Remakes and reboots are all over the place in the movie world nowadays. Remakes of movies that are over 100 years old however, pretty damn unique. Robert Eggers, the modern horror master behind The Witch and The Lighthouse is back with Nosferatu, a new imaging of F.W. Murnau's unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula.
The film follows Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp), a recently wed woman with a history of strange dreams whose husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) is sent to Romania to assist in the sale of a property in Germany to the wealthy Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard allegedly). His treacherous journey brings horror and misery upon Ellen as well as the Harding family with whom she is staying while Thomas is away.
Robert Eggers is the kind of director I can always trust to deliver something exciting, with each of his directorial efforts so far being brilliantly crafted and narratively unique. This is no different, offering what may just be his grandest film yet, boasting some of the craziest craft I've seen all year. Alongside his production and costume designers he brings to life a bleak and dreary vision of 1830s Germany that even without the titular Nosferatu manages to get under your skin. Jarin Blaschke who shot all of Eggers previous films may just be at his best here, conjuring up some truly crazy images and making incredible use of candlelight throughout the film. On the topic of crafts I also must applaud the makeup team. Bill Skarsgard is entirely unrecognizable as Orlok, to the point where people who have seen the film multiple times still don't believe that it's him under it all. As the film goes on and the horror is cranked up we are treated to some crazy gore, making this all around some of the most impressive makeup of the year.
Eggers is also a filmmaker that constantly impresses me with the performances he brings out of his actors. I wasn't sure what to expect from Lily-Rose Depp but she is phenomenal. Her performance is haunting and has an aggressive physicality to it at times that she absolutely killed. Nicholas Hoult is also really great, delivering not necessarily a leading man performance but one that can carry the scenes without Depp in them. Skarsgard is eerie as hell as Orlok, and truly transforms both physically and vocally for the role. Willem Dafoe is a ton of fun as an over the top doctor, and the trio of Aaron Taylor Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Ralph Ineson round out the terrific cast with a bunch of great performances.
If I were to point out flaws, there are ties between characters that are hinted at heavily but without any real reasoning for those ties. I wasn't too bothered by it but there are moments that admittedly had me scratching my head and asking a fair share of questions. There is also a moment or two where Orlok's lines are slightly goofy, but that's a very small nitpick. I really loved this, it's a piece of brilliant craft and terrific acting that come together to deliver one of the year's very best horror movies. 4.5/5
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