The Witch Director Teases His ‘Scary’ Nosferatu Remake

Silent horror classic Nosferatu celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, but it will have another reason to return to the spotlight in 2024, when genre craftsman Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) releases his long-awaited remake. Today, we know a bit more about what to expect from the vampire tale—including that it will indeed be scary.

Here’s the first-look image shared by Empire Magazine in a preview of its new issue and on X:

Released at the height of German Expressionism by director F.W. Murnau, and featuring an otherworldly performance by Max Schreck as the title monster, Nosferatu famously ripped off Bram Stoker’s Dracula, to the consternation of Stoker’s litigious heirs, and it retains an eerily timeless quality. Riffs on Dracula have never been far from pop culture (this year alone brought The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield), and even Nosferatu has been remade before, notably in 1979 by Werner Herzog (starring Klaus Kinski). Then, 2000’s Shadow of the Vampire offered a fictionalized take on the making of the 1922 film, with Willem Dafoe playing a version of Schreck who just might actually be a vampire.

Still, one has to think there’s plenty of room for Eggers’ interpretation of this story—especially considering its cast, which also includes Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, and Renfield’s Nicholas Hoult (not playing Renfield this time), features noted boogeyman Bill “Pennywise” Skårsgard. “I’ll say that Bill has so transformed, I’m fearful that he might not get the credit that he deserves because he’s just… he’s not there,” Eggers told Empire. “He felt like honoring who had come before him. It’s all very subtle. But I think the main thing is that he’s even more a folk vampire. In my opinion he looks like a dead Transylvanian nobleman, and in a way that we’ve never actually seen what an actual dead Transylvanian nobleman would look like and be dressed like.”

If that sounds sufficiently nightmare-inducing, Eggers is here to tell you that’s his goal. “It’s a scary film,” Eggers promised. “And I do think that there hasn’t been an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary in a while … I think that the majority of audiences will find this one to be the case.”

Nosferatu is due out in 2024.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.