Nosferatu: 2025 begins under the banner of horror and gothic. Starting January 1, 2025, Universal Pictures will release Nosferatu, the new film by Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman), a remake of the 1922 film by F.W. Murnau and the 1979 film directed by Werner Herzog, starring Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin. The film is a remake of Murnau's cult film, but it is also a personal and reinterpreted version of the figure of one of the most iconic vampires in history. Thanks to Universal Pictures Italia, we were able to participate in the national preview of the film, and below we report our opinion.
Nosferatu Movie Story:
Germany, 1838. Thomas Hutter and his wife Ellen are a young couple who live happily in the city of Wisborg. Hutter works for Knock, a real estate agent who sends him to the mountains of Transylvania, in the Carpathians, to finalize the sale of an estate with Count Orlok. After a complicated and sinister journey full of chilling experiences to close the lucrative deal, Hutter, after being received by the disturbing Count Orlok, discovers the mark of the fangs on his chest and will soon understand that the Count is actually a vampire.
Nosferatu Movie Review:
Nosferatu lives of a long cinematographic tradition. In reality, the figure of Dracula has been brought to the cinema several times, but the first to whom the appearance of vampires in the cinema is attributed is Murnau with his silent masterpiece of 1922 "Nosferatu" which draws on the story of Dracula by modifying settings and places (copyright problems). In 1979, Herzog's "Nosferatu" was released, a remake of Murnau's film, this time with characters that follow the names of the original novel, but immersed in the atmospheres that made the 1922 film great.
The adaptations then followed over the years. Unforgettable that of Tod Browning with Bela Lugosi in the role of Contre Dracula or that of Francis Ford Coppola with an extraordinary Gary Oldman and an enchanting Winona Ryder. In 2024 Robert Eggers arrives, with his personal reinterpretation of the cinema classic, which promises (and delivers) a total immersion in the gothic atmospheres of the story, not without some imperfections especially from the point of view of the writing.
Filmed primarily at Barrandov Studios in Prague, with locations including Corvin Castle in Transylvania, Pernštejn Castle, Rožmitál pod Třemšínem and the Invalidovna complex in the Czech Republic, and the German city of Lübeck, Nosferatu demonstrates Eggers’ intent to create a horror story by setting it as much as possible in the places where it was imagined. It is no coincidence that Eggers is obsessive with history and the historical settings of his films, we have learned this from his past films which, despite having a horror/fantasy structure, have never failed to respect the historical truthfulness of the settings, customs, and ways of life, and with Nosferatu, he is absolutely no exception.
Disturbing and dense atmospheres, strongly gothic, are perhaps the best part of a film that owes its success to an impeccable artistic and technical side, made not only of historical research but of deep knowledge of the camera and wise use of colors that range from German Expressionism (like its original) to decidedly more modern techniques.
The sets themselves are inspired by German expressionism, tracing the places that made Orlok famous and his ways of revealing himself to spectators through the use of light and shadow. The sequence of the appearance of the carriage that will take Thomas to the castle is magnificent. However, some scenes make extensive use of CGI, especially in the second part, which ruins that real and dirty visual sensation that had been created up to that point and which is the basis of Eggers' cinema, which prefers a more artisanal than the digital approach in the staging.
Orlok himself, at the moment of his arrival in the town of Wisborg, loses those shadowy and terrifying movements that had characterized him up to that point to approach movements closer to contemporary horror cinema. Jarin Blaschke, Eggers' director of photography, makes light and shadows not only a means to tell the story but makes them the real protagonists of the scenes, dominated by cold and desaturated colors, thus making the photographic side the best technical aspect of the entire project. The pace of the film is deliberately slow, capable of immersing the viewer in every second, it's a shame that the second part undergoes an unjustified acceleration that makes you lose many of the interesting themes that the film had started to move. The soundtrack is curated by Mark Korven and just like the light, the sound also becomes central, becoming a character capable of creating more tension than the monster itself.
But let's get to the sore points. Although Nosferatu is full of well-known characters from the world star system, unfortunately not all of these names manage to shine. Starting from the protagonist, Lily Rose-Depp, even if trying to hold a performance that is not at all simple, the actress does not always manage to reach the required drama. In some scenes, she is definitely overacting so rather than being dramatic she descends into pathetic. The unrecognizable Bill Skarsgård, now a master of disguise, while giving a terrifying and icy Count Orlok, especially in the first part of the film, with an impressive work on the voice, might not convince at the moment of "revelation"; the hand of an Eggers too tied to historical truthfulness here misfired a bit.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson seems to have lost his love for acting for a while, resulting only in the handsome guy of the moment and little else. Too bad for the character of Emma Corrin who, if she had enjoyed a greater depth, could have given much more. Fully centered in their roles instead a very good Nicholas Hoult with a performance that is not only dramatic but also physical and a Willem Dafoe as usual in dazzling form, here at the third collaboration with Robert Eggers.
But the problem of Lily-Rose Depp is not strictly linked only to her performance but to her character in general. The deepening of the psychological aspects of Ellen is a novelty for the story of Nosferatu. Ellen's trauma, important not only for the film's progression but also to exemplify the relationship between Ellen and Orlok, is often used to amplify the scenic drama and justify the woman's actions, thus being poorly investigated and explored despite the importance of the latter.
It is shown to viewers only through the use of short flashbacks that do little to delve into such an important theme as hysteria and sexual liberation at that time. Ellen survives thanks to the trauma, the trauma is the only thing that generates power for her and this is limiting. The suffering is therefore reduced to a mere narrative tool without a real exploration, falling into outdated narratological schemes.
Nosferatu by Robert Eggers is an excellent film from a technical point of view and one of the best contemporary remakes of a horror cult. Technicalities that could however prove to be an end in themselves when one delves into a screenplay that would somehow modernize the story of one of the most iconic vampires in history but ends up falling into narrative schemes that are already outdated. Historical accuracy aside, a characteristic that could make one turn up one’s nose especially when the “monster” is revealed, the film is studded with stars from the acting scene, but not all of them are on target. If Nicholas Hoult and Willem Dafoe shine, the same cannot be said for Lily-Rose Depp, in a uselessly overacting performance, and a listless Aaron Taylor-Johnson.