Nosferatu (2024) directed by Robert Eggers

 

This long awaited remake of the 1922 classic film by Murnau was finally released Christmas day this year. The plot is not different from the original but the details and execution make this film very much it's own thing. A real estate agent is sent to meet a certain Count Orlock in in the carpathian mountains to sell him a property for a large sum of money. He arrives, and Orlock is an undead creauture that decides it will take control of the agent's new wife. The agent escapes and gets back home just before Orlock to warn his wife, who because of her odd connection to the monster already knows he is coming. The rest of the film is a race to destroy the menace somehow before the entire village dies from him or the plague he has brought with him. 

Spoilers: 

I was not sure this would work. I saw The North man and it was OK, but basically had the same plot as Conan the Barbarian. It was well filmed with great performances but had its faults. Luckily, this movie is not a copy of the original and keeps away from many of the expressionistic trapping of that one (though not all of them which is good) and relies much more on true gothic horror and the folklore of the Carpathian region involving vampires to create something new and terrifying for a modern audience. Orlock is really nothing like Max Schreck in the silent version physically. Schreck has a slim monstrous beauty in a way. Bill Skarsgård is a walking corpse with a voice that give you nightmares and is unrecognizable in any way from his real life appearance and voice. The original was considered one of the most scary films at the time due in most part to the look of Nosferatu and this new version gives us a new image to lose sleep over. 

Visually I also had some trepidation. Eggers is a master of camerawork and transitions and I am always afraid he will slip into something that looks great and takes me out of the film. He doesn't do that, in fact i would say as fantastic as the cinematography is, it stays in service of the story from start to end - pulling the viewer through the events until the conclusion. Too many films look like video game segments with sweeping impossible camera moves that are far too smooth and really distracting. See The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for example and almost any new horror movie. This film lives in its darkness and takes you into it without dragging you along, you go willingly and it's seamless. 

The sound design in the film is great. I didn't notice the soundtrack much to be honest but there are all sorts of crazy, disturbing noises woven into the shots that add to the fear and sense of unrest.

The folklore has to be addressed since Eggers is famous for his research and Nosferatu has some nice nods to the actual legends rarely seen. A horse is used to find the grave of a vampire and I've only seen that in the disappointing Dracula with Frank Langella. They use iron stakes, nice touch! The vampires are walking rotted corpses not sexy teenagers. Nosferatu is pure evil, without morals or a dumb backstory to make you "understand him better". 

The cast is all stellar. Skarsgård  is the stand out, he can't help but be and Lily-rose Depp really gets her role and her character as well as manages to freak you out with her fits of hysteria as they were called. I was hoping Willem Defoe would be Nosferatu before production started as he was so good in the role in "Shadow of the Vampire" but he was better as the eccentric vampire hunter, a role that recently I have come to really detest how it is interpreted. Francis Ford Coppola had Anthony Hopkins as a mean, perverted Van Helsing and Laurence Olivier's turn at the part was cold and underwhelming. This was a good balance of dedicated and crazy. 

As a life long fan of the Murnau film, I can say I was impressed by this version and I also love the Herzog version which is, again, a totally different take on the same story. Believe it not, a lighter version. Eggers brought the silent film into today while keeping it's look and feel firmly rooted in the past and gothic horror traditions. it could have easily gone over the top or into cliché after cliché but made it's own way instead. This is a bleak, tense often violent film so it is not for everyone and not for anyone who wants anything that resembles most vampire tales. If you want the real deal don't miss it. 

The Northman (2022) Directed by Robert Eggers

 

In his third full length film, Eggers was given a substantial budget, over twice his other films, and it shows. It's lovely to look at and meticulously constructed, like his other films. Having more money seems to have added a commercial element I can't quite put my finger on that was absent in previous efforts. The story is fairly cliché, young prince survives the betrayal and murder of his father and swears revenge on the traitor - becoming a savage warrior in the process. He has brought back actors from previous films and added some higher end ones, all of which are great in their roles and obviously wanted to work with him. Ethan Hawke is maybe the weakest in his role as king but when the weakest role is still fantastic, you can't complain. Alexandre Skaesgârd is intense with his body language, psychical presence and wears his anger well throughout as the revenge seeking prince. Bjork has a small role that suits her well, particularly her voice and Nicole Kidman takes on what could have been a forgettable character and gives her life. 

The film was a commercial failure at the box office but I see it having a long life in video  and streaming for years to come and I will buy the BluRaye. Eggers does use original languages but not exclusively so most of the film is in English. The other languages didn't need subtitles to understand what was happening. He is a stickler for original language so the English throughout was unexpected. There was nudity in the film and some sex but nothing terribly explicit. In fact, some of the nudity took me out of the film because while it wasn't exactly "the guy is naked but there is vase in front of his junk" censorship, it wasn't NOT that either. there is a en epic naked sword fight in a volcano that was maybe cropped a little too carefully to hide things which, for me at least, always brings attention to the director hiding something and it's more distracting than seeing a penis briefly. Woman don't get to be quite as modest. It is pretty violent in parts but I wouldn't say any of it is out of place for the story and Eggers does not shy away from things like rape is happening - but he doesn't make it selling point as others might have and I really appreciated that. 

There is some debate on whether or not this is a fantasy film. Maybe. There are fantastical elements but most of them can be easily dismissed as the character's fantasy or the mythic interpretation melting with the real event. I liked an ambiguity and the myth making mixing with the action. 

Not my favourite from Robert Eggers but three great films out of three is a pretty good record! I don't think he is chomping at the bit for more large budgets and frankly he doesn't need them. More frankly, I don't think many films needs the enormous money poured into them.