Movie Review: Nosferatu

The third significant version of the story, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu proves to be a traditional gothic tale of horror that is simultaneously entertaining and beautiful as well.

The story centers around a young woman, played by Lily-Rose Depp, whose fiancé (played by Nicholas Hoult), is charged with selling a forgotten property to a mysterious Count (Bill Skarsgård) who happens to be a vampire obsessed with the aforementioned young woman.

Written by Eggers, the film captures the spirit of its forbearers – Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) and Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) – while also staking its own claim to a place of honor within the genre. Given the beauty and depth of the film, it is easy to envision it being studied as a work of some importance for years to come and perhaps inspiring future filmmakers to enter the fray themselves.

With this film, Eggers has now directed four wholly original and provocative films – The Northman (2022), The Lighthouse (2019), and The Witch (2015) – to date. While Nosferatu may not be his best work to date, it is certainly his most elegant and its place within his canon would certainly be debatable. Without a doubt, the simple act of remaking something as revered as this film with this level of success gives credence to any argument claiming that Eggers is one of the most important filmmakers at work today. His is a vision that seems destined to move the field forward in one way or another.

The cinematography, courtesy of Jarin Blaschke, captures the melancholy of the haunted spirit of the main actress and succeeds in recreating the macabre foreboding of early German horror films that one could argue were the architects of most modern horror imagery. This is a film that honors its predecessors instead of cannibalizing them and it works wonders as such.

Lily-Rose Depp in “Nosferatu.” © Focus Features

Although it takes a little bit of time for Skarsgård’s vampire to surface, when he does, he steals the film with very limited screen time. Meanwhile, Hoult, Depp, and Willem Dafoe (as the world’s foremost authority on vampires) are charged with shouldering the bulk of the narrative weight and they carry this out wonderfully. Rarely in films of this ilk do the victims prove to be the more likable characters, but here they are and the film shines because of it.

While it may not be the last film to bear the name Nosferatu, it may prove to be one of the most original and evocative. Regardless, it certainly heralds a new breed of horror film from one of the leading filmmakers currently working within the genre.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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