Charlotte Smith
Nosferatu, written and directed by Robert Eggers, is a beautifully grotesque vampire horror that doesn’t conform to its typical conventions.
Lily-Rose Depp stars as the main protagonist of the film, Ellen Hutter. Her dreams are invaded by Count Orlok’s (Bill Skarsgard) desire for her sexual affection. Ellen’s husband Thomas Hutter, played by Nicholas Hoult, travels to Transylvania to work on a business deal with Count Orlok. Subsequently he finds himself plagued by Orlok’s desire for his wife. In desperation to save Ellen, Thomas sources help from a local doctor and a professor, Albin Eberhart Von Franz, portrayed by Willem Dafoe.
Performances
Despite fans being worried that Anya Taylor-Joy wasn’t playing Ellen, Depp perfectly captured Ellen’s fear and desire purely through the sadness in her eyes and her delivery of lines. Depp conveyed her feelings perfectly when asking Albin Eberhart von Franz, “Professor, My dreams grow darker. Does evil come from within us or from beyond?”
Dafoe’s role as Albin Eberhart von Franz was not to be missed. Dafoe has a skill for encapsulating the madness and psyche of the characters he plays. The line delivered by Dafoe, “I have seen things in this world that would have made Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother’s womb!”, sent the cinema into hysterics.
Thomas gains a considerable amount of screentime in Eggers’ film and his character’s terror is executed brilliantly by Hoult. On entrance to Count Orlok’s Transylvanian mansion, we see that Thomas will be exposed to an immense amount of trauma. This got audiences on the edge of their seats immersed in his fear and performance.
“Orlok is terrifyingly twisted and monstrous in comparison to his desired lover Ellen”
Skarsgard, renowned for his previously fearful role of Pennywise did not disappoint. With images of Orlok being unseen in the trailers, many were intrigued to see Eggers’s depiction of the vampire. Orlok is terrifyingly twisted and monstrous in comparison to his desired lover Ellen. The presence of Skarsgard is dripped slowly into the film which successfully evokes fear and curiosity towards the character.
Simon McBurney deserves a notable mention in his performance as Herr Knock, the boss of Thomas who sends him on his mission and a key cog in the machine to execute Orlok’s plan. Following his aberration to Orlok, the grotesque scene of Herr viciously gnawing off the head of a live pigeon sent the theatre into shock and horror, served by his astounding performance.
Did the remake satisfy fans?
Although the plot closely follows Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, the remake allows viewers to follow the story of Ellen and Thomas with less emphasis on Count Orlok. Thomas, as an estate broker, sets off the chain of events on his business excursion to Orlok’s mansion, which offers less focus on the pure desire felt towards Ellen.
“Eggers captured the cinematic beauty of modern horror”
The 1922 version as a silent film is equally much shorter than Eggers’ version. The added dialogue and extension into the character’s psyche adds an extra hour to the film, providing more context for the modern viewer.
Eggers captured the cinematic beauty of modern horror by interchanging from black and white film to a deep setting. For me this represented the change in the industry from the films’ older versions being in black and white. The hint of colour was a reminder of how our interpretations have developed over time.
Despite the 2024 version receiving a mixed bag of reviews from viewers, the cinematic beauty, star performances and Eggers’ interpretation of the vampire horror met all expectations.
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Featured image courtesy of Celine Ylmz on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.
