Robert Eggers delivers the crown jewel of his filmography with a hypnotic reimagining of the most classic vampire tale. Nosferatu is a masterclass in filmmaking on every level. An erotic fever dream exploring the suppression of female desire, connections with abusers, and the dangers of obsession with the most haunting, stunning imagery of the year.  

Nosferatu has been a longtime dream of writer/director Robert Eggers, and you can feel the passion in every single frame of the film. His commitment to period accuracy, sticking to his specific vision, his love for the tale of Count Orlok and cinema all come together to deliver a masterpiece. It’s palpable throughout the film the dedication and admiration Eggers has not just to the story of Nosferatu but his love of film. Eggers’ film transcends the genre of horror in a similar fashion as to what William Friedkin’s The Exorcist did while still honoring what makes horror such an incredible genre. Eggers assembles the dream team to bring this classic tale back to the big screen with the perfect crew forcing the audience to submit to the world they’ve created with impeccable production design, beautiful costume design, and hypnotizing cinematography all complemented by the most haunting score. Nosferatu is an otherworldly fairy tale uncovering the dangers of obsession and not believing women. 

“Do you swear yourself, ever eternally,” a deep, demonic yet sensual voice offscreen asks a young Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) under the darkness of night as she sleepwalks from her room to the outside world, unsafe and alone. A close up on Ellen’s face as she trembles not with fear but something else as she simply says, “I swear.” A quick glimpse of the demon that will plague her before the darkness overtakes the screen and we cut to years later with an older Ellen in bed as she begs her new husband to not cut their honeymoon short as he leaves for a new job prospect, and she had just had such a nightmare, but he did not want to hear about it. With her cat by her side, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) leaves and she whispers alone, he already has the job and he’ll be called away. As Thomas arrives to his appointment, Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) tells him of a strange task he needs performed that will guarantee him a good job with a good salary, which he needs to provide for his new, pretty wife. McBurney delivers the line with such underlying filth it’s easy to see why Thomas seems uncomfortable before the task is even outlined. Knock says a wealthy Count from faraway wants to acquire a house in their town, he’s a bit odd and eccentric, with one foot in the grave. He needs Thomas to venture to this Count to get him all the paperwork to acquire the home and then move in without issue. When Thomas returns home, with fresh lilacs in hand, to his Ellen, she’s full of fear, panic, and dread at the thought of him leaving. He instructs her to not talk about it as the doctors had told her to never speak of her nightmares aloud. It’s early on in the film, but already the second instance of Ellen’s husband effectively silencing her. As she tells him of her nightmare, set at their wedding, but it was different and everyone was dead, yet she had never been happier as she was in death’s embrace. It’s clear that Thomas cares for her, the pain and worry in his eyes, yet he tells her to never speak of this again. Thomas tells her he’s headed on the venture to secure them the wealth they’ve always wanted; a home of their own, a maid for Ellen, but Ellen tells him she doesn’t want that or material possessions, she just simply wants to be with Thomas. Eggers is brilliant with his script heightened by the performances here as it’s clear Thomas doesn’t care about these possessions, but he wants to provide it for his wife as a means of showing his love for her and ability to provide for her. It’s also very clear Ellen just isn’t scared but feels a safety only while she’s in the same space as Thomas.

As Thomas departs on his trip, he leaves Ellen with their, much wealthier, friends, Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Anna (Emma Corrin). Thomas reminds Ellen softly this is all for them. The brilliant score, composed by Robin Carolan, is both romantically sweeping yet full of tension indicating trouble on the horizon. As Thomas makes his trek to Count Orlok’s castle, night falls over the Transylvanian countryside. In one of the most beautifully constructed scenes in the film, and perhaps of the entire year in any film, Thomas is isolated, alone in the darkness, with just the moon shining on him as the snow falls. In the distance, you can hear horses and a carriage coming towards him. As Thomas enters the castle, he looks feverish and clammy. He’s confused and scared, but also almost full of a desire pulsating over him. The front gate opens before he can even knock, and you can tell there’s something not of this world in what lies ahead. Once inside the gates, a figure stands out front of the castle and you can feel the energy change as Thomas looks over at him; he bows his head out of respect and the figure heads inside, no words spoken. In one of the best directed scenes of the year, Thomas follows Count Orlok up a staircase into his home. The production designer, Craig Lathrop, perfectly works with cinematographer, Jarin Blaschke, and Eggers to construct the staircase and first level of the castle to deliver this impressively constructed shot that encompasses how eerily Count Orlok moves and the noticeable weight of the tension that surrounds Thomas. 

