Nosferatu review

NOSFERATU: 

ROBERT EGGERS CRAFTS A TERRIFYING GOTHIC VAMPIRE FLICK, MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

FOCUS FEATURES

Lily-Rose Depp in Nosferatu

 

            Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) is back to bring his take on one of the most iconic silent horror films of all time in Nosferatu. The film is a remake of the 1922 silent movie of the same name, which was a loose adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula. 

            I was very much looking forward to this movie when it was announced, I think Robert Eggers is a brilliant filmmaker with The Lighthouse being among my favorite films of 2019 so I was curious to see how he’d handle Nosferatu. After seeing it on Christmas Day (Obviously, this movie is filled to the brim with holiday cheer), I have to say this might very well be my favorite movie he’s done so far which is quite a bold claim given his past work. 

            I was glued to the screen from beginning to end and found the film genuinely frightening with amazing cinematography and production design, suspenseful sequences, and the performances by the leads are incredible. It’s crazy to think that the two best films I saw this month were Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and this, about as polar opposite as you could get but I’ll take it. 

            The film is set in 1830s Germany and follows real estate salesman, Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult-X-Menfranchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Favourite) being tasked with finding a new residence for wealthy Transylvanian Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård-It: Chapters 1 and 2, John Wick: Chapter 4, Boy Kills World). Upon arriving to his castle, Thomas discovers that Orlok is a vampire and is infatuated with his wife, Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp-The King, Silent Night, Wolf). 

            The film also stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass 1 and 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bullet Train) as Friedrich Harding, Emma Corrin (The Crown, My Policeman, Deadpool & Wolverine) as Anna Harding, Willem Dafoe (Platoon, Spider-Man, The Lighthouse; who also played Count Orlok in 2000’s Shadow of the Vampire) as Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz, Ralph Ineson (Harry Potter franchise, The Green Knight, The Creator) as Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, and Simon McBurney (The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) as Herr Knock. 

            Overall, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is a terrifying yet beautiful experience at the cinema which sounds insane, but here me out. At various points of the film, I was taken in by its incredible production design and cinematography that’s practically dripping with gothic atmosphere and looks spectacular on the big screen. 

            Obviously, this movie has a lot of shots of creepy old castles, but also just the way the movie is shot and how certain scenes are lit or how shadows are integrated, it feels like a 1920s vampire movie done in modern times. If you’re a sucker for gothic horror then you will likely marvel at this film on a technical aspect and I can see it being nominated for Best Production Design and/or Cinematography at the Oscars next year. 

            The scares are very effective and downright disturbing at times with not as much reliance on cheap jump scares. Most of the scares are atmospheric with dark visuals, creepy music, the occasional grotesque image, and blood splatter, two of my favorite sequences are one involving a horse carriage riding towards Thomas and another involving a box filled with rats that lead into the big scare. 

            The movie also does a great job at building up Count Orlok by either keeping him in the shadows or blurring his appearance in certain scenes so when you finally do see him, he is actually quite terrifying and menacing. Also, Bill Skarsgård is completely unrecognizable here, he practically disappears into the role and the makeup artists deserve massive props for transforming him into evil incarnate. 

            The performances across the board are excellent with Lily-Rose Depp being a huge standout here as Ellen Hutter. I’m not super familiar with her work, but I thought she was amazing as the vulnerable person with practically a psychic connection with Orlok and sells the tragedy and hopefulness of the situation, the emotional anchor of the story essentially. 

            Here’s something you probably never heard before, Willem Dafoe brings his A-game to the movie despite being a supporting character as this professor who knows what Nosferatu is and how to destroy him. In the amount of time he’s onscreen, he commands scenes with much of the focus shifting over to him and believe it or not, delivers some laughs (Yes, he is quite funny in the movie in sort of a campy way, but it works). 

            Nosferatu is about as perfect a gothic horror movie as you could get with creepy atmosphere, dark yet beautiful visuals, and psychological scares over cheap jump scares and excessive gore (Though there is a fair amount of gory moments here). Honestly, it could even rival Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula from 1992 as a new standard for modern-day gothic and vampire horror and I eagerly look forward to seeing what Eggers does next in his directing career. 

            Also, there is a Christmas tree in this movie so Nosferatu is automatically a Christmas film now! Nothing says Christmas like bloodthirsty monsters causing a terrifying plague.