Nosferatu: everything we know including cast, story and release date

Bolt your doors because the lavish Gothic horror Nosferatu is stalking its way onto the big screen. It's time to reckon with the shadow of the vampire as the fearsome Count Orlok brings terror to a small German town.

Scroll down to discover everything you need to know including cast, story and release date.

What is the story of Nosferatu?

Nosferatu reimagines the 1922 German Expressionist silent horror film of the same name. Nosferatu was also adapted by director Werner Herzog in 1979 with Klaus Kinski as Nosferatu.

When estate agent Thomas Hutter ventures to the remote mountain home of the mysterious Count Orlok, he cannot anticipate the horror he finds there. The reclusive Orlok is a vampire feared by the local villagers, and he traps Hutter inside his castle while bringing a rein of terror to Hutter's town, Wisborg. Pretty soon, Hutter's wife and a host of other characters find themselves in the vampire's gaze.

Why is the original Nosferatu considered a landmark of horror cinema?

The original film, directed by F.W. Murnau, was essentially an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's groundbreaking 1897 vampire novel Dracula and made an icon of silent cinema actor Max Shreck in the title role. With his skulking walk, long hands and elongated ears, Shreck was unforgettably animalistic and otherwordly.

However, Bram Stoker's widow was so incensed by the film that she attempted to have all copies of it destroyed. Fortunately, a few prints made it to America unmolested and the film's reputation continued to grow from there.

Nosferatu cemented most, if not all, vampire movie cliches including the notion of a vampire dying bt exposure to sunlight. (It was the first film to show this.) In 1979, it was remade by Werner Herzog with Klaus Kinski in the title role.

Who directs Nosferatu?

Nosferatu is directed by Robert Eggers whose feature film debut was The Witch (2016). The film, a 17th-century period piece about a Puritan family beset by supernatural menace, was acclaimed for its slow-burn atmosphere and attention to historical detail, particularly in the period-authentic dialogue. The film was a hit at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and announced Eggers as an exciting new horror talent.

Eggers followed this up with another critical success, The Lighthouse (2022), which is perhaps best described as The Shining meets Steptoe and Son. Lead actors Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe were praised for their intensity, as was Eggers' visual aesthetic. He deployed a restrictive, archaic aspect ratio to honour the spirit of classic horror films from Hollywood's silent period.

In 2022, Eggers directed The Northman, an adaptation of the Scandinavian legend Amleth, also the inspiration for Shakespeare's text Hamlet. The brutally violent film was led by Alexander Skarsgard and received positive reviews for its authenticity and appreciably grim atmosphere.

Eggers is a lifelong fan of Nosferatu and has been aiming to bring his vision to the screen for many years. He tells Empire: "Yeah, it’s a scary film. It’s a horror movie. It’s a Gothic horror movie. And I do think that there hasn’t been an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary in a while. And I think that the majority of audiences will find this one to be the case.”

Who stars in Nosferatu?

Nosferatu stars Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose Depp as the imperilled Ellen Hutter and Nicholas Hoult as her even more imperilled husband Thomas. Also featuring in the cast is Willem Dafoe as Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Friedrich Harding and Emma Corrin as Anna Harding.

In the title role of Nosferatu is actor Bill Skarsgard. The actor was acclaimed for his eerie portrayal of the demonic shapeshifter Pennywise in the IT movies and he's expected to bring a similar level of intensity to the role of Count Orlok.

“It was like conjuring pure evil,” Skarsgard told Esquire. “It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me.”