Nosferatu
Starring Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult
Rated M
4.5/5
The fourth film from writer-director Robert Eggers, Nosferatu is a tremendously tense horror masterpiece.
In 1838, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), a young estate agent, travels to Transylvania to sell a manor to Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard), but the vampiric count hungers for Thomas’s wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp).
Now an iconic horror property in its own right, the silent 1922 original was an unauthorised, unlicensed adaptation of Dracula with all the names changed. The 1979 remake was directed by Werner Herzog and stars Klaus Kinski, whose volatile partnership ranged from deep respect to violent hatred.
The first act of Eggers’ Nosferatu, as Thomas brokers the estate contract in Orlok’s gloomy castle, has the brilliantly unnerving ambience of a nightmare: uncomfortable situations of inhuman logic, which Thomas must endure for the sake of his job and decorum. With enthralling dialogue and shocking moments of gore, Eggers wields incredible layered suspense throughout the narrative, conjuring an ever-tightening dread as plague sweeps the city, Ellen weakens and slips into madness and Orlok closes in on his prey. The film features an intriguing dual colour palette of moonlit, almost black-and-white blues and fiery oranges, with the latter often reflecting Orlok’s influence or those working against him.
The cast is universally excellent, with Willem Dafoe both eccentric and formidable as Professor Von Franz, but Depp and Skarsgard are the standouts. Like with Pennywise in It, Skarsgard vanishes into his grotesque role as Count Orlok, and Depp delivers a performance just as heartbreaking, scary and physically committed as Nell Tiger Free in The First Omen or Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in The Substance.
Playing in most Victorian cinemas, consider Nosferatu a late second or third place in my list of 2024’s best films.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
