Nosferatu
A Classic Vamp Romp
It’s hard to think of a new director more exciting than Robert Eggers. His movies are undeniably bold and creative, making his case as a modern auteur in a film industry where that’s increasingly scarce. I especially loved 2019’s The Lighthouse for all those strengths Eggers brings to the table. It immediately establishes an unmistakable look and feel, immersing you in a world as strange and disturbing as it is mesmerizing. There’s an isolated minimalism that lets the star duo of Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe let loose, delivering on themes of masculinity, repression, and mythology through performances both chilling and hilarious.
Nosferatu's ramp up to its Christmas day release promised a bigger production and more acting talent, all anchored by the promise of updating one of film’s oldest and most iconic horror stories. My hype to see this movie started the moment I saw the trailer, and only grew as I shifted into winter holiday mode, a.k.a the prime movie watching period.
I went with my cousin or brother, both of whom share my holiday movie-watching ambitions, to a December 26th 10pm showing. This was in part to work around a busy schedule of Italian dinner obligations, but mostly timed to maximize the horror impact we were promised. We left the theater shaken, awestruck, and thoroughly satisfied in the vampire shenanigans department. As my brother put it, Nosferatu was everything a “classic vamp romp” should be.
Egger’s previous success with period pieces is on full display here. Nosferatu delivers a delicious variety of horror set pieces, all heavily steeped in a pool of Gothic old world dreariness. We’ve got claustrophobic setups squeezed uncomfortably tight by expert horror editing to build the tension. Those kinds of scenes where you know exactly what bloody carnage awaits, but can’t help squirming in your chair regardless. Horror movies are only as good as their villains, and an unrecognizable Bill Skarsgaard steps in to steal just about every scene he’s in. His depiction of Count Orlok is rarely what one would expect, but its unquestionably evil, formidable, and even a little humorous. His character design is formidable and just grounded enough, at times taking the form of a withered asthmatic count between stints as a horrifying creature who booked a one-way ticket from the depths of h*ck.
When we aren’t holding our breath awaiting a vamp-style jumpscare, there’s a compellingly large scale to the havoc wrought upon the movie’s primary setting in an old-timey German town. It makes the movie feel big and dire, and it’s the perfect backdrop for Willem Defoe and Ralph Ineson to just go to work trying to thwart Orlok and save their town. This admittedly slower movie’s deliberate pacing picks up fast once Defoe gets on camera, and there’s a fun “pitchforks and knives” setup that lets us get lost in all the gothic world-building and old country mythology this movie oozes. Its another expertly done period piece from Eggers, scaling up to the legendary story’s ambitions without losing any of the thematic or visual conciseness that made him such a hit in entries past.
My final mention will go to Lily Rose-Depp, who easily gives the performance of her life. She shifts between despair, hysteria, possession, and even pleasure, oftentimes all within the confines of a single scene. Her performance anchors a central conflict that is not easy to stomach nor sit through, but her raw and convincing emotion carries us through to the very end. I’d be shocked not to see a Best Actress Oscar nod for her to cap off this an ascendant breakout role. Her success in Nosferatu erases any ugly memories brought on by the HBO flop The Idol, where she ironically played another character stalked by an overbearingly creepy antagonist (The Weeknd). All I ask is that future directors cast her in roles where she goes through like 5-10% less insane hardship.
Nosferatu is the winter horror masterpiece we hoped it would be. There’s thick atmosphere, there’s dire stakes, and there’s enough adrenaline-pounding jumpscares to cement this as a horror classic. The ending isn’t the most groundbreaking thing you’ll watch, but it’s hard to end such an aged and traditional story of good and evil many other ways. I’ll be returning to this on streaming in short order.