| Worth seeing: | as a suitably creepy remake of the Dracula-inspired 1920s horror of the same name |
| Director: | Robert Eggers |
| Featuring: | Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Ralph Ineson, Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Simon McBurney |
| Length: | 132 minutes |
| Certificate: | 15 |
| Country: | US |
| Released: | 1st January 2025 |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
In 1830s Germany, Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is keen to make a better life for him and his young wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) so he accepts an unconventional job; his boss Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) is helping a mysterious client, Count Orlock (Bill Skarsgård), buy a property on the outskirts of town, but he wants to sign the contract in his own home, in the far off land of Transylvania – so he sends Thomas to get the signature.
After many months of traveling through a harsh winter, Thomas’ relief at arriving is quickly displaced by shock and fear as the menacing Orlock drinks his blood when he cuts his hand on a bread-knife, before baffling him with occult-related documents and locking him away in the dungeon of his dingy, spartan mountain-top castle.
Thomas starts having nightmares about Ellen in danger and manages to escape and make his way home, but Orlock has made the same journey – with the same woman in his sights. And he has brought with him a deadly plague, which starts tearing the town apart.
By the time Thomas gets home, Ellen has been suffering seizures and her doctor Wilhelm (Ralph Ineson) is unable to help her, so he calls on a local academic, Professor von Franz (Willem Dafoe), who has been shunned by the scientific community for his belief in the occult.
Thomas, Wilhelm and von Franz set out to find and kill Orlock to save Ellen and the town – but Orlock seems to be a step ahead and is determined to win back the heart of Ellen that he believes was promised to him, many years earlier.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
After some of the grittiest and creepiest films of the past decade, the American horror director Robert Eggers gives us his interpretation of the 1922 film of the same name, itself inspired by Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula.
The horror comes not from outright scares but the ratcheting up of the unnerving atmosphere that comes from the building of his gothic world; he drains colour from the world like a vampire drains blood, dread drips from every frame and menace hangs in the air like rotting flesh, as the inevitability of the impending terror hovers before our very eyes.
Nosferatu is a story about fate, honour and loyalty – often misplaced. As Orlock himself seeks to claim his rightful bride, there are depraved characters who rejoice at the death that follows in his wake – there are others who know that their own suffering is required to save others – there are those who are shunned for believing – and others who would rather preserve their own sanity than help those in need around them.
Lily-Rose Depp is magnetic at the heart of this tragedy, while Nicholas Hoult is admirable as her hapless husband. Simon McBurney is increasingly frightening, with Bill Skarsgård a constantly chilling presence. Willem Dafoe also shines as the misunderstood scientist, who’s following his own agenda. But the characters of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin are somewhat underwritten and consequently, rather underplayed.
While the overall story is bursting with portent, much of the horror comes from the sense of menace rather than anything obvious that you can dig your fangs into – it’s an uncomfortable watch, but it will probably be more uncomfortable, the more open you are to accepting the chills. The more disturbed you are, the more disturbing you’ll find the film.