Nosferatu, released December 25, 2024, directed by Robert Eggers, is a re-imagining of the 1922 silent film. The movie is impressively both beautiful and unsettling. Due to outstanding cinematography, amazing acting performances, and brilliant world building the movie was able to keep my attention over its two-hour runtime. Taking place in the 1830s in Wilsborg, Germany, the film follows Ellen, whose loneliness leads her to be haunted by Count Orlok. Although that’s a short description to avoid spoilers, the movie has so much depth and has some great characters and world-building.
The theme that stands out the most to me in this movie is desire; every character in the film desires something. The three most obvious are Count Orlok who desires to eat flesh, Thomas who desires money, and Ellen who desires physical touch. These desires all end up bad for these characters. Even though Ellen just wants to be with Thomas and pleads to him that she doesn’t want a better life, Thomas lets the desire for money drive him to go on the trip to leave Ellen by herself and Ellen being alone is what leads Orlok to her in the first place.
Lily-Rose Depp is excellent as Ellen Hutter. Her acting was very impressive, especially in some more unsettling scenes. She is great as the central protagonist and she is easy to feel bad for because she didn’t do anything wrong. She was just lonely and didn’t deserve everything that happened in the film. Count Orlok used seduction and psychological torment to manipulate Ellen. Ellen and Count Orlok’s relationship is a clear metaphor on how deceitful and manipulative men will often prey on vulnerable and lonely women.
Bill Skarsgård is brilliant as Count Orlok. Although I’m not a fan of the mustache, the makeup and prosthetics used to get Bill to look that way are amazing. Even though he is such a menacing character it was hard to take him seriously at times because of his mustache which was distracting to me at times. Bill does an excellent job with the voice of Count Orlok. Nicholas Hoult also gave an amazing performance in this film. I wasn’t the biggest fan of his character but his acting was exceptional.
Most of the movie was filmed during the day and the crew used a computer to get the visual effects that they wanted in post-production. The scenery was so good in this movie that I was often left speechless at the cinematography. The film reportedly used over 2,000 live rats, it is very apparent in some scenes, assuming this is true. Visually this film is beautiful even with it being so dark. I love the Gothic tone in this movie. Sometimes I do think it is a bit too dark but overall visually I can’t complain this film is fantastic in that aspect. “I Saw the TV Glow” is the only film that was released in 2024 that I saw that can compete with Nosferatu visually for me.
Nosferatu was one of my most anticipated films of 2024 and it did not disappoint. Although I do think the story does follow too many characters and feels like too much at times, I understand it because the book was like that. Although upon my first viewing of the film I was confused, I think now after going back to it I appreciate it even more and understand it more. I recommend this movie but not to everyone. To some people, this movie will inevitably feel too long, too complicated, and too boring. If you are a fan of horror, vampire, or Robert Eggers then this is a film for you.
