Visionary horror director Robert Eggers is back with his highly-anticipated reimagining of F.W. Murnau's Expressionist milestone Nosferatu, starring Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult. A long-gestating passion project of Eggers', this film was originally to be his sophomore effort after the unexpected success of The Witch, but Eggers felt he wasn't yet ready to tackle such a monumental piece. Murnau's original film is what inspired Eggers to become a filmmaker in the first place, and he even directed a stage version in high school, complete with black and white imagery and makeup, and dialogue cards. So there was a lot riding on this project and Eggers wanted to really put in the time developing it properly.
This version of Nosferatu pulls no punches, both in terms of atmospheric dread and grisly imagery. True to Robert Eggers form, the sense of dread is oppressive from the opening prologue, where we see a young Ellen make a lonely pact with an evil spirit in the form of the titular vampire. Unique to this version of the story, the heroine is bound to this parasitic creature all along and is long tormented by visions of death and doom. Years later her husband Thomas Hutter, a Wisborg real estate clerk, is sent to Transylvania to execute the purchase of an old ruined building by the mysterious Count Orlok, and the transaction awakens Orlok to the existence of the young girl he encountered all those years ago. From there bedlam ensues as Orlok makes his way to Wisborg, bringing plague and demonic possession.
The narrative is of course based on Murnau, but Eggers brings in plenty of Stoker's ideas as well, plus some inspiration from Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 adaptation. For example the image of Hutter's carriage approaching Orlok's castle is a nod to both Coppola and the classic 1931 Tod Browning film, while a later scene in Orlok's Wisborg house closely resembles Coppola. The supporting characters are fleshed out much more than in either Murnau's or Werner Herzog's versions; Hutter's friend Friedrich Harding and his wife Anna, and the local doctor Wilhelm Sievers are clear parallels to Stoker's Arthur Holmwood, Lucy Westenra and Dr. Seward, while Ellen Hutter's character contains elements of both Mina Harker and Lucy. I'd actually love to see Eggers do a straight-up Dracula adaptation as well.
The visuals in this film are simply stunning, from Jarin Blaschke's painterly cinematography to the immersive, authentic art direction. We are plunged into this setting from the opening moments, treated to picturesque landscapes and claustrophobic castles, all with a perfect blend of the naturalistic and Expressionist. Eggers mostly used real locations and elaborate sets, but had them lit in such a way that they feel surreal and offputting. There are numerous visual moments in this film that look almost exactly as I picture their counterparts in the novel, including to a certain extent the Count himself.
The filmmakers have shrewdly kept Count Orlok's appearance a secret throughout the marketing, only allowing a brief, murky glimpse in the trailer and on the initial poster. Bill Skarsgard is unrecognizable as this ancient, rotting Romanian nobleman, his dead eyes barely visible from an egg-shaped skull, with hooked nose and matted moustache that conceals a row of jagged teeth. Instead of the black trench coat we're used to seeing in Nosferatu, Eggers has Orlok dressed in a massive fur-lined cloak, true to 15th century garb. Both Max Schreck in 1922 and Klaus Kinski in 1979 were rodent-like and unattractive vampires, but Skarsgard's Orlok is positively revolting. Skarsgard trained with an opera coach to lower his voice an octave and imbue his speech with shades of Mongolian throat singing and labored breathing; this Count sounds truly otherworldly and undead.
The supporting performances are all very strong as well, from Hoult's open-faced, guilt-ridden Hutter to Aaron Taylor-Johnson's bravado as Harding, to Simon McBurney's demented Herr Knock, to Willem Dafoe's near-unhinged Professor Von Franz. But Lily-Rose Depp is the star of the film, delivering a physically demanding performance as Ellen grapples with the vampire's curse. Between her nightmare-inspired anguish and violent convulsions as Orlok manipulates her body, Depp conveys it all with tangible agony reminiscent of The Exorcist. Her work here is worthy of award nominations.
With Nosferatu, Robert Eggers has taken both a classic story and an immortal piece of cinema and put his own stamp on the material, much as Werner Herzog did in 1979. This is as much an Eggers film as it is a remake of Murnau. The film never lets up, piling on the tension and dismay, coupled with deeply harrowing imagery. This version of the Dracula character is unlike any we've ever seen on film, a grotesque, animalistic Count devoid of pathos or humanity, whose presence casts a pall on the story even when offscreen.
I give Nosferatu ***1/2 out of ****.
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