‘Nosferatu’ Review

The story of ‘Nosferatu’ was first told in 1922, when F.W. Murnau, the celebrated German Expressionist director, brought this vampiric tale to the screen. The result was a landmark in horror cinema, capturing the fear and anxiety of a nation still reeling from the economic and moral devastation of World War I along with all too recent memories of a deadly influenza pandemic. With this historical context, it feels fitting that one of today’s active horror masters, Robert Eggers, felt compelled to tell the story anew for a culture and generation that finds itself echoing the pains of that earlier time. Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’ is a beautiful and terrifying update, bold and confident in both form and content.

As in the original film, ‘Nosferatu’ tells the story of Thomas and Ellen Hutter (Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp respectively), a young newlywed couple trying to establish their place in 1830s Germany. To guarantee their financial security, Thomas accepts a job to travel to Transylvania and convince the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) to sign a deed for an estate in his own hometown of Wisborg. After he arrives at this foreboding castle, Thomas soon becomes convinced that Count Orlok is a vampire with specific interest in his wife Ellen, who will bring death and suffering anywhere he goes.

Eggers’ efforts at modernizing the story begins with the opening sequence, in which a younger Ellen whispers into the night for a divine meeting, only to be met and attacked by Count Orlok. She is the anchor of the story, even as we follow Thomas on his journey to Transylvania, we are never far from Ellen and her supernatural affliction. In this role, Depp is committed to the physicality of her performance, contorting herself through all manner of trances.

Also coming as no surprise, the 2024 edition of ‘Nosferatu’ heightens the sexuality, making text out of subtext as to how intimate and invasive a vampire is to its victims. Sexuality has long been present in vampire movies: in the ‘Twilight’ franchise, of course, but movies as diverse as ‘Interview with a Vampire’ and ‘Blade’ emphasize vampires as masters of seduction, how sexy the life of a vampire can be. But Count Orlok is no Brad Pitt. Eggers eschews the eroticism of that kind of vampire film, making the sexuality more akin to sexual abuse, the vampire violating another body without consent or care, only seeking to satisfy its own base desires.

This is Robert Eggers’ fourth film, and perhaps his most formally impressive, with immersive production design, disorienting sound design, and evocative use of shadows. While it shares a genre with both ‘The Witch’ and ‘The Lighthouse’, it shares more of its structural DNA with ‘The Northman’, which was itself an updated version of a classic story, in that case ‘Hamlet’. Eggers has a classical style, even as he wields a sharp modern edge, framing his shots with purpose and allowing them to linger, building dread with expert care. This world, and all the characters in it, live in the shadow of Count Orlok and this is beautifully reflected by Jarin Blaschke’s cinematography. Much of this movie may as well be in black and white, it is so devoid of warmth, and this allows the moments of color to pop ever more dramatically.

The highlight of the film is the extended sequence in which Thomas travels to Count Orlok’s castle, as he meets with the local peasantry, witnesses either a vivid dream or a ritual sacrifice, and finally meets with Orlok to discuss the deed. This is all presented as a macabre dream: sometimes Thomas walks, sometimes he floats. An unmanned carriage approaches him in the dark woods, and he feels the pull of Orlok even while logically what’s happening doesn’t make sense to him. Then his first meeting with Orlok is a disorienting shadow play performed in a long take that challenges the viewer’s orientation: Orlok will walk off camera right, but then the camera pans and he’s on the left, only to again move against the camera and viewer’s intuition. This off balance feeling, that something is wrong, is a difficult tone to pull off but here Eggers delivers with aplomb.

Nicholas Hoult is the standout performance in the film, with his delicate features expressing so much feeling without needing the dialogue: eagerness and love, concern and terror, all communicated with his facial reactions. Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok uses many of the same tricks from his portrayal of Pennywise the Clown in ‘It’, delivering menace as a rotting, prosthetic laden monster. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin are a nice addition as a wealthy couple who look after Ellen while Thomas is away, worrying and dealing with her nightly episodes as they worsen with Count Orlok’s approach. Just as the film threatens to lose its energy, with our characters all resigned to the gloom of this world, Willem Dafoe appears as a disgraced scientist who has committed himself to studying the occult. Here is the first character who accepts the existence of the Nosferatu without hesitation, showing both fear and excitement, and Dafoe relishes in this character’s intelligence and showmanship.

Once Count Orlok arrives in Wisborg, bringing an unnamed plague with him, the film loses some of the magical edge of its first half even as the horror accelerates. Despite this, the scares and deaths are still visceral, as we watch a city, ravaged by disease, falling prey to an unseen monster’s darkness. And that is an important distinction here, that despite being a polished, period piece update on classic vampire tropes, ‘Nosferatu’ is legitimately scary. As the camera wanders through dark hallways, as candlelight and lightning expose and hide evil in equal measure, we have no choice but to sit and wait patiently, knowing a scare is coming, not sure of how or when, but unable to look away from the horror.

Nosferatu
Rated R for bloody violent content, graphic nudity and some sexual content.
Running Time: 2 hours and 12 minutes

Director Robert Eggers
Writers Robert Eggers
Stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe
Rating R
Running Time 132 Minutes
Genres Fantasy, Horror, Mystery