Review - Nosferatu (2024)

 Image: Focus Features via Collider (2024)

I am not a huge horror buff. I am also not hugely into Robert Eggers. Nothing against either, simply not my personal favorite genre or filmmaker. The new Nosferatu film has probably changed that.

Robert Eggers is the kind of director that really makes the most of space, as can be seen in The VVitch and The Lighthouse, where he manages to fit a sense of expansion and emotional vastness in small spaces, as to provide the feeling of claustrophobia-borne madness, but also fill those spaces with detail, texture, and rich atmosphere. Even The Northman is mostly set within the same village, but it feels like Prince Amleth has to cross a whole nation to get his revenge. Therefore, it makes sense that Eggers would not only nail a classic Gothic horror story like Dracula- I mean Nosferatu, but also revel and indulge in all that his style allows in what is easily his biggest film, the grandest in terms of scale, detail, and production. It might also be his best one so far, timeless and ethereal in a way his other films aren’t, as he draws from both the original Murnau film and the Herzog film in terms of visuals and cues like shadows and the deep, rich blues, but he also somehow makes even the expansive landscapes and the aerial shots of Wisburg have a tangibility despite being so obviously fantastic. The lonely Castle Orlok feels real. The shot of Orlok’s shadowy claw going through the rooftops feels like a human hand, the hand of an artist, projecting a shadow over miniatures. It’s yesterday’s cinema with today’s technology and the aesthetic tastes of Robert Eggers. Like, this film and story is so perfectly Eggers, it’s kinda weird. It feels dumb to commend a film for being the perfect creation of a director, but most filmmakers that have reached the same level of prestige and visibility as Eggers don’t normally get this sort of freedom, or Eggers just knows how to play the game better.

Incredible photography, score, and production design. Again, Eggers and his team are clearly very detail-oriented artisans, and it shows down to the stitches in a nightgown, the grime in Count Orlok’s coffin, the putrefaction of the plague-ridden bodies. The detail extends to the performances: the entire cast is amazing, especially an unrecognizable Bill Skarsgård in his most recent addition to his gallery of creepy and menacing weirdos in a role that cements him as one of the all-time great talents of the genre. Hoult is having an incredible moment in his career in a role that seems tailored for him, Taylor-Johnson, Dafoe, and Ineson round out the cast quite nicely, and the immensely talented Emma Corrin is sadly relegated to a utilitarian role that is a bit thankless. Simon McBurney is one of the more underrated elements of this ensemble as the manic Herr Knock. But the real highlight, to everyone’s surprise and delight, is Lily-Rose Depp in an extremely demanding, physical, volatile role.

However, the biggest victory of Nosferatu might just be the vibes, and that’s all Eggers. You never lose the sense that the film is as seductive and grotesque and its title character, enthralling and disturbing as a plague-bearing vampire. There’s a sense of purpose, of something deliberate and wonderful, that lets you know you are watching an artist at work. Watch in on a big screen. Watch it with your friends. Watch it in IMAX if you can. It’s truly remarkable and a triumph.

The 2024 version of Nosferatu is a triumph of Gothic horror filmmaking and a massive achievement for Robert Eggers, an extremely atmospherically powerful movie with incredible performances. 🤩