M, 132 minutes
3 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
A remake of a silent film released in Germany over a century ago and now a recognised classic has a lot riding on it. The images from Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, of the vampiric silhouette climbing the stairs, of his ghoulish, spectral figure rising from his coffin, have become templates for the genre. Who could go one better?
Even Werner Herzog, a more individualistic and eccentric filmmaker than most, made his Nosferatu movie a homage to the F. W. Murnau original. Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani adorned the title roles.
In 1922, Murnau was himself borrowing from folklore and popular fiction, and acknowledged his debt to Bram Stoker’s 1897 epistolatory novel Dracula in the credits, just changing the names of the location and characters. Stoker’s novel had itself been adapted from various vampiric novels that were in circulation. It goes around, and comes around.
Not only was the original Nosferatu by Murnau a rich and defining source of gothic horror tropes for generations to come, it was also a hugely influential example of the Expressionist aesthetic. Emphasising states of mind and inner feeling, German expatriate directors in Hollywood like Murnau and Fritz Lang had a major impact there for years to come, especially in film noir thrillers and the like.
Lily-Rose Depp’s compelling performance, showing her range, grounds the movie
Coming from a background in production design, the American writer-director of this version, Robert Eggers, brings the right professional credentials to the eternal vampire story. His respectful remake fleshes out the bones of the Murnau original, with more attention to the human characters and less empathy for the poor, lonely vampiric Count from Carpathia. It may even enhance the shock and dread of a very familiar narrative in the scenes at the Roma village when a driverless horse-drawn carriage picks Hutter up along the road. An autonomous vehicle if ever there was one.
Instead of Bremen the drama is located in Wisberg, a fictional mid-19th century German port city where everyday life is rendered in sepia tones as nature is stripped of its vitality. Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) is newly married and in the early flush of youth but her appearance is wan, and the flowers in her bonnet are wilted and fading. The stage is being set for unnatural events to come, harbingers of plague.
Historical detail matters for Eggers. His rationale for the attention to detail is that the audiences will be more inclined to accept the influence of archaic superstitions and beliefs if the locations are convincingly established and authentic to the times, when believing in vampires and the occult was widespread before the ascendancy of science.
As dawn breaks and the world returns to rights in closing scenes, what does this 21st century Nosferatu have to say?
His film looks great. Much was shot on location in Prague with production designer, Craig Lathrop, who worked with him on The Lighthouse and The Northman, also films with a powerful visual aesthetic. The fashions worn by Ellen and her friend, Anna (Emma Corrin), make a significant impression too, suggesting fears and longings.
Depp has the space to show her full range as Ellen, the melancholic, psychologically disturbed young wife mourning her husband’s absence early in their marriage. Her compelling performance grounds the film, playing its contradictions one against the other with plausible nuance. She loves and desires her husband, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), but they cannot yet afford to have a child.
A complicating factor is of course her desire for the vampire, and he wants her. As Count Orlok, a regular-looking Bill Skarsgard follows in the footsteps of Max Schreck and Klaus Kinski, with big shoes to fill, but he and Willem Dafoe and the rest of the ensemble are all well cast.
Everyone familiar with this classic vampire narrative will know the plot points, but it has been tweaked here and there. In keeping with contemporary attitudes, Ellen is less the swooning victim this time and has been provided with more agency as a young woman of conviction.
Although I have only watched the first Nosferatu film to the hum of a 16 mm projector, it was uniquely weird and wonderful. As dawn breaks and the world returns to rights in the closing scenes, what does this 21st century Nosferatu have to say? A few more ideas, please. Genre falls short if it doesn’t inject something new into the familiar formula.
First published in the Canberra Times on 3 January 2025. Jane’s reviews are also published on Rotten Tomatoes
Feature image: Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) awaits Count Orlok. Courtesy Universal Pictures