‘Nosferatu’: The Horror Film You’ll Watch With Your Eyes Open [Review]
At its heart, Nosferatu speaks to the universal longing for our desires to be reciprocated in full, and the craving to be so utterly consumed by something that we’re willing to lose ourselves in pursuit of it.
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[Some spoilers ahead.]
“Does evil come from within us, or from beyond?”
That’s a question that Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) asks Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz (Willem Dafoe) when he comes to her aid. She tells him the story of how this darkness came to consume her. As a young girl, she cried out in loneliness to the depths of the supernatural. Much to her despair, her call was heeded by none other than Nosferatu (Bill Skarsgård).
Ever since then, the vamp has been calling out to her, haunting her in her sleep. This chilling ordeal seemed to come to a halt when she met the love of her life, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult).
But her peace was short-lived. Things only escalated after marriage, as Thomas was called to perform an in-person real estate transaction by none other than Count Orlok a.k.a Nosferatu himself.
This transaction only proved as a cover for Thomas to contractually give Ellen over to Nosferatu. However, to seal the deal and to permanently get rid of Nosferatu so that he doesn’t ravage the fictional town of Wisborg, Germany, Ellen has to willingly do the deed with this evil creature and remain in each other’s embrace until sunrise.
Which she does, as they (and the film) reach a twisted, tormented, climax.
It’s clear that the movie’s themes are not for the faint-hearted.
It’s a feast for gothic horror lovers. The enduring popularity of Nosferatu is a testament of how we long to see our forbidden, repressed desires in full display.
It’s undeniably a weird story – a woman having a burning desire to unite with a demented vampire – but at its heart it speaks to something universal: the longing for our desires to be reciprocated in full, and the craving to be so utterly consumed by something that we’re willing to lose ourselves in pursuit of it.
Ellen’s desire for Nosferatu is to the point of madness, expressed in her own words to her husband: “You could never please me as he could.” This scene was cut out in Malaysian cinemas but you can watch it in the trailer, and it doesn’t affect the overall viewing experience of the film:
“I abhor you” is the new “I love you”
Nosferatu reminded me a bit of the TV show Hannibal, in the way that it successfully makes ugly and disgusting things look pretty.
It also reminded me of Twilight, but that’s probably because they’re both vampire love stories. They have that “I-hate-that-I-love-you” theme where the romance is as toxic as it is irresistible.
This ambitious, high-art remake of Nosferatu is Robert Eggers’s long-cherished passion project as both writer and director. It serves as a tribute to F.W. Murnau’s legendary 1922 silent film, a cornerstone of German Expressionist horror.
Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre was released more than 50 years after Murnau’s original. It now stands another 50 years in the past, with Eggers’ reimagining arriving a full century after the 1922 classic.
If there’s anyone that could do justice to a remake of Nosferatu, it’s Eggers. It’s said that he’s been wanting to do this film ever since he released his first movie, The Witch, in 2015, and he’s been obsessed with Nosferatu since he was a kid.
Of aesthetics and prosthetics
Nosferatu is anything but a forgettable watch. It’s not the kind of horror film that makes you want to look away. It keeps your eyes peeled to the screen, because it’s so aesthetically pleasing.
Granted there were jump scares here and there to kind of remind us that we are in fact watching a horror, but it’s not enough to make us look away.
Even the grotesqueness of Nosferatu was so intriguing – Eggers made brilliant use of light and shadow for a perfect amount of mystery, and when we finally see him in the flesh, we want to take it all in.
There are shots that I found myself thinking about for days after I watched the film. It’s clear that Eggers poured his heart and soul into the film. Every frame was like a painting, and it’s obvious that careful attention was given to every detail on screen.
Bill Skarsgård as Nosferatu is a force to be reckoned with – commanding both the character and the screen. He’s best known for playing Pennywise the clown in It, where he famously showcased his eerie ability to move each eye independently.
As Nosferatu, Skarsgård is so inseparable as the monster that I sometimes forget that there’s an actor underneath all that prosthetics and makeup.
You NEED to watch Nosferatu on the biggest, clearest, screen that you can find.
It’s a no-brainer if you’re a gothic horror fan. But it’s also a classic reimagined by one of the best directors for the job. You’re in for a treat either way!
Nosferatu is playing in cinemas nationwide.
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