Movie review «Nosferatu»

Starting January 2, the gothic horror film «Nosferatu» hit Ukrainian theaters. This is a remake of the legendary classic of the horror genre and German Expressionism in particular—the 1922 film «Nosferatu. A Symphony of Horror» by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. The daring reimaginer of this classic is the well-known horror filmmaker Robert Eggers («The Witch», «The Lighthouse»), with Bill Skarsgård entrusted to embody the ancient evil on screen, a role he takes on following his portrayal of Pennywise and The Crow. In the review below, we dive into how this fresh take revamps an age-old story.

«Nosferatu»

Genre Gothic horror film
Director Robert Eggers
Cast Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Stacey Tunes
Premiere Theaters
Release Year 2025
Website IMDb, official site

In 1838, in the small German town of Wisborg, a young couple, Thomas and Ellen Hutter, reside. Trying to live up to his boss Knock’s expectations, Thomas accepts an offer to handle the sale of a deserted estate owned by a certain distinguished Count Orlok, who lives amidst the majestic Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania. However, for the deal between the parties to actually occur, Thomas must personally visit the count and directly manage all matters with the paperwork on site.

Meanwhile, after her husband’s departure, strange things begin to happen to Ellen, who stayed to wait out her beloved’s trip with friends — her health rapidly deteriorates, though conventional medicine proves powerless. While the doctor tries to cope with the unfortunate woman’s condition, Knock, who seems to have gone completely mad, announces that sinister darkness is descending on the town, and nobody will be able to escape it.It was known as early as 2015 that Robert Eggers, undoubtedly a prominent contemporary horror filmmaker, would take on a remake of «Nosferatu. A Symphony of Horror» by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. But back then, even before the release of his debut «The Witch», few knew about him. He even confessed that he didn’t want to embark on such a responsible mission at the early stage of his career. Thus, the film reaches the Ukrainian audience almost 10 years after the announcement, when Eggers already had the necessary experience and a good reputation. After viewing, it can be confidently said that the wait was definitely worth it.

It’s now hard to believe that the silent film from 1922 could have been lost to time. Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau really wanted to adapt Bram Stoker’s novel «Dracula» (1897), but the writer’s widow did not give her consent for this project. Then, the director, not wanting to give up on the idea of a film adaptation, resorted to changes in the script, altering the names of the characters, some events, and moving the setting from 1890s England to 1930s Germany. But even that did not save the creators from a lawsuit, which ultimately led to a court order to destroy all copies of the film.

Thank God, this crime against cinema was not ultimately committed, and a few copies survived. Otherwise, the world would have missed out on one cinematic masterpiece, would not have received the iconic vampire image of Max Schreck, and consequently, there would have been no Werner Herzog’s remake «Nosferatu the Vampyre» (1979) and thus no Eggers’ version.

Eggers and his team have truly done remarkable work. This is a film where everything works perfectly with the setting, the atmosphere, the light-shadow, the color filling of the frame, the mise-en-scènes, the sound, etc. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, in its form, particularly visually (which is crucial for the art of cinema), «Nosferatu» is a perfect film, as everything works to serve the story and to ensure it is realized to the highest quality in the declared genre. Even an old-fashioned technique like a screamer here is presented very measuredly and at the right moments, not coming off as a screaming faux pas. Therefore, it works.

Jarin Blaschke’s camera, a constant cinematographer in all of Eggers’ feature films, skillfully captures extreme close-ups of characters, fascinatingly films gloomy landscapes, and smoothly moves in the needed direction (like the scene with the shadow of the Carpathian bloodsucker’s hand that seems to capture the entire town). At one point, two little twins appear in the frame, seemingly copied from the iconic child images in Stanley Kubrick’s «The Shining».

Here, the character played by Lily-Rose Depp is not just fighting against contemporary superstitions and prejudices, but also against her obsession with a mysterious entity. It seems to provoke hostility in the woman, yet at the same time, it hypnotizes and attracts her, causing an inexplicable urge. Notably, the vampire’s act of blood-drinking unambiguously resembles a sexual act, albeit one that implies that for one of the parties, who merge in a deadly ecstasy, this intensely intimate ritual risks becoming the last.

Nosferatu in this story symbolizes death itself, and his arrival in the sleepy German town heralds the arrival of the plague, which spreads with incredible speed. Paradoxically, the only way to combat this scourge in the decaying flesh is to acknowledge death, to meekly accept its cold embrace.Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal of Nosferatu significantly differs from the vampire Max Schreck and more resembles an dead version of another character, which also has a strong association with Ukraine. However, even in unrecognizable makeup, his powerful acting charisma is felt, and it’s worth noting separately that Skarsgård has done serious work with his voice. Lily-Rose Depp delivers perhaps the best performance of her career, masterfully executing any wild whims of the director.

Nicholas Hoult also seems fitting in the role of Thomas Hutter. The actor’s portrayal of unspeakable fear, as his character finds himself in the count’s castle and meets him, is transmitted to the viewer; the main thing is not to remember that Hoult played Dracula’s servant in the frivolous «Renfield» two years ago. Even more fitting is the slightly mad professor Albin Eberhard von Franz, played by the unparalleled Willem Dafoe — a sort of analogue Van Helsing from Bram Stoker’s novel. And how can one not mention Dafoe’s transformation into Count Orlok in «Shadow of the Vampire» (2000) — a film dedicated to the history of filming the immortal classic by Murnau.