In 1897, Irish author Bram Stoker published the Gothic horror novel Dracula. It became a seminal piece of gothic fiction that, in turn, became the basis of two early film classics: F.W. Murnau’s classic silent German film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), and Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi.
There have been dozens and dozens of Dracula films over the years including Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) starring Klaus Kinski and Francis Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) starring Gary Oldman.
They are all versions of the same basic story and characters. Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is no exception. It is yet another re-telling of a very familiar tale. The difference here is that it is a version of the story told by the director of The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), who brings his own signature style to the table. He brings a cold, unsparing starkness to his films. The Witch was a movie with tons of atmosphere that put Eggers and his young star, Anya Taylor-Joy on everyone’s radar. It was raw, strange and genuinely creepy.
Eggers’ approach seemed to be a perfect fit for a Nosferatu remake. He certainly had a mastery of the horror genre and proved that he could bring a fresh new perspective to the material.
His cast included Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hunter, Nicholas Hoult as her husband, Thomas Hunter, Bill Skarsgârd as Count Orlok and Willem Dafoe (one of Eggers’ stars of The Lighthouse) as Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz.
From the opening reel, Nosferatu delivers what you would expect to see from Robert Eggers. The mood is appropriately dark, moody and cold. Color is washed away, replaced by a palate of blue and dark, black shadows. The art direction and sets reflect a stark realism for the setting and time period (Germany in the 1830s). It’s deliciously rich in detail and palpably scary.
As with many horror films, there is some teasing and delay in revealing the face of evil. The introduction begins with Count Orlok’s voice, which is distinctive and deep, separated by gasps of air. It’s effective, despite drawing immediate comparisons to the voice of the Grim Reaper in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983). Anyone who hasn’t seen the Python movie will never be bothered by it. People who have, might be tempted to chuckle.
A lot rides on the scariness of Count Orlok. He’s a major, iconic evil character in the history of cinema dating back to Max Schreck’s unforgettable, ghastly grotesqueness with his bald head, pointed ears, staring eyes, menacing teeth and long, spindly fingers.
There have been other versions of this character over the years including Gary Oldlman’s bizarre makeup in the Coppola Dracula film. One of the prime requisites of a Nosferatu movie is the horrifying appearance of the title character.
In the current film, he is presented as a towering, menacing figure seen briefly naked as he rises out of his tomb. It’s a shocking moment. But then close-ups of his face reveal demonic eyes (scary) and a thick moustache that looks something between Frank Zappa and Jim Carrey’s villain character in the Sonic Hedgehog movies (definitely not scary).
Scariness is in the eye of the beholder. Some may not have a problem with the creative choices, but it seems to run counter to the appearance of this character in a silent film made 102 years ago.
That is not to say that other elements of the film are not scary. There are plenty of scurrying rats and vicious, animalistic biting and blood-drinking. At one point, a pigeon head is bitten off in a squirting blood close-up.
As mentioned, there is an erotic element throughout Nosferatu, something that is usually only alluded to in earlier vampire and Dracula films due to movie codes and ratings. Sex, nudity and primal passion are all part of this re-telling.
What sets this Nosferatu apart from the movies that have come before is atmosphere and style. If you’re a fan of Robert Eggers’ brand of filmmaking, you’re likely to embrace this latest re-imagining of a very familiar tale that was a 19th century novel and a silent film milestone that can still make chills run up and down your spine.