Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’, ironically, seems too nervous to push the envelope and thus never quite reaches the heights of its source material. It is a good film, and Eggers remains one of the best working horror directors, but there isn’t enough here to escape the frightening gaze of the silent classic. Nosferatu arrives in cinemas nationwide on January 1.
Horror movies have followed in the tenebrous footsteps of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu for over a hundred years. A 1922 German silent picture, this chilling adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula effectively laid the groundwork for many of horror’s most recognisable trademarks, from gothic visuals to orchestral scores and creepy figures lurking in the dark. It’s a masterpiece of terror, making any and all attempts to remake it a daunting prospect. Robert Eggers’ efforts, as shown in his 2024 film of the same name, somewhat cower in the presence of its predecessor, yet still prove a chilling experience.
Set in 1838 Germany, Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is a recently married real estate agent whose wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) suffers from strange nightmares. Hutter is sent to sell the property of a count deep in the Carpathian Mountains, something Ellen pleads with him not to do. When Hutter arrives, even the intimidating locals fear the count and warn him not to go to his castle, something Hutter feels he must do due to the substantial fortune this job would bring him and Ellen.
Upon entering the castle, Hutter is met with the Count, Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). His slippery voice, bizarre habits and long fingers are immediately unsettling. Yet when it is revealed that Orlok is a vampire with a chilling psychic connection to Ellen, Hutter understands the gravity of his wife’s terror. Now, he must race back home, teaming up with various other colourful characters to prevent Orlok from stealing his wife, as Orlok’s lustful obsession over Ellen threatens to bring everything around him to ruin.
Eggers is so exciting as a horror filmmaker because he’s a master of atmosphere. His films employ uncanny visuals and sound to evoke a visceral, all-consuming sense of unease. Consider how The Witch utilised vast spaces of rural land to hint at insecurity, or the claustrophobic set pieces of The Lighthouse. With his remake of Nosferatu, Eggers capitalises on shadows, particularly the use of colour, to heighten the perpetual dread that this scenario of an ancient undead creature seeking a vulnerable woman, whatever the cost, would elicit. Penetrating sound design and a sense of scale that arguably wasn’t possible for the original 1922 version make this picture an immersive work, if not always bold.
Cold blues seem to capture the chill in the air, the palette becoming so muted in its wintery style that it almost looks black and white in places. The film never becomes so muted as to distort what we are watching on screen, but it nonetheless thrives on the literal darkness that Orlok threatens to bring to those who deny him his desires.
Some of the most impressive visuals include moments when the characters are lit only by the light of a nearby fire, such as when Hutter first meets the count. The yellows and oranges that the flames create give us the impression of stepping into the gates of hell, something exacerbated by Orlok’s ability to bring the plague wherever he goes. Add on the grotesque makeup utilised to capture the aftermath of Orlok’s deeds and Orlok’s design, and you have a recipe for something unsettling. This is a film in which the darkest thoughts and the cold harshness of life, be it depression, famine or unexplainable forces of malice, populate the screen, challenging the characters and leaving us spellbound by its atmospheric eeriness.
Portraying the picture’s various characters is an impressive ensemble. Hoult has proven himself a formidable actor in the last decade, able to portray a range of characters from a mad devotee in Mad Max: Fury Road to an entitled fanboy in The Menu. His role as Hutter is more gentle and caring; his fear comes as much from his concern for his wife as from the ominous deeds of Orlok. He is an easy character to latch onto – a source of purity in a hugely bleak world. Other standouts include Willem Dafoe as an eccentric scientist, serving as the Van Helsing to Orlok’s Dracula, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a sceptic of Ellen’s condition, one whose cynicism costs him dearly.
Willem Dafoe stars as Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz, and Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU, a Focus Features release.
Eggers’ Nosferatu is certainly creepy and stellarly made. However, it never quite reaches its full potential, creatively speaking. While impressive, a lot of its visual trickery still relies on the groundwork of the original film, which includes a recreation of the famous shadowy hand still. There’s one astonishing moment where Orlok’s shadow seems to dominate an entire settlement – creating easily the best image of the film – but it otherwise seems content on relying on the visual playbook from its predecessor.
Orlok’s new design is certainly grotesque, but calling it outright scary is generous at best. The inclusion of a moustache, while perhaps a trivial detail, makes Orlok look like a particularly vulgar man rather than a foreboding creature of infinite evil. It’s also a pity that the two lead performances in Skarsgård and Depp, while not bad per se, are the weakest of the ensemble. Skarsgård’s voice is spooky but doesn’t give Orlok much intrigue outside of being a lustful vampire, while Depp’s bouts of hysteria remain somewhat underplayed despite the horror of her character’s situation. It’s a fitting metaphor for the film itself – stunningly made and often disturbing, but afraid of its own shadow.
What this amounts to is a film that works best as a homage to a masterpiece. It is macabre and sinister, basking in compelling themes regarding love, lust, and how communities come together in the face of plague, lending some intriguing parallels to the Covid-19 pandemic. But Eggers’ Nosferatu, ironically, seems too nervous to push the envelope and thus never quite reaches the heights of its source material. It is a good film, and Eggers remains one of the best working horror directors, but there isn’t enough here to escape the frightening gaze of the silent classic.
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