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Nosferatu Review
Image Credit: Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features
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Directed By: Robert Eggers
Written By: Robert Eggers; Based on the 1922 film, Nosferatu, by Henrik Galeen; Inspired by the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker
Runtime: 132 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated R for bloody violent content, graphic nudity and some sexual content.
Nicholas Hoult – Thomas Hutter
Lily-Rose Depp – Ellen Hutter
Bill Skarsgård – Count Orlok
Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Friedrich Harding
Willem Dafoe – Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz
Emma Corin – Anna Harding
Ralph Ineson – Dr. Wilhelm Sievers
Simon McBurney – Knock
Visionary filmmaker Robert Eggers crafts a tale of pure gothic horror for his new update on the classic, seminal vampire story, Nosferatu. Eggers’ new motion picture is a remake of the classic 1922 silent film, which itself was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula Novel. The new cinematic vision from Eggers taps into the ominous dread of vampirism, presenting the iconic Count Orlok as something utterly terrifying, mystifying, overpowering, and malevolent.
Set in 1838, in the town of Wisborg, Germany, a young, newly married real estate agent, Thomas Hutter (Hoult), is tasked to travel to Transylvania to close a deal with a client, the elderly and supposedly infirm Count Orlok (Skarsgård). Thomas leaves despite the pleas and fears of his new, young bride, Ellen (Depp), who still suffers dreams that a dark, malevolent figure seeks to possess her. Thomas fails to realize that he has been trapped by his insane boss, Herr Knock (McBurney), a devout servant to the malicious, mysterious Count Orlok (Skarsgård). As Thomas grows closer to Count Orlok’s clutches, Ellen’s fears and anxiety increase, taking the form of terrible visions. However, Ellen’s dreams are more than mere palpable premonitions, as the cunning Count Orlok seeks to enthrall and enslave Ellen in mind, body, and soul.
Ellen’s visions are first dismissed as childish flights of fancy and hysterics, but her condition eventually grows worse as Thomas becomes the unwitting prey of Orlok. Her physician, Dr. Wilhelm Sievers (Ineson), eventually seeks out the expertise of one of his former teachers, Prof. Albin Ebenhart Von Franz (Dafoe), a foremost expert in the field of science medicine, who has recently become ostracized among his field due to his obsession with the occult. Von Franz recognizes Ellen’s affliction for what it truly is. She’s a victim of the vampire, “Nosferatu.” As Count Orlok encroaches on Wisborg, he brings his terrible malignancy with him, and he will stop at nothing until he gains his prize.
Eggers’ Nosferatu reclaims the horror surrounding a traditional, old-fashioned vampire story. He restores Count Orlok as an entity of pure terror. When Orlok first appears, he’s slightly out of focus and obscured. The character represents an entity of psychological dread. Orlok is so overpowering and malevolent that capturing his image is nigh impossible. Eggers’ Orlok comes off more like a waking nightmare, given a physical form. By depicting Orlok in this way, Eggers effectively restores the character’s mythical, sinister menace.
Orlok is not a tragic antihero or a charismatic, romantic leader. Robert Eggers’ Count Orlok is a malevolent entity of base, ravenous desires. He is no less dominating or seductive than other popular depictions of Dracula, but this Dracula proxy possesses no redeeming qualities. In many ways, Eggers’ portrayal and Bill Skarsgård’s masterful performance evoke the literary depiction of Dracula from Bram Stoker’s original text. Eggers’ version of Count Orlok feels like the most primal and faithful representation of Bram Stoker’s iconic creation to date, even though it’s technically an adaptation of the classic 1922 silent film Nosferatu directed by F. W. Murnau.
Skarsgård looks completely unrecognizable and indiscernible as the cunning count. The actor creates an incredible performance that taps into the psychological fear and terror of becoming the prey of such an awful being. Skarsgård’s acting, with Eggers’ amazing direction and Jarin Blaschke’s incredible cinematography, provide the most primal, elemental, and terrifying cinematic depiction of a vampiric villain in recent memory.
Lily-Rose Depp delivers an exceptional performance as Count Orlok’s unwilling victim. Depp commits fully to the material, depicting the all-encompassing fear her character faces, as well as her enduring courage to confront the terror that’s haunted her for years. It’s a challenging performance, and Depp comes into her own as an acting talent, performing her scenes with genuine sincerity and believability.
Similarly, Nicholas Hoult delivers a strong, earnest performance as Orlok’s unsuspecting victim, Thomas Hutter. A significant section of the film’s narrative mostly unfolds from his perspective, where Eggers positions Thomas as the audience’s unenviable proxy when the character comes under the thrall of Count Orlok. The fear Orlok conjures in Thomas bleeds through the screen, which makes the fearful flesh all the more succulent for Orlok to engorge.
Willem Dafoe is delightful as Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz, the story’s proxy for Van Helsing. Nosferatu interestingly plays around with ideas of modernity and progression with old-world superstitions and cultural traditions. The dark treachery wrought by Count Orlok is not something that modern science can overcome alone. In one of the best lines of the film, Von Franz expounds, “I have seen things in this world that would’ve made Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother’s womb! We have not become so much enlightened as we have been blinded by the gaseous light of science! I have wrestled with the devil as Jacob wrestled with the angel in Peniel, and I tell you, if we are to tame darkness, we must first face that it exists!”
Before anyone casts Eggers as something of a Luddite or anti-intellectual, it’s important to note that Von Franz is not anti-science, anti-modernity, or against intellectualism. The character conveys the existence of creatures and beings that modern science and progression cannot comprehend. Not to mention, many of Ellen’s genuine fears are dismissed as immature fantasies or flights of fancy. Dafoe brings an appealing idiosyncratic wisdom as Prof. Von Franz, and he excellently drives the narrative’s momentum forward once he defines the threat that Count Orlok poses to Ellen.
The main area Eggers could have improved upon is the love story between Thomas and Ellen. The psychological, primal terror of Orlok comes across perfectly, but the romance story would have benefited from some enhancement. Additionally, Orlok’s victims could have received more agency. That said, Simon McBurney is tremendous as Orlok’s insane, exuberant servant, Herr Knock. McBurney performs the Renfield-like role with aplomb.
Eggers once again re-teams with his longtime collaborator, Jarin Blaschke, for Nosferatu, and their visual work is a match made in heaven. Nosferatu looks absolutely gorgeous. They shoot the film in such an immaculate, meticulous way that any singular image could be pulled from the film and framed in a museum or gallery, looking like pure cinematic art. The way they capture the mood and dread of every setpiece is amazing. Blaschke’s cinematography and use of shadows and silhouettes are not only brilliant, but the way he lights every scene looks fantastic. The lighting in Nosferatu perfectly captures the mood of each scene. Blaschke’s method of filming Count Orlok magnifies the figure’s baleful terror, and he initially appears distorted and obscured, like a nightmarish phantom. The film nearly posits that looking directly at Count Orlok would likely bring about certain madness or a grisly demise.
Eggers triumphs with Nosferatu in its depiction of gothic horror, finding a strange, beautiful purity in its macabre material. He restores the terrifying dread to the oft-used vampire myth, rendering Count Orlok onscreen as a nightmarish entity. Eggers combines the classical traditions of gothic horror with a modern filmmaking sensibility that pairs wonderfully well. Nosferatu creates genuine scares and frights in a way that many horror movies have forgotten.
