Movie Review: Nosferatu

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A masterpiece of a horror film. 

Remaking a true classic like the 1922 Nosferatu is a very risky undertaking. However, Robert Eggers (The Witch (2015), The Lighthouse (2019), The Northman (2022)) is one of few directors I would trust with such a task. He certainly did not disappoint here as he directed a worthy companion to the silent classic. 

Being a modern horror movie, this film certainly has its fair share of gory and grotesque visuals. However, this is not the main source of the terror. This movie moves at a slower and more deliberate pace. It offers space between the typical movie scares. These spaces though are far from a time to feel safe or relax. Rather these moments are there to help build a real sense of dread. This film builds a dark and gothic atmosphere that makes sure we never once feel safe. The dread and unsettling-ness of this sense of atmosphere grows larger as the story moves. Because of this the scares never feel repetitive or lose their power but rather the movie grows more intense as it goes on. Much of the atmosphere comes from the wonderful visual style. While this movie is in color many of the most intense scenes use muted colors that give it a very noir inspired look. The contrast of these almost black and white scenes at night and the few bright and colorful sense during the day are jarring in a way that makes the film all the more unsettling. This movie may not have any iconic images of that will stay in our minds, but the whole film has a look the drags us into this dark and sinister world. The tension also builds from the growing intensity of Ellen's (our main protagonist) dreams and our growing understanding of why she is having these dreams. As we begin to understand the role she plays in this horror, the story becomes all the more unsettling. This is helped by a truly brilliant performance from a Lilly Rose-Depp, whose performance often made the film’s most unsettling moments much more effective. This is a tour de force of a performance and this young actress is more than up to the task for this complex role. The creepy filmmaking also allows some very sexual scenes to not come off as exploitative or pornographic but instead as deeply disturbing moments that add to the overall feel of horror and dread. 

This remake runs at a much longer runtime than the silent original. Yet this film actually uses this run time to its advantage. In fact, it even improves on the only real flaw of the original. In the original, the protagonists were rather bland and boring characters compared to the much more interesting villain. This remake uses its longer runtime to make its protagonists much more interesting characters. Over the course of the film, we grow very attached to these characters and really worry for their safety. This makes the film's ending even more emotional here. While the imagery in the original's finale may be more visually iconic, the ending in the remake is more emotionally powerful. Both endings are absolutely brilliant filmmaking though.

 That is what makes this movie so brilliant. It stands as its own film, while still being faithful to the original. Both the original and this movie are brilliant examples of horror filmmaking, but both have diffrent reasons for being essential viewing for cinephiles. 

-Michael J. Ruhland