Nosferatu (2024, dir. Robert Eggers)

by | Jan 1, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 132 mins

UK Distributor: Universal Pictures

UK Release Date: 1 January 2025

WHO’S IN NOSFERATU?

Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Robert Eggers (director, writer, producer), Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, John Graham and Jeff Robinov (producers), Robin Carolan (composer), Jarin Blaschke (cinematographer), Louise Ford (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A vampire (Skarsgård) sets its sights on a haunted young woman (Depp)…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON NOSFERATU?

Once considered nothing more than a blatant rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the 1922 silent horror Nosferatu has not only endured throughout the 100 years since its debut, but has single-handedly influenced the horror genre at large, as well as a number of aspiring filmmakers within the horror realm. Robert Eggers is one such devout follower, to where the writer-director at one point even crafted his own stage production based on the original film, and since then has further grown his reputation as one of today’s most exciting auteur filmmakers, thanks to films like The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman which all, in their own way, pay their respects to the eerie and unsettling nature of that German Expressionist classic.

Having comfortably reached the height of his own filmmaking power, Eggers now pays the ultimate homage by putting every little bit of himself into his own take on the material, a passion project – emphasis on “passion” – that feels like Eggers’ whole life has been leading to this moment, and it shows in a breathtaking rendition that is beautiful, ambitious, and undeniably scary in all the ways you’d expect Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu to be.

Set in 19th century Germany, the film begins as young real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult), recently married to troubled young woman Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), is sent by his superior Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) to the provincial Eastern European country of Transylvania, where the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) insists the final paperwork be completed. for his new residency at a rundown German manor. Orlok, of course, turns out to not only be a cold, blood-sucking vampire, with Knock as his deranged, pigeon-chewing familiar, but also has a fierce obsession with none other than Ellen, following an eerie tryst some years prior (which fills the film’s haunting prologue). Along with his friend Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Swiss paranormal expert Von Franz (Willem Dafoe), Thomas and Ellen must try and eliminate the deadly creature, as well as the rat-infested plague that he’s also brought over in his sarcophagus.

As someone not very well versed in all things Nosferatu, having watched neither the original silent film nor the Werner Herzog-directed version from 1979, I found Eggers’ film to be something that a lot of vampire movies haven’t been in some time: genuinely, bone-chillingly scary. The director has a fascinating way of creating atmosphere so tense that things which might not seem frightening in concept are made ten times so in execution, with little things from simple lighting tricks to certain performance choices to the framing of shots all amplifying the dour mood in which he sets his stories in, almost like a gothic Wes Anderson in places.

Here, Eggers puts that to powerful use as he and his team of highly skilled creatives – including cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, whose stunning visuals may well rank among the year’s most impressive – expertly convey through sheer ambience the pure terror of being within the physical and psychological grasp of this intimidating vampire. Orlok is a particularly menacing threat in this version, as the character has such a commanding presence that you can feel he is always in the frame, even in scenes where he’s nowhere to be found. Bill Skarsgård’s truly transformative performance, in terms of both his vocal delivery and the impressive make-up used to turn him into this creature, certainly makes him a force to fear, in a way that all the best movie monsters are.

However, the beauty of Nosferatu is that the horror factor does not entirely rest with this character. In addition to nailing the unnerving gothic atmosphere that such a story demands, Eggers has a truly unique way of bringing out the crazy among his actors, which might from a distance seem over-the-top and ridiculous, but they oddly fit the melodramatic tone that the filmmaker is going for. Lily-Rose Depp, in particular, understands the assignment perfectly with an impressively unhinged physical and emotional turn that goes hand in hand with the likes of Isabelle Adjani in Possession. Every actor in this film, from Depp to Skarsgård to an ever-reliable Willem Dafoe (who, in something of a full-circle moment, takes on a role here twenty years after playing original Orlok actor Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire), does their part to convey the absolute ferocity of the narrative, wherein people you think would be safe in these kinds of movies are often among the first to fall victim to the worst fate imaginable.

If there is one thing preventing Nosferatu from being at the very top of Eggers’ work, it’s that the film is perhaps a bit more conventional in its dialogue. One of my personal favourite things about this filmmaker is how he incorporates era-appropriate language into people’s conversations, something that is all over both The Witch and The Lighthouse (The Northman to a much lesser extent, but one could argue that, since that film was very loosely based on the Nordic legend that went on to inspire Hamlet, it closer resembles Shakespearian dialogue than anything else). Here, the dialogue is fairly straightforward and occasionally eccentric in its vocabulary, but more along the lines of something you would find in a regular big-budget production, rather than the outlandish elevated material that Eggers has become synonymous with.

A mild criticism, though, for a film that displays all the passion and ferocity one could ever hope for from a Robert Eggers take on Nosferatu. His is a vampire film with not just bite, but full-on jaw action as it lays into the very best aspects of the classic monster.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Nosferatu is a strikingly beautiful and exceptionally scary vampire horror from writer-director Robert Eggers, who delivers a visceral and unapologetically gothic rendition of the original silent classic, with plenty of unhinged performances adding to the terrifying atmosphere.

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