A Feast In Every Sense Of The Word

Posted in: Focus Features, Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review | Tagged: nosferatu

Nosferatu is one of those movies where you can simply say it is a masterpiece and walk away without needing to elaborate further.

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Nosferatu is a feast in every sense of the word, from the fantastic acting to the stunning cinematography to the final moments that might be some of the most horrific and haunting scenes of the last several years.

Director: Robert Eggers
Summary: A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror.

Nosferatu Will Leave You As Haunted As Ellen Is

Sometimes, you can tell when a director has put their entire being into a film, and that is what director Robert Eggers has done with Nosferatu. When that happens, the short version of the reaction is, “This movie is brilliant, wouldn’t change a thing,” and then walking away without another word because nothing else needs to be said. This has looked excellent from the first frame of the first teaser they showed, but it’s somehow even better than you would have imagined. Even for someone who isn’t generally a fan of the horror genre, this is the sort of disturbing film that gets under your skin like a tiny shard of glass that will not go away, no matter what you do. It will stay with you, haunt you, the way Orlok is haunting Ellen, and you’re going to love every second of it. And we mean every second because despite being well over two hours long, this movie is so masterfully directed, paced, and structured that you’ll be craving more even as the credits roll.

It’s tempting, at first, to break down this film second by second and explain why it works while also withholding everything so you can go in completely blind. Focus Features and Eggers have gone out of their way to hide Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok from the marketing, and that was the right move. A monster only gets more horrifying the less we see of it and for most of this film, the movie leans into that idea as well. Eggers uses shadows, light, and his sets to make sure the audience and the characters on screen are painfully aware that Orlok is there, but he remains just out of sight for most of the runtime. It makes his grotesque reveal even more impactful, and it lets you revel in the work Skarsgård and the team put into making Orlok’s voice. We might not be able to see him, but we can hear him loud and clear, and that sound, combined with the glimpses, will send your imagination running in the worst directions long before the creature shows his true face.

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“Every Frame Is A Painting” Is An Understatement

The use of shadow and natural lighting means that a decent portion of this film is very grey and overcast except when everyone is around a roaring fire. Those shadows once again feel even more menacing once we know what is out there, and Eggers makes sure that we, as the audience, are painfully aware that the danger lies in those shadows. It also means when we see color, it feels even more important. Ellen and Anna’s dresses, flowers, all of it is so stunningly presented that you can’t look away from the screen. Nosferatu is, by far, the most beautiful film of the entire year. This isn’t just an “every frame is a painting” situation, it’s “every frame looks like it should be preserved on hallowed halls or ceilings of masterfully built buildings.”

On the acting front, Lily-Rose Depp does a very good job with a role that would have eaten other actresses alive. She has less than twenty acting credits to her name, so there’s jumping into the deep end, and then there’s taking on a role like this early on in your career. In many ways, she’s a mirror of Anya Taylor-Joy, who jumped into the metaphorical deep end with a buckwild role in another Eggers film. Taylor-Joy was initially supposed to be in this film and she would have done an incredible job. Depp, however, for as little experience as she has in this industry, threw herself into this with complete abandon and Nosferatu is better for it.

She’s backed up by literally everyone else putting in some of the best performances they have ever done. Nicholas Hoult is having one hell of a year, and between this and Juror #2, it might be time for some of you to admit what a talented dramatic actor he is when he’s not absolutely killing it in genre films as well. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is so good in this film that he’s already forgiven for Kraven the Hunter, and this movie proves that he can and will carry 28 Years Later flawlessly. Emma Corrin was the surprising standout as Anna. The character could have easily become someone insufferable or annoying, but Corrin makes sure we are always fundamentally aware of Anna’s humanity, priorities, and the love she has for those around her. And Willem Dafoe is here being Willem Dafoe in another Robert Eggers film. He’s great as his character skirts the line of complete madness and being the most rational person in the room and those two are not mutually exclusive.

Nosferatu is one of those movies where you can simply say it is a masterpiece and walk away without needing to elaborate further. There really isn’t any part of this film that doesn’t work, and it’s one of the best movies of the entire year, if not the last couple of years. Eggers has had a lot of home runs, but this is his best film so far, which is saying something for a director who is already batting so far above everyone else in the industry. It’s a movie that will leave you breathless right up to the final shot, which might be one of the most haunting, disturbing, devasting, and beautiful things put on film.

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