Nosferatu (2024)

Nosferatu: This One’s For The Real Freaks | 4.5/5 Stars

Written by Noah Dietz: 12/30/2024

I have, to date, had only good experiences with Eggers’ filmography. From watching a used DVD of The VVitch late one night to having my senses assaulted by the soundtrack of The Northman in theaters, I had nothing but excitement when it was announced that his next film would be a remake of Nosferatu.

In preparation for the release, some friends and I decided to watch all the big name vampire films we could find. One that we watched was Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu: The Vampyre, which is simultaneously an adaptation of the 1922 original film, but also with a dash of the source material in the Dracula novel. Walking into the theater for Eggers’ film, I was wondering what he would end up drawing from the most.

I am thrilled to be able to report that Nosferatu 2024 is an erotic, nasty, gross film full of fluids, gulping, and rats. And I’m even more thrilled to report that I really enjoyed it.

Quite quickly, it’s clear that Eggers is a fan of Herzog’s rendition of the story. Many scenes and settings should be very familiar to anyone who watched the 1979 version, and I think that is to the benefit of the film as a whole. What makes this rather funny is that Eggers said in an interview that he intentionally didn’t rewatch Herzog’s film to avoid taking too much inspiration from it. While a lot of the front half of this film could seem to be a tuned-in remake of Herzog’s film, Eggers’ deft use of light and framing elevates every scene that’s recognizable into a beast of its own. Each moment hangs in an oppressive haze of smoke, candlelight, and a fantastic soundtrack courtesy of Robin Carolan (the man behind the domineering drums of The Northman) that forces you to commit yourself to the film or be left behind in the dust of its funeral march.

A personal favorite shot of mine from Thomas’ journey to Castle Orlok

Truly, and in a move that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, the visuals are the strongest part of the film. I can’t overstate how Eggers’ commitment to natural lighting works in this film. There was a possibility that it would fall victim to the “Netflix lighting problem” where the world lives in indistinguishable flat grey darkness. Instead, the night scenes are filled with a frigid, blue light, which contrasts beautifully with the warm, candlelit interiors. I can’t speak to how this will work when we hit home video vs The Big Screen, but in a theater you can still see every little detail you could ask for; even in the depths of the Transylvanian forest.

Our cast completes the experience, with each of them delivering stellar performances across the board. One that crept up on me was Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The despair he conveys as the rapidly fraying Friedrich Harding was something that rapidly grew on me throughout my first viewing, and left me incredibly excited to revisit it on my second. Additionally, Lily Rose-Depp has a face made for silent film. She manages to balance the fear and despair Ellen Hutter is plagued by; she is the glue that keeps all the pieces of this film together. Both as the inciting incident and the eventual solution, she keeps a commanding presence in the film without feeling unbalanced in the narrative. The entirety of the rest of our cast also delivers in every way I could hope for. We were all excited to hear Willem Dafoe was going to be here, and even while playing the very eccentric Professor Von Franz he manages to keep balanced with the rest of what’s going on.

I’ve seen a slew of criticisms and complaints about this movie due to the pacing or “style over substance” approach people consider Eggers to fall subject to, but those aren’t problems I have with it. I think this is a very strong adaptation of a classic horror film, with minimal things I would change to make it “perfect” for me. The increased time in the limelight for Ellen was a pleasant addition, and being able to fill in the side characters outside of Thomas and the Professor lent a greater level of tragedy to a film that is already steeped in misery. While perhaps a touch longer than it needed to be, I would happily watch this a third time.

At time of writing, Nosferatu is available to be watched in theaters worldwide.