Christmas is as much a time for ghost stories as Halloween with Gremlins and Krampus creating chaos in the shadow of Santa Claus. Not to be outdone. Nosferatu wants in on the festive fun, too.
Nick Smith, our US-based veteran vampire hunter, seeks out a ravishing remake of Nosferatu originally inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Guest post by Nick Smith
For those of us who feel an affinity to darkness…
For those of us who lose our senses when the world becomes too much…
For those of us who feel ignored or misunderstood…
For those of us who give too much to someone else with evil in return…
This is our story.
Director Robert Eggers’ greatest gift is to place his audience in a different, believable world. He did it in 2015’s The VVitch, where we were transported to New England in the 1630s, a land of isolation, superstition, creepy goats and short lifespans. In The Lighthouse, two 19th century men went bonkers in black and white. And in The Northman, the adventures of Amleth the Viking are dark, nasty, brutish and weird, set against an authentic 10th century backdrop. Eggers knows the devil is in the details.
In Nosferatu, those details include asylum accessories; authentic Christmas tree ornaments, as used to decorate the homes of Germans in the 1830s; and symbols on the documents of Herr Knock (Simon McBurney), who sends his employee Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult – young Beast in the X-Men movies) to Transylvania.
Unfortunately for Thomas, Knock is a Renfield-like agent of Count Orlok, a vampire who covets Thomas’ wife, Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of Johnny and Vanessa Paradis). Orlok’s spirit has been driving Ellen around the bend, and only Thomas’ love can save her sanity… or is she stronger than she thinks?
Nosferatu oozes with atmosphere.
Eggers has spent ten years preparing this film, feeding on a fascination that he’s harboured longer still. At times he doubted his ability to do justice to the original, F. W. Murnau’s 1922 knock-off of Dracula. He need not have worried. His attention to the trappings of pre-industrial Germany, his affinity for Hammer films, and his $50 million budget all help to make this movie a memorable experience.
At times, so much colour is sucked from the film that it seems almost monochrome, like its inspiration; at others, the screams and sloughing skin are nightmarishly real.
Fortunately, Willem Dafoe is present as the Van Helsing-like Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz. Dafoe reminds us that he is a top-tier actor, responding to his grand guignol surroundings with just the right amount of passion and panache. He helps to keep the movie flowing; when he is not around, particularly in the first act, Nosferatu drags like a bloated corpse, expanding its 80-minute source movie to over two hours. There’s an awful lot of talk, too, considering it’s based on a silent movie!
If you are willing to ignore the critics who pick at these faults like toothless rats, there’s plenty to savour in Nosferatu: Romance, tragedy, obsession, the corruption of disease, the decay of death, and the fear of the unknown that helped to make Dracula so popular in the first place.
Have you seen Nosferatu? Let me know in the comments below.
Nick Smith's new audiobook, Undead on Arrival, is available from Amazon (affiliate link).
Now, as a fan of the original 1922 film I was going into this experience with some trepidation but had the note that this was a Robert Eggers film who has pushed out some incredible films so far like The Lighthouse, The Witch and The Northman...
ReplyDeleteI've not see The Witch but have heard good things about it. Knowing that gothic horror is strong with this director I knew with Nosferatu I was in for a treat and can happily report that I was not disappointed.
No spoilers here...
The whole tone of the film is a blanket of blue's, brown's and blacks. Shadow play is very strong here, being a character all in itself. I was thinking, watching the movie how it takes elements from many great vampire movies of old but these are here to be inspiration and Robert Eggers has fun with it.
I loved the black theme with injections of bleak Victorian tones with the narrow streets of Germany, the dark forests in Transylvania and the erie and quite stark look of Count Orlok's castle that is quite sparse of objects, allowing the castle to be it's own foreboding character!
The classic characters are there with some incredible acting from the main cast and really liked the look the filmmakers went for Count Orlok over the very striking design in the black & white 1922 movie. Count Orlok here is primarily always in shadow and you prey for any information on his character design. I was always looking for the pointy ears, bald head, long nailed fingers or those classic pointed fangs but in this version you have to literally wait till the end of the film to get his full form and its strikingly different to anything before...even the form of blood extraction at the hand of Count Orlok was interesting!
The voice work from Bill Skarsgård given to this character is truly terrifying and it a great testament to his incredible acting scope as both a physical and voice actor! Every time Count Orlok speaks its like he travels off the screen and enters your soul!
I just cannot wait for the 4K Blu-ray so I can watch it again and hear that voice rumble through my Dolby Atmos soundbar and really creep me out!
The story is very passionate, it's about lovers, death, hope, despair, sacrifice and endurance with people dying at the hands of death brought to the land or at the hands of Count Orlok's himself...no one is safe!
In the end...well I won't spoil it if you're reading this and not seen this yet but what I can say that this is such a beautifully crafted gothic horror film with all the classic vampyre tropes but also bringing something new to the table. A true tribute to the Nosferatu films that came before it and a great addition to Eggers incredible CV.
Just got home from watching Nosferatu and the first thing I'll say is that was INTENSE. Eggers cranks up the tension - and the fear - from the start and doesn't let up. I haven't seen the original or the Werner Herzog remake, so I can't make comparisons. But I will go so far as to say I massively preferred it to Coppola's Dracula. Unlike that film, this was sexual but not in the least bit sexy. I think I need a brandy and a cigar now please.
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