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Film: Nosferatu
Year: 2024
Director: Robert Eggers
Writer: Robert Eggers
Starring: Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult and Bill Skarsgård
Review:
This was a film that I was intrigued by when I learned that it was being made. There were rumors for years of people being attached to doing a remake of this 1920s classic. For those that don’t know, that was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula. The names and location were just changed. There was also a variation on this back from the late 1970s and a fictionalized take of what went into the making of the original with Shadow of the Vampire. I’m also a fan of Robert Eggers so I was curious what he’d do with this tale.
Synopsis: a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
We start this by getting images. What we will learn is that the woman who is experiencing them is Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp). These were from when she was younger and the nightmares have started again. This seems like she also has second sight. She pleads with her new husband, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) not to go on this trip for work. She fears that he won’t return. He is in line for a promotion so he must.
There is something not right going on with this though. Knock (Simon McBurney), who is Thomas’ boss, picks this young man for the job. He says that it is due to him getting married. He needs a promotion with more money, which does sway him. Thomas heads to Transylvania to sign the deed for a new home here in Germany with Count Orlok.
While he is away, Ellen seems to sink into a variation of hysteria. At night she goes into fits to the point where Thomas’ best friend, Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and his wife Anna (Emma Corrin), take her in to care for her. Dr. Wilhelm Sievers (Ralph Ineson) is called in to see if he can figure out what ails her. He is baffled so he reaches out to a strange colleague, Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz (Willem Dafoe). What he thinks is happening involves the supernatural.
Thomas has odd experiences himself. First, he meets a group of Romani who are staying outside of an inn. The owner wants them to leave. Thomas hears strange things that night and follows them into the woods as they stake a man in a grave. Thomas wakes up in his bed, not knowing if the experience was real. He discovers his boots are covered in mud.
It is after that night that he goes up to the nearby castle. He doesn’t arrive until late into the night. This annoys Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). Thomas is uneasy and wants to leave. His host refuses and he’s not someone you want to cross. The count is also intrigued by the locket he takes from Thomas, leaving him locked in his castle as he leaves for Germany. Thomas must escape before it is too late. This city in Germany also has a darkness that approaches.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start then is that visually this is a stunning movie. I did come to expect that just knowing that Eggers loves making period films and having them look as authentic as possible. There is a Victorian feel even though this is in Germany. I also like the fact that the buildings, especially the apartment that Ellen and Thomas share, looks straight from the original version of this film. That is something else that I appreciate. There are also story elements that are similar while still doing its own thing. My take is normally, if you’re going to remake a story, then do it. Credit there as well to Eggers.
Not that I’ve set that up, let me delve more into the story here. I’ve already said that this is a variation on the story of Dracula. We have a solicitor going to the old country, getting the count to sign the deed and then that darkness coming to a modern city. What sets the original Nosferatu apart for me is that instead of leaning into the love story that is inherently in the film versions of Dracula, there is also this idea of pestilence coming. Most specifically, that classic uses the plague with rats. That is also here and I love using that idea. It is a different take than we get today, for the most part, with vampirism. It is usually an addiction, not looking at this as a virus that spreads throughout, killing all those that meet it. I’m glad that it is here, especially since what caused the bubonic plague wasn’t known until modern science looked back on it. Rats were carriers. There’s a good touch here where Friedrich gets mad at Prof. Albin for not helping more. That feels like modern medicine vs. pagan folklore that I can appreciate.
Now there are elements of that love story still used here as well. Ellen tells Thomas before he leaves about this recurring nightmare that she’s had since she was little. It involves her marrying death, then looking at the guests to see they’ve all succumbed and it smells bad. This is a great foreshadowing of what is coming. It also shows that Count Orlok, even though that’s not what she knows him as, has been searching for her and the prophecy is being realized. This is an element that Eggers love using, in different forms. I do like that Ellen loves Thomas. She knows though if he doesn’t stay here, she is inevitably going to end up with ‘death’. There is an intriguing commentary here on capitalism and not listening to those around you. It is easy to say to not go on this trip as I’m watching it as a horror film. If I was in this world, I’d be Friedrich encouraging him to go due to the reward of this trip.
Let me then shift from the story to discuss the best part of this and that falls under filmmaking. This is gorgeous. Again though, I expect that from Eggers. The cinematography not only captures the world it is set in. It also is visually stunning. There are so many scenes that I could pause and print to put up on my wall as art. I can’t give enough credit there. The framing is also solid. The effects here I’d say are mostly practically done. There is probably CGI used, but without a second watch I cannot confirm completely. I like the look of Count Orlok, except for the fact that he has a mustache. I saw someone say he looks like Jim Carrey from the Sonic the Hedgehog movies and that is spot on. I did see that he was probably using more of what Vlad the Impaler inspired Dracula. Looking just a bit more rat-like would work better for me. There are just great visuals with what actors did with their bodies and the blood as well. Other than that, the soundtrack fit what was needed. The sound design adds to the atmosphere as well.
All that is left then is acting performances. Depp was great here. It is interesting that Jaime, my wife, and I are running through her father’s filmography. I’ve not seen her in a lot of things. I thought she was one of the best performers. What she can do with her body and just this haunting look she has, knowing what is coming was great. Hoult was fine, but he fades in this film. There are just others who outshine him. Skarsgård is great as Orlok. He is menacing and doesn’t need as much screen time to convey that. I also thought Taylor-Johnson, Dafoe, Corrin, Ineson, McBurney and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, this film had hype surrounding it that I tried to tune out. I also tried as best as I could to not compare it to the other versions of this story. What I’ll say is that visually this movie looks amazing. Eggers is just an expert with cinematography. That still impressed me knowing that. I thought that Depp was solid here as our lead with the rest of the cast surrounding her and to push her to where she ended up. The effects were solid with aid by the cinematography and framing there. The sound design helped with the atmosphere. I think that this is my least favorite of Eggers’ work. It still is up there as a good film regardless. I am excited to revisit it as well.
My Rating: 8 out of 10