“Nosferatu” Review
Lily Rose-Depp leads an outstanding ensemble cast in the gothic horror film “Nosferatu”, a remake of the silent horror classic.
For many people in my generation, the 1922 F.W. Murnau silent horror film “Nosferatu” and the animated children’s series “Spongebob Squarepants” are irreversibly linked. In one of the show’s best episodes, “Graveyard Shift”, a reference is made to the film, complete with a photo of actor Max Shreck in that terrifying make-up, in a fine display of how random the show’s humor could be. Being a curious child, I discovered “Nosferatu” on YouTube not long after seeing that episode of “Spongebob” and my eight-year-old mind was blown. While it might seem odd to imagine a little kid willingly watching a silent film, that just shows how powerful the film is and how scary it remains. I was no stranger to horror cinema from this time period, being an avid fan of the Universal Monsters films from the 1930s, but “Nosferatu” had this gothic chill to it which made watching it superbly scary.
While the film has been reimagined multiple times, most notably Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu the Vampyre” and the fictionalized biopic “Shadow of the Vampire” (where they reveal that Max Shreck, played by Willem Dafoe, was actually a vampire), it has taken over 100 years for a full-fledged remake to come about with famed filmmaker Robert Eggers at the helm. Having already established himself with “The Witch”, “The Lighthouse” and “The Northman”, Eggers has more than risen to the challenge of bringing this gothic story to the 21st Century. By immersing the audience in 19th Century gothic dread, “Nosferatu” serves not only as a phenomenal closer to 2024’s cinematic season but also cements Eggers as one of the great filmmakers of this era.
A remake of the 1922 film that served as an unsanctioned adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula” (the filmmakers changed the names and certain details to avoid a copyright lawsuit which didn’t work but none of this matters since both works are now in the public domain), an ambitious real estate agent named Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is sent from his home in Wisborg, Germany to Transylvania to broker the purchase of a house by the reclusive Count Orlock (Bill Skarsgård). However, Thomas discovers that Orlock is a vampire who wishes to travel to Wisborg to consume life, spread the disease of the plague and to fulfill his obsession with Thomas’s wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp). As the dark shadow of this loathsome creature descends, the Hutters and Professor Albin Everhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe), a doctor specializing in the occult, must find a way to extinguish this evil forever.
While the idea of making “Nosferatu” immediately had my support, I wanted the film to be much more than just the same story with sound and better effects. Thankfully, Eggers had that same desire because his script is loaded with multitudes of depth and much of that centers on the character of Ellen who is expertly played by Lily-Rose Depp. In the original film, this character is compellingly played by Greta Schröder but does not have nearly the agency that Depp brings to her performance. In the original, the argument could be made that both Hutters are the central characters of the film but, with the remake, Ellen is undoubtedly the strongest source of intrigue. The psychological connection that exists between her and Count Orlock (something that was also present in Murnau’s original film) is further explored and the overall execution delivers something truly frightening. From her physicality to her careful balance of logic and madness, Depp has all of the macabre complexity that would make Mary Shelly rise from the grave in adoration.
One element of “Nosferatu’s” marketing campaign that I adored, and that more films should take note from, is how Count Orlock is never shown with the exception of a few silhouette shots that make it difficult to see any facial features. It built up so much curiosity and that isn’t just limited to the advertising. When Count Orlock does enter the picture, he’s either obscured in shadow or in tight close-ups of his eyes. It certainly helps build an uncomfortable atmosphere and, when Orlock is revealed about an hour into the film, leads to a terrifying payoff. Skarsgård disappears into this role and his thick, deep voice, along with an overall chilling presence, makes Count Orlock an even better character than Skarsgård’s iconic portrayal of Pennywise in “It”.
Filmed on impeccably crafted sets in Prague, along with real-life castles in the Czech Republic and Romania, Robert Eggers has assembled a massive crew of talented artists to create an immersive world of true gothic power. Everything about this production feels authentic to the time period with the whole experience feeling like being sucked into 1838 Germany. Unlike the original, which had to shoot all of its night scenes during the day and then apply a blue filter over the film, Eggers is able to achieve beautiful scenes set in the evening with the dazzling work of cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, who Eggers has collaborated with on all of his films. During these night scenes, the moonlight created for the film makes everything look like it was shot in black-and-white, almost resembling the tactics Blaschke employed in his Oscar-nominated work in “The Lighthouse”. If Blaschke fails to garner a nomination at this year’s Academy Awards, it might be the final straw in the Academy’s bias against horror films that might make me want to burn everything to the ground.
“Nosferatu” feels like Robert Eggers paying homage in small ways to almost every kind of vampire film that has come before while also going back to the folkloric roots of the creature to propel the genre forward. After all, people used to see vampires on the screen to be frightened but they’ve become something of a joke in recent years whether it’s intentional, like “What We Do In The Shadows”, or not, like the “Twilight” series. There is no joking around with “Nosferatu” and that’s what makes it a superb film full of dignity and mystique.
Last year, I saw another film based on the “Dracula” story called “The Last Voyage of The Demeter” which was, overall, a fine film that had an intriguing concept of an isolated horror film with a nocturnal monster. I feel that “Nosferatu” perfects what “The Last Voyage of The Demeter” was trying to do in making a terrifying vampire film that embraces the classic gothic aesthetic of the source material. As much as I enjoy slashers and films that embrace jump-scares and tight thrills, I find myself much more interested in the horror films that craft an atmosphere of dread and keep you in that uneasy state as you descend more and more into darkness. “Nosferatu” achieves just that and, as such, has immediately won a fan in me as well as proving why remakes can really work. In fact, sometimes they’re downright necessary.
