Nosferatu(2024)(Review)

Christmas came hard this year for horror fans. Following a very successful merch campaign, director Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) has presented us with a film that’s been mentally developing in his mind for over a decade – a contemporary remake of the classic vampire tale, ‘Nosferatu’.

In 1830s Germany, Ellen Hunter has been plagued with nightmares since she was younger. They are vicious and haunting, often resulting in sleepwalking and violent convulsions. When she meets her lover, Thomas, all those nightmares cease. After they celebrate their honeymoon, Thomas is in need of work and takes a job to hand-deliver paperwork to a Lord whose looking to purchase real estate. Before he leaves, Ellen has another nightmare and warns Thomas not to go – but he must if he plans to pay the bills for his family. Not only is his trek there long and tiring, but things get progressively weirder the further he travels. When he finally arrives at the Lord’s location – a giant castle on the edge of a cliff – things only get more frightening and intense. Meanwhile, Ellen’s violent nightmares have returned, and she fears that Thomas is in danger.

For those who are familiar with this tale – either any of the film adaptations, or Bram Stoker’s best-selling novel ‘Dracula’ – this movie is very faithful. The story has all the beats you expect, but does introduce some emphasis on parts of the book that weren’t spectacled in other adaptations, and takes a few liberties along the way to keep it fresh. It’s a gothic tale of love, lust, fear, and primal desires, as told through the lens of a director who places heavy emphasis on historical accuracy, correct dialect, and immersive atmosphere. The set design and cinematography is absolutely insane – each individual shot of this movie could be cut out and used as poster art. The lighting feels natural, the acting is the correct level of hamminess, and the violence is sparse but effective. There’s even a good amount of genuine scares that creep around the corners.

Count Orlok is played by Bill Skarsgård, who really sells the role and disappears beneath the makeup design. And along with the other standout characters we follow along with, Willem Dafoe really leads the pack as an Alchemist whose trying to help poor Ellen when no one else took her literally. The whole movie feels like a very lucid fever dream. This is a combination of actual dreams, the robust sets, the mass confusion of where each character is at any given time, and how time itself seems to fold like an origami crane. It’s hypnotic, beautiful, and sexy as fuck.

Now, when it comes to the cons, I truthfully only have a few things to mention. This film felt like a legit 5/5 experience for me, except for: there was a single part of Count Orlok’s look I wasn’t a fan of (if you know you know, but I won’t spoil it since the reveal is part of the fun), and the fact that the film felt like it lost a lot of momentum near the end. While I was fully immersed and enjoying my time in this world, it really felt like we could’ve shaved a good half hour off of this without sacrificing much of anything. I was definitely tired by the time the final act kicked in, but it didn’t ruin the experience for me at all.

Ultimately, this movie is very impressive and absolutely worth a watch, but you know we like to keep things honest around here. I’m super proud of Robert Eggers, whose last two films were technically flops, and has now produced a film that’s easily his most commercial since ‘The Witch’ and equally feels as rewarding for a slow-burning experience.

5/5
“Nosferatu” is currently playing only in theaters.

‘Til Next Time,
Mike Cleopatra

The Gruesome Gazette

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