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Robert Eggers’s take on the 1922 F.W. Murnau film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” has long been a passion project for the director, in various stages of development since he broke out with 2015’s “The Witch.” Now that the film has finally made its way to screens, Eggers has the opportunity to shine. And like any of his films, “Nosferatu” has mood and style to spare.
Eggers’s movies always have great attention to detail, but sometimes the style can outweigh the story and “Nosferatu” is no different. “The Witch” was about setting a moody atmosphere and “The Northman” was about showing off the muscularity in his filmmaking and in between he made arguably his best movie, “The Lighthouse,” which is a bizarre, fever dream kind of experience.
In the first frames of “Nosferatu,” Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) emerges from the shadows with tears running down her face. She is calling out to something, but nothing is there. What is making her body move in such unpleasant ways? Who is the mysterious voice calling out to her? From the shadows emerges a silhouette of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), who is haunting Ellen.
Years later, Ellen is in a relationship with Thomas (Nicholas Hoult, who is having a busy year between “Nosferatu,” “Juror #2” and “The Order”). Thomas is heading to Transylvania to meet with Count Orlock, foreshadowing a great deal of dread in the movie. Back home, Ellen is not doing well, constantly haunted by the looming presence of Count Orlock, who will not let her know peace.
Not only does Count Orlock hang over Ellen’s life, but his existence hangs over the entire movie. Eggers effectively uses the character sparingly, shooting him in shadows and only revealing his face every so often. It’s best to go into the movie surprised by the design, because Eggers certainly doesn’t settle for recreating the well-established imagery from the original film. Skarsgård, who is becoming a horror film regular, is nowhere to be found in his performance, completely disappearing behind the character.
Depp delivers the strongest performance of her young career, as she is required to run the gauntlet of emotional and physical pain. Her suffering helps bring some emotion to the movie, which can occasionally feel cold and distant in service of emphasizing the film’s craft. Individual moments of dread feel palpable, but the movie goes through plodding stretches (including with superfluous characters played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin; Eggers regular Willem Dafoe also plays a role), where the emotionality of Depp’s performance and the grim appearance of Skarsgård become sorely missed.
Even when the movie is choppy, it’s hard to not get lost in the impeccability of the craft. Egger and cinematographer Jarin Blaschke partially use natural lighting to establish the mood, while production designer Craig Lathrop transports viewers to 1838 Germany. Getting lost in the world of “Nosferatu” isn’t hard — though sometimes being moved by it as a whole is a tough task.
“Nosferatu” is currently playing in theaters.
Matt Passantino is a contributor to CITY.
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