Nosferatu is Robert Eggers’ fourth feature, and a different period of history from what has come before. We’ve seen him tackle witches in colonial America, Vikings and stranded light housekeepers, and now he turns himself face to face with one of history’s greatest horror stories: the myth of the vampyr, adapting FW Murnau’s silent film of the same name from 1922 that has been told over and over again throughout Hollywood history, it in itself inspired from Bram Stoker’s Dracula source material – of which, Eggers is also content to draw from.
The film shows Eggers has a real mastery of any time period he can set his foot to, creating a gothic tale of obsession, lust and desire, blending the occult with the perception of vampires and how they should be perceived. It’s a fascinating mythology piece – held together by a phenomenal physical performance by Lily Rose-Depp at its core in a true breakout role, as a young girl who is drawn to the darkness and becomes its centre – the object of desire for the inhumane vampire that is Count Orlok, who seeks to move to a new home in order to find new subjects, bringing the plague with him. There’s a frightening air of the occult and realism at every turn, Eggers sacrifices bravado for restraint and is able to create something that’s more in line with the vampires of how Murnau and Stoker portrayed them than their more modern Hollywood incarnation, and all the better for it – Orlok feels scary, terrifying and a real threat, thanks in no small part due to the immense detail put into the production and the atmosphere of dread that his first encounter is created in.
The world-building is not unique to Orlok and the Vampyr but it explores the customs of the time, Germany, and the period-era, the language of the setting and this feels like a brilliant addition to vampire canon. It blends the texts, has the trope of seduction, deception and forlorn no-hope doom, and shows how one might fall under his spell. Newlywed Ellen Hutter is a dark; tortured, Emily Dickinson-esque protagonist, unwittingly summoning an ancient evil that is bound to her all her life. The dreams that Ellen experiences of Orlok are frightening and nightmareish – and she knows that danger is coming long before it does in the form of unwitting estate agent – Nicolas Hoult’s Thomas, who is able to bring a respite, at least momentarily, from the evils that prevail her. It’s noted by her friend, Anna (Emma Corrin), and her businessman of a husband, Friedrich (Aaron-Taylor-Johnson), that whenever Thomas is around her mood improves. But not before long Thomas is sent to parlay with Orlok; a client who already has “one foot in the grave” in Translyvania, so to speak, as eccentric and as old as nobody has ever seen before. When Thomas arrives, Orlok can only be seen after dark – and sleeps in a coffin, keeping him prisoner.
The cinematography is incredible and the usage of the dark creates an instant sense of fear and doom. The snow-covered mountains of Orlok’s castle and the dread of the villagers who exist at its base is instantly felt. Eggers is able to recognise different interpretations of the vampire lore and incorporate them in dreamlike, haunting sequences – Hoult portrays an increasingly frightened, but committed and determined to get through it at all costs – no matter how. He’s held together by the devotion for his wife and his wife his held together by the devotion for Thomas – a pair of doomed lovers at the core of Nosferatu anchor this tragedy; and you know there’s no way out that both can emerge victorious. The spell of dread and doom uncovers every character here and nobody is safe, there are some devastating, howling scenes that live long in the memory.
The one weak link, is perhaps Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He’s sluggish; and the only one that feels like a 21st century Englishman in an 1800s period piece rather than an actor playing a role of a different character. He wasn’t awful in Kraven the Hunter, which was otherwise terrible, but is especially bad here – perhaps let down by having to compete against the cast of big names around him, Lily Rose-Depp puts in a performance rivalling of the greats of the body-horror names, up there with Demi Moore in The Substance of this year’s genre gems. Hoult is as good as ever, and Willem Dafoe looks like he’s having a blast, able to command the screentime with the awe of a professor who knows a lot more about the occult and supernatural than the rest of the cast; the window into the uncanny.
The balance between Nosferatu and a Dracula adaption is fascinating and this feels like a callback to the old-school way of the vampyr. Gothic imagery is prevalent at every turn and Eggers’ restraint enables Nosferatu to truly shine. It’s up there with some of his career best work – a raw, powerful masterpiece that emerges, for UK-based audiences at least, an early 2025 highlight. More vampires like this please, not attractive or sexy, but downright terrifying. Of course, who else could play him but Bill Skarsgard, able to bring an entirely different perspective to the character than his terrifying role as the clown from the recent It films?
