Robert Eggers explains his love of the supernatural
He may only be four features into his directorial career, but Robert Eggers has already established several recurring stylistic and thematic motifs. These elements have, and no doubt will continue to define his work for years to come.
Whether it’s the folk horror of The Witch, the psychological nightmares of The Lighthouse, the brutal history of The Northman, or the vampiric trappings of his Nosferatu remake, the quartet ticks several of the same boxes. All of these have been embedded into Eggers’ DNA for as long as he can remember.
The filmmaker’s output is inextricably linked to folklore and mythology of the places and time periods in which the stories are set. These are combined with a staunch devotion to historical accuracy and authenticity that makes them feel grounded and real but belonging to a world that exists just slightly beyond the truest definition of reality.
That’s been apparent ever since he burst onto the scene with The Witch in 2015. During a conversation with Criterion, he explained his attention-grabbing debut was indebted to not only the surroundings he grew up in but also the associated stories of otherworldly and supernatural goings-on baked into the fabric of the landscape.
“I grew up in New England and have always been obsessed with witches; the earliest dreams of mine that I can remember are about witches,” he said. “So I thought that I could make an archetypal New England horror story, and that would be something that could be very personal for me and effective. If I’d made my first film when I was seven, it would have been a period piece, you know? So it’s always been a part of me.”
Further expanding on how The Witch came to be, Eggers would reveal several traits that made their way into The Lighthouse and The Northman before he’d even made them. “One of the things I like about classic fairy tales is the same thing I like about myths: they explore complex family dynamics,” he continued. “The family drama is the most interesting drama; that’s why Hamlet and King Lear are generally the most lauded Shakespeare plays.”
He’s never been one to show his full hand, though, with Eggers always leaving the door open for his work to be interpreted in multiple different ways. Again, that’s hardly a coincidence, with the filmmaker sharing how in cinema, “the audience needs to finish the work,” which he called “particularly true with things that are dealing with the supernatural or the sublime or horror or the unknown”.
It would be reasonable to expect Nosferatu to continue on in that vein, and not just because it’s a new take on one of the most influential horror movies ever made. It’s a daunting task to mount a new version, but it feels as though Eggers’ entire career has been gradually building towards it.
