NOSFERATU REVIEW
“Dark, grim and haunting, but beautiful to behold and experience in every way”
Anyone who has been following the impressive career of filmmaker Robert Eggers – particularly since he really burst onto the scene with The VVitch at Sundance 2015 – knows that he’s always wanted to make a movie based on the 1922 Nosferatu, an early film classic inspired by Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” with mostly the same story as the 1931 Dracula nine years later. Maybe some thought that movie would never happen, as is the case with many filmmakers’ dream projects, but now, the joke’s on them, because Eggers has done it, and his Nosferatu really delivers!
I had the rare luxury of being able to see Nosferatu a second time before writing this review, which was hugely beneficial for things I may have missed or (more likely) just forgot, which is strange to say, since there’s so much about this movie that’s almost impossible to forget.
The story follows a very similar path as the earlier films, opening in Wisborg, Germany in 1838, where we meet Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp’s recently-married Thomas and Ellen Hutter. Struggling with finance makes Thomas’ decision easier to travel to Transylvania to get the signature of one Count Orlok on the deeds to an old mansion he has acquired in Wisborg. On arriving, Thomas encounters the imposing presence that is Orlok (played by a heavily made-up Bill Skarsgård) and finds out that he’s been made a prisoner, while back home, Ellen is experiencing her own issues.
If you thought The VVitch was a dark and grim gothic period piece, then you haven’t seen anything yet, as Eggers goes so unbelievably dark from the opening sequence almost until the very end. It’s so easy to say that a movie is “scary as hell,” but in the case of Nosferatu, it’s neither hype nor exaggeration, as you’re almost immediately placed into the uncomfortable position of not knowing what’s around the next corner. Whether it’s Simon McBurney munching off animal heads as the film’s bonkers Renfield substitute, Dr. Knock, or the flood of rats that invade the screen later in the film, Eggers goes out of his way to let the viewer know this will not be a gentler version of the Dracula mythos, even compared to the Werner Herzog remake. At times, the flowery dialogue makes it obvious that Eggers’ Nosferatu was based on a stageplay he wrote years earlier, but the writing is solid, really pulling you in with its authenticity to the period and place.
When you talk about great vampire performances, it might be hard to pinpoint which one is the absolute greatest of all time, because there have been many greats since the early days of Max Schrek and Bela Lugosi. To say that what Bill Skarsgård is next level even compared to Klaus Kinski would be a massive understatement. The oft-used cliché about him being unrecognizable is quite apt, because it’s hard to imagine this large, imposing creature is even the same actor that killed it as Pennywise in the recent It movies. Every time Orlok is on screen, a chill goes through your bones, and that’s a combination of performance and the brilliant crafts team assembled by Eggers.
Another interesting character performance comes in the form of Willem Dafoe (who actually played original Orlok actor Max Schrek in 2000’s Shadow of the Vampire and received an Oscar nomination in the bargain.) Dafoe gives an odder performance, for sure, not that dissimilar to his character in last year’s Poor Things, but it brings some much-needed levity to a movie that’s so dark and grim, it’s sometimes hard to bear. In general, Eggers’ entire cast is solid, filled out by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corin as the Hunters’ friends who get dragged into the nightmare once Orlok finally arrives in Wisborg. Even so, the story is very much focused on the Hunters and how their interactions with Orlok affect their relationship.
Even more than in The Northman, the crafts play a heavily-featured role in Eggers’ latest. Everything from the production design to the cinematography, costumes and visual effects unite to create one of the most gorgeous visual films in which every new shot causes the jaw to drop. One below-the-line area that truly shines above all others is the practical make-up used to transform Skarsgard into Orlok, which is on par with the Oscar-winning make-up used to turn Gary Oldman into the title character of Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula over thirty years ago. If nothing else, Nosferatu deserves to win the Oscar for its makeup as well.
I also want to shine a spotlight on the film’s sound work, having seen the movie twice at New York’s premiere Dolby screening room, even beyond the fantastic and impeccable score by Robin Carolan (reuniting with Eggers after The Northman). Even more than that, it’s the haunting sound effects work that allows Orlok’s raspy dialogue to cut to the viewer’s very core that blew me away. I have never heard anything quite like it, and this is coming from someone with a sound engineering background.
Dark, grim, and haunting, but beautiful to behold and experience, Nosferatu works on many levels as a horror film that does its best to surpass its genre roots. But make no mistake that this is horror, and it’s horror that isn’t for the faint of heart.
Rating: 8.5/10
Nosferatu hits theaters on Christmas Day, the perfect movie for Grinches and Scrooges who got coal in their stockings and want to see others face far more miserable circumstances than themselves.