The first moment Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) speaks will surely take audiences by surprise. His voice is deep, otherworldly yet entirely of the nineteenth century. There’s not one ounce of the sweet Skarsgård voice many are used to hearing; the amount of work the actor did to transform his voice is astounding and will be studied for years to come. Count Orlok doesn’t just physically loom large over Thomas, he ensures Thomas knows he’s vastly inferior by status. He scolds Thomas to address him, ‘as the honor of his blood demands it, as Lord.’ Count Orlok hints many times as his strange backstory as he yearns to ‘retire to Thomas’ city with a modern mind away from anyone who believes in nightmare fairy tales.’ As we cut to Ellen and Anna walking on a beach, Ellen says something is calling to her and she can sense something is coming; Anna is quick to say it’s God and his power, but Ellen says it’s something heavier, maybe destiny. It’s clear Ellen is compelled by something not of this world but not of something pure. The contrast that unfolds between the physical pull of Thomas and Count Orlok between the distance plaguing both men and Ellen, yet she still has a physical draw from Count Orlok is magnificently structured by Eggers. As soon as Thomas escapes the castle and begins his trek back to Ellen, the bond between Ellen and Count Orlok is tangible yet audiences will yearn for Thomas and Ellen to escape his spell. 

What makes Eggers’ interpretation of Nosferatu stand on its own is the focus on Ellen; his reimagining of this classic tale allows Ellen to be the central figure of the story. While many women, including me, have found themselves connecting to vampire stories for as long as they’ve existed, there is an underlying reason for that. Many vampire stories focus on variations of explorations of not believing women and suppression of female desire. Vampire stories for as long as they’ve been told have explored women being silenced for speaking out about attacks or sexual assault. While vampire stories have always had a fantasy aspect to them, horror tales have always mirrored issues from real life. Another avenue vampire stories have always explored is desire; vampire stories have always been undeniably sexual, and the focus has almost always been on how vampires satisfy a woman like no human man. There’s a sensual theme in many vampire stories of how women are unable to explore their own desires with their partners and find themselves connecting with a vampire who allows them to want and need things sexually. By shifting the focus to Ellen, we’re allowed to see this internal battle she faces as she feels unclean for pursing her needs, but she still yearns for the desire to be fulfilled. At one point when Count Orlok and Ellen are speaking alone, he tells her love is inferior to her and that she denies and deceives herself. You can see in Ellen’s eyes she knows that he’s right and he does truly see her, but at what cost? She knows he’s an evil entity and an abuser at that, an affliction. When Ellen comes clean to Thomas about her past with Count Orlok, she calls the vampire her shame, but she carries the weight that she herself is shameful. The moment she needs her husband to see her as a person and more than her past, he immediately marks his territory before comforting her. No matter how toxic or abusive Count Orlok is, her own husband doesn’t see her for who she truly is, and he certainly doesn’t know how to respond to her needs. 

Even when it comes time for Count Orlok to meet his fate, the professor (Willem Dafoe) is the only one who truly sees Ellen for the remarkable person she is, not just simply a woman or object of desire. When she goes toe to toe with Friedrich before they all decide to go after Count Orlok, he blames her and her behavior for the ‘curse’ that is consuming them all. His refusal to see what is going on in the story aligns with the time period and his position in society but this sort of person exists today, and women are constantly making themselves small and unheard to just get by alongside these men. Ellen screams at him, “I will not stand by in your superiority,” after calling him stupid for not seeing what is going on. The words are written to be period accurate but ring true for women everywhere today. Nosferatu may be a fantasy story with vampires and set in 1838, but it encapsulates for women being unheard today.

