The original Nosferatu from 1922 is a movie I am incredibly passionate about. The use of shadows and gothic imagery have stuck strongly in my mind since I first saw it years ago. I also deeply enjoy the Werner Herzog adaptation from 1979, although that takes more heavily from the source material, Dracula, by Bram Stoker than it does from the 1922 movie. Nosferatu opened my mind to silent film and into classic horror more than anything else has. Given all that, Robert Eggers’ new film had some big shoes to fill, and it hit the mark better than I could have ever hoped.
Robert Eggers’ take on Nosferatu is very faithful to the original silent film: it uses long shadows to emphasize its horror and it keeps the names to what they are in the original movie, rather than giving them their names from the source novel like Werner Herzog did. This new adaptation of the original movie does takes a little bit extra from Dracula though, adding a Van Helsing-style character from the novel, played by Willem Dafoe. This is probably the second best performance in the film to me; Willem Dafoe gives an incredibly fiery passion to this character. He doesn’t have the emotional weight of Ellen Hutter (played by Lily-Rose Depp) and he doesn’t have the terror of Thomas Hutter (played by Nicholas Hoult), but he is fun to watch and really gives it everything he has.
That isn’t to say that the other performances aren’t incredible, too. Every character is portrayed with such raw emotion that I couldn’t help but feel for them. Thomas Hutter’s fear is thick and almost physical, and the lust from Ellen is powerful and disturbing. The highlight of the film though, is Count Orlok, Nosferatu himself, played by Bill Skarsgård. The titular antagonist steals every scene he is in. From his booming, horrific voice to his menacing mannerisms, this is the most perfect vampire representation I’ve ever seen.
The story is fairly simple: a terrifying tale of lust and the temptation of evil. It keeps most of the same story beats of the original, with the added Van Helsing character from Dracula, but everything has so much more depth. The audience gets to see the temptation of the vampire, the far-reaching power of his hypnotism and fear of all those who encounter him. What I love most is that this film takes its core from vampiric folklore and why vampires became scary to begin with. This isn’t the tall, attractive, and tragic vampire that we get so frequently these days – this is a monster. The movie’s plot shines through the constant feeling of being in an absolute nightmare.
The film presents situations vaguely and without a true form, with each scene leading to the next in a flawless transition of terror. Every cut means something, every detail fluidly moves from one scene to the next in a way I’ve never really seen before. The cinematography makes the film feel monochromatic without it ever being that way, and it lays down a chilling oppression onto the audience. Count Orlok is often depicted as the shadows, snaking his way through the night as if he is the darkness itself. The way he moves fluidly through a scene is absolutely intoxicating to behold. Seeing the characters put in his way is genuinely haunting. I have watched a lot of horror films, and I’ve never felt this way before. My heart was pounding, I was shaking, and I was constantly worried at every turn.
Nosferatu is a success on every level, in my opinion. It weaves its story and characters together in perfect harmony. The passion oozes from this movie, this is a very personal project from Eggers, and it shows. The attention to detail in the way the story pans out, a busy town slowly gets emptier as the film progresses, is fantastic at building this world. Robert Eggers was already one of my favorite directors working currently, with The Lighthouse and The Northman being some of my favorite movies of all time, but this is better than both of his previous two films. Vampires have always captivated me, as Dracula is amongst my favorite novels of all time. Quite frankly, this is the most perfect Dracula adaptation I’ve ever seen. . This is how it feels to read the book, a living nightmare existing in the waking world. Nosferatu does everything I could have possibly hoped and is absolutely worth a watch for any horror fan.
