Movie Review
New horror film Nosferatu pays homage to the cult-classic original
Lily Rose Depp in Nosferatu
The original Nosferatu from 1922 is one loved by cinephiles, a silent German Expressionist film that is regarded by many as the most influential horror film from early cinema. A loose adaptation of Bram Stroker’s Dracula, it is now being remade for a modern audience by a singular filmmaker in his own right, Robert Eggers.
This Nosferatu plays much like an homage to the original, following the same basic story centered on Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult). The firm Thomas works for is selling a decrepit mansion to Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), but in order to seal the deal, Thomas must travel to Transylvania to have Orlok sign the papers in person.
Both Ellen and Thomas fall under a type of spell from Orlok, with Ellen having a secret history with the count that she never divulged to Thomas. Insatiable, Orlok pursues Thomas, Ellen, and more across Europe, with his influence causing a mania among a population already afraid of the Black Death.
Written and directed by Eggers, the film is both straightforward in its storytelling and enigmatic in its details. To underscore Orlok’s sorcery, there are a number of sequences that may or may not actually be taking place, with characters waking up as if out of a nightmare. The spooky mood is felt throughout the film through visuals and sound, an unease that’s never all that scary but is unsettling nonetheless.
Eggers seems determined to pay tribute to F.W. Murnau’s film while also putting his own touches on the story. A couple of scenes utilizing shadows are mesmerizing in their execution and in the way they call back to similar scenes in the 1922 version. While most vampire movies have victims being bitten on the neck, Eggers has his characters attacked on the chest, a weird placement that seems designed both to upend expectations and to make things extra creepy.
It’s a good thing Eggers does a great job with the atmosphere of the film because he allows his actors to indulge in melodramatic acting that threatens to take away any power the story has. Given the time period in which the film takes place and the events it features, the technique is somewhat effective, but never fully involving, and could even be considered laughable by some.
Depp is the biggest offender in this regard, and her performance is so over-the-top that it is a slight hindrance to the central role of Ellen. As the villain, Skarsgård can be given more leeway, and he makes the biggest impact with just his choice of voice. Hoult, appearing in his fourth film in 2024, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson give similar solid performances, and Willem Dafoe is typically great as a professor hired to try to end Orlok’s reign of terror.
While there is some blood and gore in the film, this Nosferatu resembles the original most in the way it insinuates horror instead of actually showing it. Eggers — whose previous two films were The Lighthouse and The Northman — loves himself a good period story, and his respect for film history and unique style both shine through here.
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Nosferatu is now playing in theaters,