This haunted, seductive fairy tale is anchored by the breathtaking performances by its perfect ensemble. Depp delivers a star-is-born performance with her phenomenal portrayal of Ellen in a framing we’ve never seen of this story before. Eggers allows his Nosferatu to focus on Ellen and Depp rises to the challenge of knowing exactly when to show restraint and when to have an extreme intensity. The physicality of her performance, with the help of movement coach Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, is honestly unbelievable. For Depp to not only be able to physically pull off the body contortions that plague Ellen but also remain emotionally grounded in the scenes is the true marking of a high caliber actress. Depp is raw, brave, and otherworldly in a performance that reckons with the high emotional beats of the story that are both relatable to the audience and supernatural at its core. Skarsgård has always been a transformative actor but his performance in Nosferatu is like nothing you’ve seen before not just from him but any actor on screen. The brilliant prosthetics, designed by David White, and lower voice, that he achieved by working with an opera singer, Ásgerður Júníusdottir, allow the actor to become an entirely different person, he truly is Count Orlok. Skarsgård doesn’t let the prosthetics dictate or hinder his performance, he simply works with them to create this new version of the iconic vampire and bring him to an entirely new space. Eggers’ version of Count Orlok is more-so a walking corpse of a traditional folklore vampire and Skarsgård clearly understood that rhythm. The manner in which Skarsgård physically moves is drowned in a realism that still has a nightmarish quality to it. Skarsgård hits every emotional beat of the toxic, obsessive creature Count Orlok is. His performance is so brilliant that you can feel his presence even when Orlok is not on screen. Skarsgård’s striking turn as Orlok is simply the best performance of the year. The scenes Depp and Skarsgård share together are some of the bests of the year with both actors sharing a palpable chemistry that oozes off the screen despite being a horrific pairing. The script perfectly set up Ellen and Count Orlok for the audience to have a yearning to see them together yet we’re completely aware it’s completely malignant for Ellen. 

The balance of the ensemble is complete perfection with every actor given a moment to shine. Hoult brings something entirely new to Thomas in this telling of Nosferatu. Thomas is still the naïve doting husband yet his encounters with Count Orlok are entirely different. Thomas is also under Orlok’s spell but in an erotic, helpless manner. Hoult communicates so much through his eyes and mannerisms you feel the restraint and pull from Orlok as he falls deeper into helplessness. Dafoe, in his third film with Eggers, plays an almost Eggers insert with the knowledge of mystical folklore and the connection to the paranormal. While Dafoe is given moments to be a sort of relief from the heavy of the tale, his Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz has the truest, purest connection to Ellen. He sees Ellen for who she really is and does not judge her for it. Dafoe beautifully allows us to see this earnest connection from the first scene him and Depp share together; his eyes are soft and warm, he’s inviting and unprovoking as he believes every word she says, he takes it all in and digests it. For every man not believing Ellen and silencing her, the professor sees and hears her and it’s all palpable from Dafoe’s brilliant, warm performance. While Taylor-Johnson has delivered before, most notably in Nocturnal Animals, he truly shines in Nosferatu. His performance as the rigid Friedrich is much richer than it could have been in the hands of someone more traditional. Taylor-Johnson is fearless as he could be construed as the bad guy when he’s just simply out-of-touch and eventually protecting his family. Depp’s Ellen is not just a victim of a vampire but a victim of circumstance and the nineteenth century society that is upheld by men such as Friedrich and Taylor-Johnson expertly nails that, especially in a pivotal scene shared between him and Depp. Corrin was born to portray characters in this time period, and they absolutely shine as a walking an interesting line of a loving mother and wife stuck in all that society will allow her to do but also yearning for more. They communicate so much with the love and longing in their eyes but warmth in their embraces with the children and Ellen. Corrin is always impeccable onscreen but in Nosferatu, they are absolutely brilliant. 

It’s impossible to not feel entirely transported back to the nineteenth century while experiencing Nosferatu due to its impeccable crafts, which one comes to expect while watching a film from Eggers, but this somehow surpasses all of the flawlessly detailed, previous films. The soundscape created by the sound team is some of the best sound work of the year. Michael Fentum, sound designer, envelops the audience in the demented world filled with slurps and crunches by Count Orlok and heavy breathing and gasps from his victims. Carolan’s sweeping score completes this soundscape for an immersive experience that is absolutely enthralling. The composer, who worked with Eggers previously on The Northman, expertly captures the romantic aspects of the story heightened by the all-consuming score. The music never overpowers the film, it only perfectly assists at immersing the audience into the story. Carolan’s beautifully gothic, haunting score was put together with 60 string players, a full choir, assorted horns and woodwinds, a harpist, and two percussionists. The score is haunting yet not focused on the horror but more of the melancholic themes of the story.

Lathrop, the production designer, was tasked with creating over sixty sets for the film in order to have the attention to real life detail and historical accuracy needed for the film. The soon to be infamous carriage, the drawbridge, the interiors of Count Orlok’s castle, and the fictional city of Wisborg are all creations from Lathrop and his team that transport the audience into the gritty, gothic, romantic world of Nosferatu. To further immerse audiences, costume designer, Linda Muir, and her team ensure every sleeve, button, and boot are not only period accurate, but perfectly align with the character’s background and motivations. When Count Orlok hides behind his cloak, it’s not just any cloak. This cloak and its details are so in tune to the many lives he has lived over hundreds of years. The otherworldly noise his boots make as he ascends his staircase are perfectly align with the boots worn by counts in this era, not only do these boots give him a soundscape but certify him for the wealthy man he once was. 

