Published Sep 25, 2026, 11:40 AM EDT
Shrishty is a decade-old journalist covering a variety of beats between politics to pop culture, but movies are her first love, which led her to study Film and TV Development at UCLAx. She lives and breathes cinema and sometimes wakes up with the close-up shot of Ryan Gosling’s hands playing piano in La La Land, in her head.
She has worked with numerous media outlets, including Burda Media (MSN News), DKODING Media, The Voice of Fashion, Hindustan Times, and more. Throughout her career, she has interviewed an array of people, from CEOs and politicians to filmmakers and farmers.
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Fans are always eager to succumb to darkness when it’s a Robert Eggers movie. The fan-favorite director is known and loved for delivering incredible period pieces with his frequent on-screen collaborators, which often feature a lot of blood and an emotional core. He always manages to transport his audience to a world that embodies fear and all things horror. From The Witch to Nosferatu, each story benefits from his eerie and atmospheric point of view.
Among such stories is The Northman, a dark Viking Vengeance saga based on an Old Norse folktale, Vita Amlethi. Passed down through word of mouth, the tale was officially recorded circa the year 1200 as part of Saxo Grammaticus’ extensive history of Danish rulers and their history. It serves as the inspiration for the Alexander Skarsgård-led feature. Co-written by Eggers with frequent collaborator Sjón, *The Northman *follows Amleth, a Viking prince, whose father is killed by his power-hungry uncle Fjolnir. With his father dead and his mother captured by his uncle, he flees his home. Two decades later, still running from his past, he grows up to be a berserker Viking warrior who raids Slavic villages. In the course of his life, he meets a seeress who reminds him of his vow to avenge his father, save his mother, and kill Fjolnir. However, the task seems to be more difficult than he had assumed.
The audience related to the themes of the futility of the cycle of revenge. It further leans heavily into authentic Norse mythology, elaborating on fate and spirituality along with a depiction of nihilistic brutality. Loved by critics and audiences, the movie, however, was deemed a box office disappointment, earning $75.8 million worldwide, but in time it has gained cult status among fans. The movie features an ensemble cast including Skarsgård as Amleth, along with Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga of the Birch Forest, **Nicole Kidman **plays Queen Gudrun, and Ethan Hawke plays King Aurvandill War-Raven. Willem Dafoe plays Heimir the Fool, and Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk is the seeress.
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
Fans’ love is now catapulting the movie to new heights. Four years after its initial debut, The Northman is in third spot on Paramount’s global top 10 list, as per FlixPatrol. It’s standing behind Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender in a list also including titles like World War Z, Night Hunter, Scream 7, and more.
Check out *The Northman *on Paramount+ and stay tuned to Collider for more such updates.
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Sjón, Robert Eggers
Alexander Skarsgard, Arnon Milchan, Mark Huffam, Lars Knudsen, Leifur B. Dagfinnsson