Nosferatu was written and directed by Robert Eggers. The film follows Ellen Hutter, a young woman living in Germany in the early 1800s, who has continued having intensifying nightmares where she is haunted, yet somehow infatuated by a horrifying figure. Meanwhile, her husband, estate agent Thomas Hutter, travels to Transylvania for a fateful meeting with a mysterious prospective client named Count Orlok.
In his absence, Ellen is left under the care of their friends, Friedrich and Anna Harding. Plagued by ghastly visions and an increasing sense of dread, Ellen is soon confronted with an evil force that's far beyond her control. I get excited for anything that Robert Eggers is working on, and Nosferatu was really no different.
But when this movie came out, I heard a lot of different things about it from different people, and it just kind of made me wonder how much I'd really like it. But after seeing it, I'm happy to say I never should have questioned the talent of Eggers and his cast and crew, because this movie is awesome. Right off the bat, one thing that actually really surprised me about this movie is that it's very much a horror movie, and it has some seriously scary moments.
There were a couple of jump scares where I legitimately think I jumped a few inches out of my seat. Robert Eggers said he wanted to make a film where the vampires are terrifying, and he absolutely accomplished that with Nosferatu. There are so many things that blew me away with this movie, it's hard to even know where to start.
The visuals were truly breathtaking. Cinematographer John Romblaschke did an exceptional job with this film, creating captivating imagery that made it impossible to look away. His talent is really a major reason that this film excelled as a horror movie.
The dreamlike scenery gave much of the film this otherworldly, supernatural feel, which made the jump scares that much more effective as they would shatter the spell that the visuals put you under. Whether it's a hypnotizing moonlit sequence, or the eerie, dark, candlelit corridors of Count Orlok's castle, the use of light in this movie is phenomenal. Something interesting I read is that the candlelit scenes were entirely lit by flame, meaning mostly candles, a fireplace maybe, and if needed, a flame bar, which is basically just a pipe with fire coming out of it.
And shockingly, for the nighttime sequences, they didn't use day for night, which is a very common film technique where you shoot during the day, and you either underexpose it, or you just color it afterwards to make it appear as though it's night. Every one of the nighttime scenes was actually shot at night, which makes how gorgeous they look that much more impressive. Similar to Egger's other films, the acting performances in Nosferatu were sensational.
A few call-outs specifically, though, starting with Nicholas Hoult, who straight-up epitomized fear in his interactions with Count Orlok. Then there's Lily-Rose Depp. There were a number of scenes where she was contorting her body from the visions that she was having, and there was no wire work or CGI in those.
She managed to create all of that magic on her own. And my word, Bill Skarsgård, he is truly transformative in this role.
The voice alone that he gives Count Orlok is worthy of immense praise, but his entire representation of Nosferatu is immaculate. I couldn't believe it after I saw the film, and honestly I still can't, but that is authentically 100% his real voice in the movie. Apparently he was adamant about leaving his voice unmodified through digital means, instead opting to train with an opera singer to bring his voice down a full octave and practicing Mongolian throat singing just to get Nosferatu to sound just right.
So much of this movie felt like a magic trick, where they pulled things off that my brain still refuses to believe is possible. The makeup and prosthetics used to create Count Orlok were just so good as well. They managed to make a Nosferatu that was different, and a beast that I think is far more petrifying than the versions we've previously seen on screen.
I think honestly the only shred of Bill Skarsgård that you can kind of see at moments are his eyes, but beyond that he is completely unrecognizable. It also features a superb and chilling score, filled with frenetic violins and ghost-like choirs that further cements it as a true horror movie. I think this is one of the best films to come out in 2024, and it is an absolute must-watch.
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