Nosferatu

It must be daunting trying to create the definitive version of something so well known.

Make that doubly difficult when there have been countless adaptations and the resurgent genre you’re releasing into is awash with new ideas that could make yours look stale and old fashioned.

Robert Eggers’ take on Nosferatu is, therefore, something to be hugely appreciated and admired.

It may not sit at the very top of the vampire tree but is certainly a contender and its wide reach, box office take and critical favour is quite the achievement.

Given Eggers’ track record this was always going to be a stunning take on the material but that in itself carries pressure and he more than matches up to his elite career so far with this film.

A gothic melodrama as well as a slowly unfurling nightmare of a horror film, this take is authentic but uses every modern tool in the book to create a visually sumptuous story and pulse-quickening experience.

Slightly shuffling the Dracula mythos to give a freshened look at the tale, this is a long film but with a tight and lean story rife with metaphor and laden with set pieces. It’s at once traditional and new, each sequence building to a moment of terror.

Some of the cinematography is absolutely stunning with some truly iconic shots and plenty of memorable moments. The grey wash effect Eggers achieves in some of the Transylvania scenes is breath taking and poster worthy.

The horror creeps up on you and the whole film is laden with a permanent shadow and inevitability. Whilst you know what is likely to happen in the end, Eggers plays on the connection between Orlok and Ellen so that even when the vampire’s not on screen you can’t sit comfortably.

It’s aided by two masterful performances in those lead roles and an extremely game supporting cast. Lily-Rose Depp is haunting and mesmerising and Bill Skarsgard is nigh-on unrecognisable as the Count. Pennywise showed us what he can do in these prosthetics-laden horror roles and this is another performance of physicality, transformation and pure horror.

Willem Dafoe matches them in his Van Helsing-like role, chewing the scenery just enough to touch on Hammer Horror pastiche but without leaning into parody.

It’s destined to be a modern horror icon and a defining vampire film. Whilst it could never surpass some of its classic forebears, everything here plays for icon status and some of the shots and imagery achieves it.

A haunting and beautiful take on a classic that must just be destined to become one itself as well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️