The Witch and The Lighthouse Director’s New Film Is “Dark and Unusually Violent”

Robert Eggers’ debut film, The Witch, landed on a number of lists of the best horror films of the year, a similar feat accomplished with his The Lighthouse last year, though the filmmaker’s cinematographer Jarin Blaschke has teased that his upcoming film, The Northman, will be “dark and unusually violent.” Given the macabre subject matters of his first two films, for the upcoming film to be described as “dark” teases quite the terrifying tale. Despite the intense subject matter of his earlier efforts, they held back on being overtly violent, though it sounds like The Northman is set to deviate from his typical filmmaking sensibilities.

“Rob says very little. It’s a bigger movie than the others,” Blaschke shared with Screen Daily. “I can say it’s a Viking revenge movie and we are shooting in Europe. I think he feels a responsibility to do a trilogy. It’s dark and unusually violent.”

The Witch told the tale of a family who was ostracized from their village for their religious beliefs, only to fall victim to a witch in the woods that bordered their new home. The Lighthouse told the tale of two sailors who were tasked with maintaining a lighthouse, with the pair eventually descending into madness.

Compared to many other horror contemporaries, Eggers’ films stand out for embracing a terrifying tone as opposed to spilling buckets of blood, though comments about this film being part of a trilogy confirm we can expect an unsettling mood and atmosphere, in addition to graphic violence.

Following the release of The Witch, Eggers was in talks to develop a remake of the 1922 silent film classic Nosferatu, which was set to star Witch actress Anya Taylor-Joy. Eggers previously explained in 2016 what he hoped to accomplish with his remake.

“If I were to make the movie 17-year-old Rob was going to make of Nosferatu it would have been something between like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Sin City, whereas this is going to be the same approach as The Witch, where 1830s Biedermeier Baltic Germany needs to be articulated in a way that seems real,” Eggers revealed to IndieWire. “

Eggers has had a deep connection with the film since he was a kid, as he added, “I saw a picture of Max Schreck as Count Orlok in a book in my elementary school and I lost my mind.”

Stay tuned for details on The Northman.

Do these comments have you excited for the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!