Nosferatu (2024) [Spoiler-Free]

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu was without a doubt my most anticipated movie of 2024 – and after watching it, I can easily say now that it is by far my favorite movie of the year. 

I tried to hold back my excitement. I really did. I didn’t want to go in and be let down. I’ve cherished the 1922 original Nosferatu most of my life. I honestly can’t say when I first became aware of it, I only know it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my family had a VHS copy in our collection – which I incessantly watched countless times, much to the displeasure of my siblings. I don’t know where it came from, but it was always just there… skulking in the entertainment center like a silent shadowy figure. Always watching. Okay, I’m done. 

I recently discovered a weird Mandela Effect I had going on with Nosferatu. I remember all through childhood, I thought I saw Count Orlok appear in one of those cutaway scenes they used in episodes of Muppet Babies. I absolutely believed that for years! Then, when Eggers hit the red carpet for the new Nosferatu premiere earlier this month, he talked with the Hollywood Reporter about how SpongeBob Squarepants introduced Orlok to the generation of kids that came after me. And in that conversation, he thanked Muppet Babies. I felt somehow vindicated in my seemingly-weird introduction to the character. I interpreted his comment as him saying he also discovered Orlok through Muppet Babies. Did one of my favorite filmmakers and I just become best friends?  

But then I dug a little deeper and found out that Count Orlok actually never appeared in Muppet Babies. Eggers simply indicated that Muppet Babies introduced him to classic films – much like how he feels SpongeBob is doing for the later generations. 

I had a bit of an existential crisis after that. I swear I’ve seen baby Fozzie Bear open up a closet door and find Count Orlok staring back. But, it never happened. And my basis for what I thought was the reason I was first interested in watching the film was nothing but a lie concocted by my shoddy memory. Funny how that works. Ah well. 

Now that you’ve had to endure me explaining why I think The Jim Henson Company/Disney and Robert Eggers are possibly gaslighting me, let me get back to the main point. Not only do I have a passionate lifelong love of this story, as I mentioned above, Eggers is one of my favorite people working on movies today. With only three feature films under his belt prior to Nosferatu, he managed to impress me with his amazing visuals and his obsessive attention to detail regarding sets and dialogue. If you haven’t seen The Witch (aka The VVitch), The Lighthouse, or The Northman, I highly recommend. 

Needless to say, my bar was set immensely high for Nosferatu. 

I was instantly mesmerized by Lily Rose Depp’s performance as Ellen. That feeling only got stronger as the film went on. The role of Ellen was originally given to Anya Taylor-Joy, who I initially felt was the better choice. She had to drop out, and Depp took the opportunity and ran with it. Her ability to seamlessly shift from helpless and scared to utterly creepy was a masterclass in acting. This is easily the best performance of her career to date, and I am now looking forward to seeing what kind of roles she will take on next. 

Another note about Ellen: I appreciated how this version shifted the story’s focus from Thomas to Ellen. It echoes a similar shift that occurred in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992 when Keanu Reeves’ Jonathan Harker was sidelined as the central focus in favor of Mina, played by Winona Ryder. Whether it’s Dracula or Nosferatu, a much more engaging story gets told from the perspective of individual the vampire seeks,  and I am glad Eggers took this route. 

Bill Skarsgård too is someone who pleasantly surprised me in this film. As Count Orlok, he had arguably the biggest shoes to fill. Over a century later, and the original Count is an unforgettable sight. While Skarsgård’s take on the vampire doesn’t have quite the same visual impact (he looks more like Scruffy the janitor from Futurama with that mustache), he still managed to use his signature presence to terrify the hell out of me. He was virtually unrecognizable under all that makeup, and the voice he used sounds about two octaves lower than his normal speaking voice – but you knew it was him. If you saw the remake of Stephen King’s It, you know he has the ability to shine in his signature way even when he’s covered in makeup. And if you saw the recent remake of The Crow…eh, on second thought, never mind. 

I also have to point out my amusement with the vampire-adjacent roles that both Nicholas Hoult and Willem Dafoe have in their résumés. Hoult, who plays Thomas Hutter – Ellen’s husband – just last year starred as the titular character in the comedy film Renfield, opposite Nicolas Cage as Dracula. Dafoe starred in 2000’s Shadow Of The Vampire, a fantasy account of the filming of the original 1922 Nosferatu. In it, Dafoe portrays Max Schreck, the actor who played Count Orlok – but with a delightfully eerie twist. I got a bit of enjoyment out of seeing these two actors come together after previous Dracula/Nosferatu roles in their past. Both Hoult and Dafoe (and honestly, this entire cast) were all simply fantastic. I expect no less from an Eggers film. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the plot of Nosferatu, but you know the plot of Bram Stoker’s original Dracula story, then you’re already ahead of the curve. When the original Nosferatu was made in 1922, it was essentially an unapproved adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel. Most of the major plot points are exactly the same. 

Despite some small tweaks (Jonathan Harker became Thomas Hutter, Dracula became Orlok, London became Wisborg, etc.) Stoker’s widow sued the filmmakers for copyright infringement, and all copies of the film were court-ordered to be destroyed. Thankfully, copies of the film had already made it out of the country by that point, and the film was preserved.

What almost became a lost film ended up becoming one of the most praised horror films of all time, and arguably one of the best examples of German Expressionism ever filmed. A 1979 remake directed by Werner Herzog also exists, as well as the 2000 film Shadow Of The Vampire, mentioned earlier. This latest adaptation takes its place not only as a great addition to the Nosferatu mythos, but as my favorite Robert Eggers film so far – and that’s saying a lot.