Nosferatu: Release date, cast and trailer for Robert Eggers remake

The new adaptation stars IT's Bill Skarsgård as the titular vampire, aka Count Orlok, and Lily-Rose Depp as the object of his twisted affections, Ellen Hutter, and it's already generating Oscar buzz as early reviews for the film have been very positive – with our own four-star verdict calling it "a thing of beauty".

Read on for everything you need to know about when Nosferatu releases in UK cinemas, as well as more information about the plot and cast.

Nosferatu UK release date

The film will be arriving in UK cinemas on Wednesday 1st January 2025 – so a real New Year's treat for fans!

That's one week after its release in the US, where it debuted on Christmas Day.

Nosferatu plot

The plot will be very familiar to anyone who has ever read or watched Dracula in any of its many forms – following events after an estate agent is sent to visit a fearsome client in Transylvania, which sets off a terrifying sequence of events.

The official synopsis provided by Focus Features reads: "Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in his wake."

This version puts more focus on Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) than previous versions, while one of the most significant changes Eggers has made is making Count Orlok – the vampire at the centre of the story – into a more traditional folk vampire than we've seen in other big-screen adaptations.

"As the cinematic vampire has evolved, he's become more and more and more sympathetic," the director explained during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com.

"You know, first sort of sad and isolated, and then an anti-hero, and finally, climaxing with like Edward Cullen kind of stuff where he's not threatening. And so, how do you make a vampire scary again? And I said, well, I guess I'm gonna have to find out what vampires were like when people actually believed that they were real.

"That led me to be researching folk vampires, which is what Orlok is based on my version."

Nosferatu cast

Nosferatu can count on a star-studded cast to bring this age-old story to life, with Bill Skarsgård taking on the lead role of Count Orlok and Lily-Rose Depp excelling in the part of Ellen Hutter.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Hoult is Thomas Hutter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin play his friends Friedrich and Anna Harding and Simon McBurney stars as Herr Knock – Hutter's boss who is secretly working for Orlok.

There are also key roles for a couple of Robert Eggers regulars in the shape of Ralph Ineson as Dr Wilhelm Siever and Willem Dafoe as Prof Albin Eberhart Von Franz.

Interestingly, the latter previously had a key role in the 2000 film Shadow of a Vampire – which told the behind-the-scenes story of the original 1922 Nosferatu.

Nosferatu trailer

If you're still unsure of whether to watch the film, you can get a very good idea of what to expect in terms of tone and atmosphere by watching the below trailer.

Nosferatu is released in UK cinemas on New Year's Day 2025.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.