NOSFERATU
****
Directed by Robert Eggers.
Starring Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult. Horror, US, 133 minutes, Certificate 15.
Released in cinemas in the UK by Universal on January 1st 2025
It has all been leading up to this. After directing a high school play at seventeen years old, a big screen adaptation has always been on the cards for Robert Eggers. Originally planned a decade ago before making such an impression with THE VVITCH, it’s safe to say that this particular figure who has made such an impact on cinematic history since his debut over one hundred years ago could be cited as an obsession for Eggers. Now, after a trio of distinct genre films that trade deeply in historical detail and magical arcana, the writer-director has finally been given a chance to realise his vision. After the perceived box office disappointment of THE NORTHMAN, the stakes are high enough, especially considering this is a story the majority of us all know beat by beat, inside and out. Do we really need yet another adaptation of Dracula?
It’s the telling of the tale that will justify such an exercise. As we all know by now Eggers can certainly do that, putting his own distinctive stamp on F. W. Murnau’s spin on Bram Stoker’s immortal tale, while retaining the classic beats that have sustained its popularity over the years. The basic storyline remains intact; young estate agent Thomas is tasked to travel far across Europe to visit the shadowy Count Orlok who wishes to buy property nearby but Orlok has designs on Thomas's wife Ellen, who suffers from terrible visions of a supernatural creature coming to claim her. Eggers expansive vision goes deeper than Murnau’s original and Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake as to why Orlok is so fixated on Ellen and the effects that this has had on the young woman her whole life, while also finding the time to delve into its supporting characters more amid all manner of period and occult detail.
The threat of Orlok himself, played menacingly by a completely unrecognisable Bill Skarsgård, threatens to spill out far beyond the confines of a simple love triangle into something far more dire. Skarsgård’s overpowering, near primal performance and rotting appearance is in complete contrast to Max Schreck and Klaus Kinski’s elegant characterisation of the figure. Completely unsettling in both appearance and nature, there is no seductive nature at play here which makes his relationship with Ellen the more horrific, tuning it into a more current wavelength that never feels like it is taking advantage of hot button topics for the sake of relevance. It brings the more troubling aspects of the one sided relationship screaming into the light, laying bare the misogyny at the heart of the character. Despite the 15 certificate, this aspect is explored in disturbing detail making this Eggers most horrific film yet despite its crowd pleasing, propulsive blood and thunder approach.
Aside from Orlok there is more horrific imagery, captured beautifully through the immensely impressive set design and Jarin Blaschke’s next level cinematography, sometimes illuminated by nothing but candle light alone. Easily the most visually impressive vampire film since Coppola’s BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, it manages to cut its own distinctive path directly into our retinas.
The performances are also more than up to the task of matching the visual style. Previous Eggers collaborators Ralph Ineson and Willem Dafoe provide fun supporting turns with Dafoe especially chewing up the scenery in a return to familiar territory after portraying Max Schreck/Orlok himself in 2001’s SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, a film that now seems to have vanished unfairly into obscurity. Most surprising is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Friedrich, a supporting character given more life and agency than before as his life and family become caught up in Orlok’s reign of terror while Simon McBurney’s take on the Renfield archetype Knock also makes its own distinctive mark.
Despite all these impressive elements though, it is Lily-Rose Depp who makes the biggest impression here with her revelatory performance as Ellen. Once earmarked for Anya Taylor- Joy, another previous collaborator of Eggers, it is hard to imagine anyone else in this role in this particular adaptation. While bringing out the true tragic nature of her character to the fore she also manages to deliver a truly extraordinary physical performance that brings to mind the more disturbing possession aspects of THE VVITCH as well as the societally forbidden expressions of sexuality of the time given free rein in a disturbing yet ultimately liberating manner. There has been nothing in the actress’s previous work that has really hinted at what she is truly capable of, so it is thrilling indeed to see her talent unleashed here in a manner that is sometimes reminiscent of Isabelle Adjani, although not from the French actresses portrayal of Ellen in Herzog’s adaptation, but her immortally disturbing role as Anna in POSSESSION.
In a festive season that sees cinemas populated by more bland musicals and kid friendly franchise entries than ever before this really is a dark treat that deserves to be seen and experienced on as big a screen as you can find. Big budget horror is a rare experience, especially when done so impressively and spectacularly. Even though we may think we know the whole story, Eggers may have just given the final definitive statement on its true nature here to massively scary and entertaining effect.
Iain MacLeod
