‘Werwulf’ Synopsis: Robert Eggers Reinvents the Werewolf Legend

Following the release of the first official image, Focus Features has unveiled the first synopsis for Robert Eggers’ Werwulf, and it promises a stark departure from modern werewolf mythology.

The official logline reads: “Witness Robert Eggers’ most visceral and haunting experience yet. Focus Features presents Werwulf, a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation and the devil within.”

Eggers also opened up about the film in a recent conversation with Esquire, revealing that Werwulf will intentionally strip away many of the familiar tropes associated with werewolf cinema.

“The cool thing about going back into the past is that you can kind of hit a reset button,” Eggers explained. “So all the clichés of being bitten by a werewolf and silver bullets and a lot of the stuff that has become almost campy doesn’t exist in the mythology of this movie.”

He went on to clarify that audiences don’t need prior knowledge of classic werewolf films such as The Wolf Man or An American Werewolf in London to understand what’s unfolding in Werwulf.

Instead, Eggers is drawing inspiration from much older, more historical sources. The filmmaker pointed to medieval England and the near-eradication of wolves due to agricultural and wool trade protections as a key influence on the story’s setting and mythology.

“I learned that basically because of protections for the wool trade, there was a big effort to get rid of all the wolves in England. It was pretty successful,” Eggers said. “So the movie takes place around 1300, and that’s as late as it could be because once there were no wolves in England, there was no more werewolf lore in England.”

“That became interesting, that it was going to be set so medieval,” he added.

Set in 13th-century England, Werwulf follows a mysterious creature that stalks the land as folklore begins to manifest into something terrifyingly real.

The film is set to arrive in theaters on December 25 via Focus Features.

The cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, and Bodhi Rae Breathnach, reuniting several performers familiar to Eggers’ atmospheric style of filmmaking.