Director Robert Eggers’ adaptation of “Nosferatu” has been an anticipated movie for fans of the classical gothic monsters. A revered gothic story meeting the minds behind modern horror classics “The Lighthouse” and “The Witch” is a formula designed for making money off the loyal vampire fandom. Needless to say, it sucked my wallet dry.
“Nosferatu” (2024) follows a young married woman, Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp), living in 19th century Germany while being haunted by visions of a savage vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), who leeches on the fictional city of Wisborg until he has her. Ellen must join forces with her husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), occultist Albin Eberhart von Franz (Willem DaFoe) and their colleagues Friedrich (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Anna Harding (Emma Corrin) in an effort to combat this evil.
The barbaric Count Orlok is the most dangerous he’s ever been. The list of actors who have played the character is extensive, and Bill Skarsgård was a novel choice to join the House of Dracula. His take on the character is booming and raspy, with the infamously ratlike Orlok appearing more like a wounded bear in need of a meal. His face is hardly ever shown until the ending scenes, but his cold shadow and crisp dialect is felt for the entire runtime.
Speaking of shadows, this movie has the best lighting out of any Dracula adaptation, even outdoing the colorful 1992 adaptation “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” Oftentimes, visuals in blockbuster films shaft lighting design in favor of expensive visual effects. Take “Wicked” for example, with its inspired Broadway background being replaced with atrocious lens flares. One of the oldest and most essential film techniques is 9 times out of 10 left on the cutting room floor.
Eggers is known for his trademark gloomy natural lighting. You could never tell that these fireplaces and shadows were enhanced in post production. The shot of Orlok’s claws extending over the sleeping Wisborg, and the earlier black carriage doors beckoning Thomas to climb aboard are my favorite shots of the entire year. The expert use of lighting makes the movie as dark and eerie as its tense and unforgiving tone.
If you’re expecting “Nosferatu” to feel like its oftentimes campy predecessors, think again. It is easily the most tense and downright terrifying the story has ever felt; every scene between Thomas Hutter and Orlok is filled with adrenaline and suspense. You know exactly how cornered this defenseless lawyer is compared to the might of his gothic dictator.
The script loses its footing and meanders too long, with far too many scenes that feel disconnected from the main conflict. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin are enjoyable supporting characters, but their later scenes (with one notable exception) only work to deflate the movie’s rising action in tired and predictable ways.
By far the biggest issue with the movie is the story’s treatment of Ellen Hutter. Depp gives a committed and desperate performance, but her scenes prioritize other characters’ reactions to her worsening condition, not her own. While the voyeuristic nature of the camera serves as a reflection of Orlok looking in on her, it works against the ability to identify with Ellen’s personal emotions.
Given that the fate of the movie rides on her shoulders, it could have helped to know more about her internal struggle to make that choice. A scene or two of Ellen realizing how much people have suffered because of Orlok’s pursuit of her could have allowed the story to identify more with its main character, who feels disconnected from her own movie.
Even considering my personal issues with it, I believe that “Nosferatu” (2024) will serve as a great reference point to what future adaptations of classic horror movies could look like. “Dracula” (1931) kicked off the Universal Studios monster movie craze, and “Nosferatu” (1922) is often considered the very first horror movie in cinematic history. I’ll wait with bated breath to see what this remake might have inspired to bring us down the line.
Thankfully, it’s a great piece of modern movie history to suckle on in the meantime.
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