Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

The new Robert Eggers movie, Werwulf, just released its first trailer. Eggers has made a name for himself as something adjacent to the horror Chris Nolan, using unusual filming techniques and strong narrative choices to tell bone crunching stories of vengeance, death and, often, the supernatural. Alasdair Stuart’s on the trail.

0.02 – Dafoe Sign!

The most prolific character actor of his age is a frequent flier in Eggers’ movies and here he is again!

0.13 – Aaron Taylor Johnson Having The Worst Time

Still with the 28 Years Later hair and beard, naked and covered in blood. Bless.

0.23 – ‘Child of God, come.’

All good horror movies have that moment where the threshold is crossed. Here that threshold seems to be embodied by a spooky looking monk holding a fincha at the edge of the forest. Interestingly the smashcut from the last shot to this suggests this is Johnson’s character as a child, meaning the movie may be about someone who has lived with the ‘curse’ for a long time.

0.37 – ‘Embrace it.’

Oh this is new! The kid seems to be part of a ritual that leads to the creation of a werewolf (note the wolf skin being placed over him).

0.41 – Smashcut in reverse

Yep, this is the same character, as we cut from the kid back to Johnson. Who has a family we now see. So are we looking at a family of werewolves?

0.55 – Paladin?

Dafoe seems to be playing a paladin or knight, tasked with finding and killing the werewolf.

1.05 – Massacre

Every sheep as far as we can see is dead and there’s some property damage too. Which, given the medieval setting, is even more dangerous.

1.24 – ‘Thy soul is cursed.’

Dafoe again it seems as we get an incredible silver shot zooming into a barn at night where Johnson seems to be changing. The location, and sheep, look a lot like the massacre location…

1.42 – ‘Thy world is cursed.’

Hmm. I always look sideways at some modern horror directors’ fondness for casting folks with physical differences and going  ‘look at the freaks!’. There are many reasons I don’t like Ari Aster movies and that element of Midsommar is a big part of why. Here it also lands as a bum note as we see villagers, all with various physical conditions, as Dafoe’s character explains how the world is cursed. Understandable in context, especially as it cuts to Johnson starting to turn, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel odd.

Werwulf is in Eggers’ increasingly traditional end of year/Christmas release slot. More as we get it. Eggers’ other movies are all available on streaming and disc. We’d especially recommend Nosferatu which is where he worked with Johnson for the first time.