The 2024 horror film Nosferatu leads one to feel that the silent version of the tale was better. (1922) The movie is atmospheric with its CGI Hungarian verse vampires. However Lily-Rose Depp is miscast as the love interest. I try not to be overly rude, but, I have seen dead mackerels with more expressive faces than the daughter of Johnny Depp. Her lack of expression leads me to believe she has overindulged in the botox on offer in Hollywood.
Another thing that makes the silent 1922 original better is the lack of spoken dialogue. Nosferatu is very talky. Count Orlok literally runs off at the mouth. He speaks like a major character from a 1960’s Japanese film. Worse still is that horrible asthmatic delivery and the barely discernible accent.
*It is just as well I watched it at home, although it is the extended version (Heaven forbid.) subtitles were a must. And I’m not talking about Orlok here.*
The Cast
Lily-Rose Depp is Ellen Hutter.
Nicholas Hoult is Colin Hutter.
Bill Skarsgård is Count Orlok.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Friedrich Harding.
Emma Corrin is Anna Harding.
Willem Dafoe is Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz.
Ralph Ineson is Dr. Wilhelm Sievers.
Simon McBurney is Knock.
Behind the camera
Robert Eggers directs, and co-writes this one. The very same man who gave us the superlative The Witch and the brilliantly odd and creepy The Lighthouse; missteps badly here. He apparently adapted the screenplay from the original 1922 Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, written by Henrik Galeen. He also borrowed some from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Cinematography by Jarin Blaschke allows each frame to be steeped in darkness. Granted, he is following a certain edict here, but sticking to the time period of the mid 1800’s does no favours to the viewer. *I am actually shocked that the cinematography was nominated for an Oscar.*
It may well be done to build up suspense but having to squint at the screen to see the mumbling actors perform is not suspense. I will not go into the visual effects here as you cannot really see them.
Cast is King
Willem Dafoe chews up the scenery with a sort of hectic panache. He even surpasses prior performances here. He steals Nosferatu almost effortlessly. Were it not for Nicholas Hoult, who delights here with his tortured performance, Dafoe would have owned the film.
No doubt, casting Skarsgård was a stroke of genius but the makeup, lighting and archaic language with accent let the side down.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is wasted in the film. Restricted by awkward dialogue and an unsympathetic character, the actor clearly struggles to be truthful here.
The less said of Lily Rose-Depp the better.
It works…not
Nosferatu does not work. It is slow. The plodding ordeal the viewer must undergo while waiting for it to come together is agonising.
And this is just the first half of the film.
Somewhat amazingly, the film has made (gross) $178,776,235 (IMDbPro) more than double its reported budget of $50,000,000.
Eggers has hit a “profitable” home run with the film. I may well be the lone voice in the darkness (See what I did there?) who dislikes it.
The Verdict
Nosferatu is less than the sum of all its parts. Despite the impressive budget and the presence of impressive talent, it earns a paltry 3 stars. I was bored and irritable throughout the entire film. There are a few moments that are good and, sadly, not one of them involves Depp. The film is available on Peacock in the normal and extended cut.
The Trailer
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