Upcoming horror movie Nosferatu debuted a trailer behind closed doors, and apparently Bill Skarsgård's vampire is absolutely chilling

nosferatu
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

The highly anticipated Nosferatu remake has had its first trailer unveiled behind closed doors at CinemaCon, and it sounds as though it’s just as terrifying as the original. 

The trailer for The Witch’s Robert Eggers’ take on the classic vampire tale was revealed at CinemaCon. As reported by Variety, the trailer opens with Lily-Rose Depp’s character seemingly praying by candlelight, saying: "Come to me, come to me, hear my call," before a hand reaches out to grab her neck. Apparently, the camera then sweeps away to show more of the setting including wintery villages, dilapidated castles, and rats scurrying across cobblestones. In true Nosferatu fashion, shadows are cast over every part of the trailer, and at one point there is a first glimpse at IT’s Bill Skarsgård as the vampire, hunched over with razor-sharp fangs. 

From the description alone, the trailer for Nosferatu sounds like something straight from the pages of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Variety’s Bret Lang writes: "The movie evokes the best of classic horror - it’s moody, unsettling and also eerily beautiful. But it’s not just artful. There’s also blood gushing from necks (it’s a vampire movie, after all) and gangs of stake-wielding villagers hoping to use folklore to battle these unseen forces."

The upcoming flick is a reimagining of the 1922 silent German Expressionist horror of the same name directed by F. W. Murnau, which is based on Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. The classic sees the vampire Count Orlok prey on the wife of his estate agent and in doing so brings a bloody plague to their town. It sounds as though the 2024 movie will follow the same premise according to the synopsis from Focus Features, the remake is "a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake."

In addition to Depp as Ellen Hutter and Skarsgård as Count Orlok, the film also stars Renfield’s Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter, Poor Things’ Willem Dafoe, who previously worked with Eggers on The Lighthouse and The Northman, as well as Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin.

Nosferatu will be released on December 25, 2024, in the US and on January 1, 2025, in the UK. For more, see our list of the best vampire movies, or keep up to date with upcoming horror movies and upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond. 

Editorial Associate, GamesRadar+

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for SFX and Total Film online. I have a Bachelors Degree in Media Production and Journalism and a Masters in Fashion Journalism from UAL. In the past I have written for local UK and US newspaper outlets such as the Portland Tribune and York Mix and worked in communications, before focusing on film and entertainment writing. I am a HUGE horror fan and in 2022 I created my very own single issue feminist horror magazine.