From The Witch to The Northman: All 4 Robert Eggers Movies, Ranked by RT Score
Each of his works is a true horror gem.
At the end of 2024, Nosferatu was released, a remake of the cult 1922 horror film and a new work by Robert Eggers, one of the most interesting directors of our time.
We decided to review the entire filmography of this extraordinary auteur: from his debut gothic fairy tale The Witch to the vampire epic starring Bill Skarsgård and Willem Dafoe.
4. Nosferatu, 2024
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
1838, real estate agent Thomas is sent to Bohemia to make a deal with Count Orlok to sell his old castle. Upon arriving at the castle, Thomas discovers that the count is an old vampire.
He wants to find Ellen, the real estate agent's wife, because she once swore allegiance to the vampire. At the same time, the woman begins to experience terrifying visions, and her case becomes of interest to Dr. Von Franz, an expert in the occult.
Eggers' love of German Expressionist cinema has always been obvious, so it comes as no surprise that his dream project is a remake of one of the movement's most important films.
Eggers approached the remake with great trepidation: he carefully reproduced the gothic atmosphere of the original, his characters walk in authentic costumes through the halls of real European castles.
3. The Northman, 2022
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
10th century. The life of the young Scandinavian prince Amleth is shattered when his uncle Fjölnir betrays and kills his father, King Aurvandill. Amleth manages to escape, but vows to return to avenge his father, rescue his captive mother, and restore justice.
Years later, he works as a mercenary. Suddenly, Amleth learns that Fjölnir is hiding in Iceland. Posing as a slave, he goes there to fulfill his oath. On the ship he meets the Slavic sorceress Olga, who decides to help the man.
The appearance of The Northman can only be explained by great luck. It is a 100-million-dollar historical epic with large-scale battle scenes that makes no attempt to look like a commercially attractive film.
Without betraying himself, Eggers makes an archaic movie in which people speak the language of half-forgotten legends and the camera lingers for long stretches on remote rocky landscapes.
2. The Lighthouse, 2019
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Late 19th century. Two lighthouse keepers, Ephraim and Thomas, find themselves isolated on a remote island due to a raging storm. Now they must keep the lighthouse working until the storm passes and other workers come to replace them.
But time drags on endlessly, and eventually the men begin to lose their minds: reality mixes with fantasy, grievances rise to the surface, and bloodshed is only a matter of time.
The Lighthouse is a hypnotic movie in which Eggers refuses a straightforward narrative. There is no story as such, only a detailed portrait of two people slowly going mad as they begin to manifest their darkest desires and enter into a kind of power struggle.
1. The Witch, 2015
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Driven from their home village, a family of six tries to start a new life on a remote farm. All they see is a dark, dense forest. A few months later, the family has another child, but soon it disappears without a trace.
This is the beginning of a series of strange and terrifying events. While the eldest daughter, Thomasin, tries to find the missing child, her brother begins to see a creepy witch in the forest.
In the first film, Eggers already outlined the main features of his directorial vision. He recreates the 17th-century New England setting in great detail, using archaic language and muted colors to immerse the viewer in an eerie world.
Eggers is not in a hurry to scare with gruesome images, and throughout the movie he skillfully plays with the viewer's doubts – is there a real witch, or is she just the fruit of religious fanatics' paranoia?
It was The Witch, along with The Babadook, that launched the wave of elevated horror – much more terrifying than talking goats and bloodthirsty witches are the deeply hidden demons of a Puritan family.