[HorrorScience] Nosferatu (2024)

Reading time: 8 minutes

Year

2024

Director

Robert Eggers

Script

Bram Stoker (original work), Henrik Galeen (Nosferatu 1922), Robert Eggers

Distribution

Bill Skarsgard, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Paul A. Maynard, Stacy Thunes, Gregory Gudgeon

Duration

132 minutes

In 1922 the film was releasedNosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauensdirected by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, which was an adaptation of the bookDraculaby Bram Stoker, but with some specific changes,To avoid legal problems,not having the rights to the novel. Due to this, the figure of Count Orlok was created, a vampire with a less graceful appearance and much more sinister than the common Dracula of popular culture (which is mostly based onthe 1931 versionplayed by Bela Lugosi).

The fact that Bram Stoker's novel became free domain years ago should have completely eliminated characters like Count Orlok. However, the seed that Murnau planted was already part of the collective imagination and it was not uncommon to see some interpretations of vampires, with a design similar to the one interpreted by Max Schreck in 1922.

In 1979 it appearedNosferatu: Phantom of the Night, which turned out to be a sort of remake of the original film. After that, a sequel appeared calledNosferatu to Venicein 1988. As if this were not enough, in 2000 Hollywood embraced Dracula's bastard brother with the brilliantshadow of the vampire, where aFictional story about how the 1922 film was filmed, but with the addition that Nosferatu was actually a real vampire and the only person who knew it was Murnau, who was willing to risk his life to make his film happen. For the main roles, actors with a certain career and prestige were included, such as John Malkovich (playing the role of Murnau) and Willem Dafoe (playing Count Orlok).

The Shadow of the Vampire was far from being a realistic documentary, but it could not be classified as a remake of the 1922 version despite having identical scenes. His commitment to doing something halfway between fiction and reality, as well as putting Count Orlok in unusual situations (such as finding himself surrounded by people who are not afraid of him, because they believe he is an actor), makes the film very interesting, especially for fans of the original version.

The shadow of Nosferatu had been somewhat hidden for a few years, but a Kickstarter project brought it back in 2014. Due to the limited budget, that film was not released until 2023 and features Doug Jones as Count Orlok. Jones, an actor who specializes in playing monsters and characters with heavy makeup, has appeared in films such ashellboy,The shape of wateror thePan's Labyrinthand in series likeStar Trek Discovery.

Between 2015 and 2016 it began to sound strongly that director Robert Eggers was going to be in charge of making a new film about the character. Eggers had spoken on more than one occasion out of his fascination with the 1922 film, but the project did not seem to be moving forward, until after 2022 it was announced that the remake of Nosferatu would be resumed.

In December 2024 the remake of Nosferatu finally appeared from the hand of Eggers, who had commented that he would try to bring the vampire back to where he belonged, something that I set out to see for myself a few months ago.

The film begins by showing us Ellen, a young newlywed who during her childhoodShe had several “strange” episodes that sometimes woke her up in her dreams.. Thanks to the support of her husband Thomas, she has found spiritual peace, but just when he is to go on a business trip, her dreams come back to torment her.

Young Thomas is trying to get a good job so he can give his wife a better life, and to do so he will have to travel to an unknown country to sell an old house to a descendant of royalty who lives isolated among mountains. During the trip, Thomas will come face to face with local folklore and witness many unusual things that should alert him that something is wrong, but that does not happen, as he continues with his mission.

Once he meets Count Orlok,realizes something is wrong, since the buyer of the mansion, his future neighbor, is an extremely disturbing and even monstrous being. From the first night and with the contract signed, Thomas will begin to get sick and Count Orlok locks him in the castle, which makes Thomas rebel against him, who does not hesitate to send the dogs to devour the visitor, thus forcing the young protagonist to jump into a river to save his life.

Ellen, who has been staying at the house of some of her friends since Thomas left, begins to have strange dreams and sleepwalk, which alerts everyone present, including the doctor, who decides to turn to an old university teacher who has certain "unusual" ideas about rare diseases. It will be that same doctor who begins to connect the dots and consider that there is something supernatural affecting the woman, but it is too late, because a destroyed ship has arrived at the port, and rats have infested the city, Nosferatu has arrived and no one can stop him, except perhaps Ellen herself.

I think the best part of NosferatuIt's the terrifying atmosphere it has, everything, absolutely everything has a disturbing aura that transports this film to the genre of pure horror, from which Dracula had long distanced itself (at least in the most popular films). This can also be said of the Vampire himself, who, despite being motivated by the search for a woman, behaves like an animal, anxious and dangerous, something that I like much more than the “romantic” representation of him that we have seen in other films. It should also be mentioned that the possession scenes of the protagonist, as well as the images inserted to scare us (bordering on screamer), make this film include such unusual elements in Dracula (or Nosferatu) films.

However, I also have to say that it is a remake in the most direct sense of the word, because once againwe will see the same old story again, based on the book by Bram Stoker, with the same scenes as many other films and with an ending very similar to the original Nosferatu film. It is a remake, therefore it is expected to be very similar to the original work, but it seems to me that they have wasted the opportunity to do something slightly different.

The fact of having read the book of Dracula and having seen many films that adapt it in their own way, makes me take for granted many things that happen, and that I do not need an explanation for them, I know that they are going to happen, but I admit that it has given me the feeling thatsome things may seem “rushed”(such as, for example, Dracula's servant and boss of the protagonist, who from one scene to the next is already crazy, when we have not even seen how that happens). I don't think it's going to ruin the movie for anyone, but it's true that it's a bit abrupt.

This film has received a lot of praise (partly because the director already has a track record and quite a few fans), but it has also received some criticism (or should I say ridicule, since many focus on the insignificant fact that Count Orlok has a mustache). For my part, I give it the thumbs up, I liked this version of Nosferatu, since I think this film has done the most difficult thing well, making Dracula (or rather, Orlok) become terrifying again, although I will not deny that I would have preferred a different story to a remake of Murnau's film.

Curiosities

The snow used in the film is not computer generated, it is actually crushed and frozen potatoes, something common in 1940s cinema.
Bill Skarsgård was going to play the role of Thomas, but during the preparation time of the film it was decided that he would play the role of Orlok instead.
Según algunos folklores se puede identificar la tumba de un vampiro subiendo a un niño (o niña) en un caballo, el animal lo llevará hacia donde está la tumba y se detendrá. De ahí que se introdujese una escena como esa en la película.
Robert Eggers ya hizo una versión de Nosferatu cuando estaba en el instituto.
El castillo usado para representar el del Conde Orlok es el castillo de Corvin (o de Hunyad) y está ubicado en Transilvania.