Count Orlok’s design is not the typical seductive vampire audiences are used to. His entire persona and physical performance are not the brooding hero or suave villain either and his costuming and make-up design match this perfectly. He’s a rotting, brutal creature that reeks of disease and unforgiving lust. He’s a real monster, not just a fantasy creature. Skarsgård disappears into the role effortlessly and in such a staggering manner. It’s easy to see how he’s able to build such a character with the work of Eggers and his crew. The costume design team creates such a look representative of an actual Transylvanian lord rather than a polished, modern, wealthy one. The make-up and prosthetics team bring to ‘life’ a decaying, rotting monster while still allowing for Skarsgård to perform and emote with his eyes. He’s never overshadowed by the prosthetics. Nosferatu hinges on the performance of Skarsgård and Count Orlok’s look and it’s completely successful. 

Blaschke captures the essence of nightfall used within vampire stories to transport you into the fever dream Eggers creates. the way they create new iconic imagery with silhouettes inspired by F. W. Murnau’s filmography. By honoring the imagery that came before and the 1922 Nosferatu made famous in not just horror films but cinema at large, Blaschke and Eggers make it their own with shots that take your breath away. It never feels like imitation or a direct knockoff of a memorable shot from a previous telling of Nosferatu, it uniquely feels grounded in the world Eggers and his team have built. When the first teaser was shown, the image of Count Orlok’s shadowed hand stretching out over the town became a notable anticipated moment in 2024 film and it’s somehow even more astonishing in the finished film. The nail work on Skarsgård in the silhouettes will become an instant iconic moment in film make-up work. The use of historically accurate light sources on set only uplift Blaschke’s imagery as the audience is descending alongside the film’s characters into a demented fairy tale. Conversations between Ellen and Thomas feel more passionate and real as lit by candlelight to submerse the audience in the real world within the film. The fear Anna has wondering if a noise is the monster her children warn her about is palpable as we can only see by the light of her lantern. Perhaps the most hypnotizing scene is under the moonlight as a mysterious carriage approaches Thomas and you feel dropped in this dizzying, cold night alongside him. Blaschke’s brilliant work is one of the impressive cinematography feats of the decade. The department heads and entire crew of the team all work collectively together alongside Eggers as one team with the same vision, resulting into a creative masterpiece. 

Eggers was born to make Nosferatu. He’s spoken in countless interviews about this being his dream project and it’s an honor to watch his vision come to life finally. The director has mentioned he appreciates that he wasn’t able to make Nosferatu until now as he matured as a filmmaker. There are certain shots in the film with his expert hand at submersing an audience into the world he’s created that are entirely masterful and you can sense the growth over the last few years allowed him to pull this off. Eggers delivers the most remarkable directorial effort of the year with Nosferatu. It’s impossible to not yearn for Bram Stoker himself to be able to see this adaptation of his original tale. While many will, rightfully, comment on his perfectionism and attention to detail, it’s important to note the care and love in every single facet of the film. Nothing is on screen or in the shot without purpose or reason. The admiration Eggers has for the story is felt every single aspect of the film. From the buttons on Count Orlok’s cloak to the wallpaper in the Hutter’s home to the exteriors of the castle, nothing is without purpose, and everything has passionate research behind that Eggers and his team brought to life. Eggers works with the best team on every film, and you can feel their creative connection throughout Nosferatu. It’s not just his attention to detail but what his entire team create on screen to build this immersive world. Nosferatu is a spellbinding experience with Eggers at the helm to bring his masterful vision to life. 

Eggers delivers the crown jewel of his filmography with a hypnotic reimagining of the most classic vampire tale. Nosferatu is a masterclass in filmmaking on every level. The beautifully grotesque film is an erotic fever dream exploring the suppression of female desire, connections with abusers, and the dangers of obsession with the most haunting, stunning imagery of the year.  The final shot of Nosferatu is the most striking, beautiful moment on screen that will stay with many for years to come. Nosferatu is simply a masterpiece. It’s impossible to not to succumb to the darkness with Eggers at the helm. 

Grade: A+

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Make-up and Hairstyling, Best Sound
Should be Considered: Best Lead Actress (Lily-Rose Depp), Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Bill Skarsgård)

Release Date: December 25, 2024
Where to Watch: In Theaters