REVIEW: Nosferatu (2024)
Based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the silent cinema horror classic of the same name from 1922, Nosferatu is Robert Eggers’ passion project that aims to create a modern horror classic based on the chilling vampire and gothic legend. Eggers brings his own unique style that fans of The Lighthouse, The Witch, and Northman will recognise and he soaks it in gothic dread as a brilliant cast bring the old story to life.
Nosferatu feels like a horror throwback. From the very opening scene that portrays the link between Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen Hunter and Bill Skarsgard’s Count Orlok, the film brings the fear and informs the audience that it will not be pulling any punches. This is a vampire tale with teeth fully bared and a world away from cool or sparkling vampires modern audiences may be used to. This vampire is a true monster – one to be feared not just with the well-designed jump scares but there is a slow-building tense sense of dread that fills the film and never seems to relent. Every scene with the unrecognisable Skarsgard as Count Orlok has you on the edge of your seat as the music builds and his rumbling voice courses through your body forcing your heart to race. Everything in the film is designed towards create a pure horror film and display a monster worthy to be feared.
Fans of Dracula or the original Nosferatu will know the story. Ellen Hunter suffers from seizures and speaks of a dark being who is on his way. Her new husband Thomas, played by the always brilliant Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road), travels across Europe to close a deal with an old, noble Count wishing to purchase property in the newlyweds’ hometown. The locals speak of Orlok as a demon and fear his castle and soon, Thomas is hallucinating and fears that Orlok is after his wife. With Ellen having more of her fits, Willem Dafoe’s Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz steps in as a man with knowledge of the occult as he works with a doctor and Ellen’s friends to prevent Orlok’s path of destruction as he brings a plague with him (along with thousands of rats and a ship of the dead (Voyage of the Demeter is a great full length version of this…). Orlok is a terrific villain. There are nods to the classic German film with Eggers’ usual stunning direction and sense of light at play with the vampire’s shadows playing an important part in the power of the monster. Lily-Rose Depp is also stunning in the film with her understanding of Count Orlok and the shame of her past weighing heavily on her throughout Nosferatu. This truly is a grimdark horror with barely any scenes filled with joy other than those where you just know things are about to be turned on their head.
Eggers has spent almost a decade getting Nosferatu to the big screen and it is a true passion project for the talented director. It really does shy away from modernising the tale and instead embraces its gothic design with its 1800s setting and language suited to the time. The cast give their all to pull it off and their passion and dedication to the film keeps the audience invested throughout the darkness that permeates its whole runtime. This a vampire story where the vampire is a monster that embodies both death and sexuality without it ever feeling cheap or forced.
Nosferatu is a reminder of what true horror can really deliver. It is a film that is dark, beautifully shot, full of great actors on the top of their game, and so unlike anything that has been made in recent memory. Nosferatu reminds us why we do not want to invite such monsters in and this is Eggers’ best work yet.
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