
There may be some content in the following post that can be considered spoilers. If you haven’t seen the film yet and want to go in a blank slate, you may want to hold off reading this post. Thank you for visiting!
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of witnessing the carnal fear and ecstasy of Nosferatu. I am not a horror connoisseur by any means, but I’ve seen my share of scary flicks and love a good supernatural story and especially a vampire film. If Dracula is the foundational popular vampire novel, the original Nosferatu (1922) must inherently do the same for the film medium. Working with such material, there is always a reverence due that fans will be looking for: does it maintain some truth of the original? Does it meaningfully add to the story? Would we all have been better off staying home and watching the original?
The first commendation I have to give goes to the visuals of this film. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, who has also worked on Robert Eggers’ entire directorial filmography, has created a veritable devil’s feast for the eyes. Every scene is framed and composed beautifully, and many still stand out in my mind to this moment, striking at something deep, dark and beautiful each time. A few scenes that I am still thinking about nearly a week later: one is a scene where Thomas Hutter is trekking towards the Count’s castle and finds himself in a dark woods, light filtering in the middle and lighting up the dirt road, when a carriage of horses arrives in the path. The balance of light and dark is incredibly striking. Another is the various shots of Count Orlock’s shadow on white translucent curtains and on the walls, but especially one shot where a massive shadow of his clawed hand reaches across the town, moving over the roofs of buildings like a monstrous cloud or alien spaceship.
My second major commendation is for the enchanting acting. Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter is captivating even while writhing and contorting in ways that make you cringe in your bones. Appearing in all manner of white robes, stays and elaborate 19th century German dresses and gowns, her pale face and expressions speak to a troubled young woman who wants to find a way to balance her love and the psychosexual proclivities she is struggling with. Unrecognizable as Count Orlock, Bill Skarsgård presents an intimidating, towering image as the Romanian, fur-wearing solitary nobleman. Even with the design of Orlock changed to add a mustache and a tuft of hair on an otherwise bald head, the sight of him is something to behold. The dynamic between the pair is uncomfortably erotic, accomplishing precisely what it intends to in a way that makes one question their own psychosexual proclivities for the dark and the dangerous. Acting opposite to this darkly sexual relationship is Nicholas Hoult, as the dutiful and kind Thomas Hutter, the good boy and husband to Ellen who desires to free her from her psychological chains to Orlock.
Though I didn’t intend to go into the secondary cast, it is hard to avoid mentioning Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Wilem Dafoe’s roles as Friedrich Harding and Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz. What could have been forgettable secondary roles are made stand-out due to the incredible prowess of these two professionals. Taylor-Johnson’s portrayal of the immense grief Friedrich must face is powerful to experience. Dafoe, of course, never does things halfway and is a major highlight of the film as well. The beginning half of the film, I waited and waited for when his character would finally make his first appearance and I was not disappointed, from the first sighting to the last. A highlight is the scene you may have seen in memes recently about the two-thousand trained rats, which is magnificent, but a smaller, simpler moment that my partner and I both found incredibly endearing came right at the end of the film, with the last time we see the character. I won’t spoil it for you.
All in all, this film is a wonderful addition to the vampire genre, whose line up grows more and more impressive all the time it seems. While some media has taken the genre into the comedy space — What We Do in the Shadows and Renfield (also featuring Nicholas Hoult) come to mind — this is a great way to bring it back to drama and true horror. This film could warrant a much longer post, but I will stop myself there for the time being.
Thank you for reading! Hope you are having a pleasant January!