With his homage to early horror titled Nosferatu, Robert Eggers has created more than just a remake, but somehow less than a fully satisfying cinematic experience. Although visually striking, with compositions that rival the great Flemish paintings, F.W. Murnau’s obsessive retelling of the Expressionist vampire thriller is commendably faithful to the 1922 silent film and more accessible than The Lighthouse and The Witch, But she is frighteningly drained of life.
In recreating what came before, Eggers recognizes Murnau’s distinctive style, but is too talented to imitate it. Instead, the director with an eye for meticulous detail offers his take on the classic film, treating almost every frame like a work of art in itself, while further embellishing the romantic aspects of the story – which might have worked, were it not for the cast. “Nosferatu” has a tragic ending, but it’s burdened by stilted dialogue, dull pacing, and weak performances, especially Lily-Rose Depp’s as the damsel in distress.
As much as we admire it now, the original “Nosferatu” was much more of a pastiche of Eggers’ homage, doing little (or rather, not enough) to hide the debt owed to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” — so much so that Stoker’s widow sued for Copyright infringement won. The ruling called for the destruction of all copies of Murnau’s masterpiece. But the undead don’t die that easily. At least three complete editions have survived, and so has the iconic performance of Max Schreck, the lanky, nearly two-metre-tall German actor whose silhouette – like a Count Orlok clearly inspired by Dracula – looms among the genre’s most impressive monsters. .
Orlock’s bald head, Spock ears, sharp rat-like teeth, and bony claws are instantly recognizable by practically everyone, whether or not they’ve seen the silent film (or Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake, which featured a blood-sucking Klaus Kinski in the back seat). To chew scenery). Quite unexpectedly, the villain in Eggers’ version bears little resemblance to the archetypal Schreck archetype — an odd way for “Nosferatu” to differentiate itself, presenting a disheveled (and seemingly toothless) interpretation of the character to a new generation.
Where Willem Dafoe played Shrek in “Shadow of the Vampire” (and would again play a mighty Orlok here, only to be relegated to a Van Helsing-style supporting role), Eggers cast Bill Skarsgård, who is extremely creepy as the demonic clown in “He – she.” The Commander then proceeds to bury his star under all sorts of zombie pirate prosthetics – mostly decaying skin and unkempt mustaches – until he ends up looking like a homeless Hell’s Angel.
Eggers’ re-imagined Orlok appears briefly in the foreground, making the crowd around me jump before they collectively laugh at their reaction, as if to acknowledge that such concerns are what they’ve signed up for. But what do audiences really want from “Nosferatu”? Eggers’ script follows the previous plot, in which naive young writer Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is sent to obtain the reclusive Orlok’s signature on the deed to a dilapidated mansion in the city. All of this is tedious, compared to the downright evil way Orlok behaves toward his guest — and later, toward anyone who stands in the way of his reunion with Thomas’ wife, Ellen (Depp).
Honestly, if it weren’t for the gimmicky quick cuts and accompanying blast of sound, Orlok’s early reveal wouldn’t be that scary at all. Thin face, long nose, unruly facial hair — it’s a look we’re all familiar with from the pandemic, when at least one of our friends decided to let his beard grow to its fullest Viking length (a carryover from Eggers’ previous ambitious but ineffective film, “The Northman,” perhaps?).
Evoking Vermeer and other artists with its meticulously arranged design, Eggers boasts a strong vision, but has difficulty telling stories—surprisingly, given the merits of the source material. Nosferatu feels more indebted than ever to Dracula. Like Harker, the lawyer (and first narrator) in Stoker’s novel, Hutter travels to Transylvania to meet his client. Once he arrives at Orlok’s castle, his fearsome, centuries-old host cuts a wound on Hutter’s finger and forces him to sign a Faustian-themed scroll.
The next morning, Hutter wakes up with bite marks spread across his bare chest and the feeling that his wife is in danger. We sense this even before he leaves on his mission, as Eileen clearly has some history with Orlok – though her initial excitement doesn’t explain the connection between her and the vampire. Meanwhile, Hoult and Depp barely convey the husband-wife relationship, their soapy acting style bleeding through Eggers’ needlessly embellished dialogue.
In The Lighthouse, the writer-director had fun stuffing his characters’ mouths with baroque expressions meant to sound like ancient nautical speech. Here, the conversations are easier to decipher, despite similar efforts to portray their vocabulary—which prove as unconvincing as Depp’s constantly wide-eyed expressions, or the affected histrionics required of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin in stylized supporting roles.
Stylish, off-beat costumes, props and effects, all beautifully captured by Jarin Blaschke’s nearly colorless cinematography, combine to make “Nosferatu” an immersive, immersive viewing experience. However, the nightmare at the heart of the film never quite works, as Eggers relies on intense musical cues and unconventional editing in order to unnerve—and even then, the underlying metaphor isn’t clear. Although “Nosferatu” acknowledges classic fears of sexual predation that are so central to vampire lore (to see Orlok bending over Thomas and later Ellen, one can’t deny the physical symbolism of his appetite), the images of devil-worshipping and plague-carrying rats are lighthearted. From its influence. .
Here, the vampire has its fangs removed, relying instead on long claws that cast ominous shadows on the ground. Orlok appears night after night to get his way, appearing more as a mangy ex-boyfriend bent on stealing Elaine’s virtue, rather than an all-powerful supernatural figure to be feared. For Eggers, it was a mistake to pay so much attention to aesthetics, only to abandon the qualities that once made Orlok so iconic.