster; he takes it back to a time when people believed in it. Werwulf is set in 13th-century England, and the director has said the film reimagines the myth from an era before many of today's werewolf legends had become established.
The solution is ingenious because it removes the clichés. Silver bullets, the full moon and infection spread by a bite are largely inventions of later centuries, and especially of 20th-century cinema. Strip them away and what remains is what medieval people truly feared: the curse, sin, the power of the devil and one's own community, which can turn against you.
The same approach made The Witch so frightening. The film did not ask whether witches are real. It portrayed a world in which they were, and let the viewer experience the horror of faith from the inside.
Language, image and authenticity
Werwulf's technical execution is exceptionally ambitious. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the dialogue is written in period English, and according to Slashfilm the entire film is spoken in Middle English. The film is shot in the narrow Academy ratio, and the trailer's grainy image shifts from almost black-and-white moonlit sequences to pale, washed-out colours.
Eggers has worked with the same collaborators throughout his career: cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, editor Louise Ford and production designer Craig Lathrop. This continuity is one reason why his films always look recognisable, whether set in 17th-century New England, Viking-age Iceland or 19th-century Germany.
For Finnish audiences, the language choice is less radical than for English-speaking audiences, as the film will be subtitled anyway. It still affects the film's atmosphere: the period language gives the dialogue a rhythm and strangeness that cannot be translated directly.
The transformation – the film's decisive moment
The worth of every werewolf film is ultimately measured in its transformation scene. At the end of the first trailer, we get a glimpse of the transformation of Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character. Several film sites described the scene as shocking and brutal.
Based on Eggers' previous work, we estimate that the transformation was achieved primarily with practical effects and make-up, supplemented by digital effects. Nosferatu's Orlok was exactly this kind of combination, and his physicality was one of that film's greatest strengths. This is, however, our own estimate, not confirmed information.
The cast: familiar faces from Nosferatu
In Werwulf, Eggers reunites Nosferatu stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp. They are joined by Willem Dafoe, who has already appeared in three previous Eggers films, and Ralph Ineson, familiar from The Witch.
Taylor-Johnson is an interesting choice. In recent years he has mainly played action roles, but in Nosferatu he showed he is also capable of subtler work. The cursed peasant demands physicality and quiet despair at the same time.
Timing: the January horror film
In Finland, Werwulf opens on Friday 8 January 2027, two weeks after its Christmas Day release in the United States. The period after Christmas and New Year is traditionally quieter for cinemas, and after the big Christmas films, audiences often look for something entirely different.
An auteur horror film aimed at adults could fit this gap well. Nosferatu opened in the United States on Christmas Day 2024 and became Eggers' most commercially successful film. The studio is now repeating the same strategy, and in Finland the film also benefits from a separate release window with lighter competition.
Summary: why Werwulf belongs in your calendar
Werwulf is a rare case: an auteur film awaited like a blockbuster. If Eggers succeeds, the werewolf will get its first film in decades that takes it seriously rather than relying on the genre's clichés. The film could redefine the monster in the same way The Witch redefined the witch.
The risk is the same as ever with Eggers' films: they are heavy, slow and demanding. Not everyone likes them. Werwulf's trailers do not even try to hide this. They promise mud, blood and despair without mercy.
Watch the trailer and find more details on our film page.