NOSFERATU: More Than A Mustache

There have been many tales of the vampire told over the years, on film as well as on the printed page. Going back as far as 1897 to Bram Stroker‘s Dracula, the concept has been rehashed, reheated, reworked, and redone more times than any other monster, which makes sense, of course, Dracula was the first of his kind. Taken from actual ancient folklore, soon many others followed with each new iteration getting another twist, somehow, eventually leading us to sparkling skin but we aren’t here to talk about that. The first Nosferatu was made in 1922 based on Stroker‘s novel and some would argue it a masterpiece (myself included). Any remake would need to be flawless and for years the task seemed insurmountable, who would even be crazy enough to take it on?

Writer and director Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman) finally decided to make a film whose title does not begin with the word “The” although The Nosferatu does have a fun ring to it. Of course this was a film that he had been wanting to make as far back as for his second feature. Immediately after The Witch he wanted to tackle Nosferatu but for one reason or another, it fell apart. I can honestly say that that version of the movie probably would have been just fine, it wouldn’t have been bad by any stretch of the imagination but it wouldn’t have been what we were gifted now. Time and experience, in my opinion, made this film better. There’s nothing wrong with someone taking their time with their art.

Being armed with an outstanding script is only half the battle, you need a group of capable actors to help bring your vision to life and here Eggers assembled a stellar cast. Leading the charge was Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Willem Defoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and as the Count, in a performance for the ages, Bill Skarsgård. When I was finally able to look upon Count Orlok I didn’t see an actor, there were no seams where performance shown through, all I could see was Orlok: imposing, powerful, scary, commanding, Orlok. Everyone involved in bringing this character to life was showing off. It was incredible.

Succumb To The Darkness

The film opens with Depp calling out to the darkness, for anything that will listen, to change her life. The problem with open declarations of this type is, you’re never quite sure who or what might answer. Lily-Rose Depp gave an inspired performance as Ellen Hutter, one that was definitely a full spectrum that ranged from brilliant to goofy. At times I was in awe of what she was doing on screen and at others I felt a little bit of second-hand embarrassment. Her consistency varied from scene to scene but overall in the end, she did a great job.

source: Universal Pictures

The most tragic performance came from Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter, Ellen’s husband, a poor real estate agent who was just trying to do better for his wife. He would have done nearly anything to make their life better and that included sadly drawing the short straw and having to travel to meet The Count to obtain his signature on some important papers. Nothing about his trip went smoothly and the constant fear and dread Hoult carried on his face made me long for simpler times of his youth and his joy in About A Boy. Hoult continues to impress with his choices of roles and what he brings to each one, he is a phenomenal actor.

As I mentioned before the most captivating and impressive performance in the film came from  Bill Skarsgård. Any one who tried to bring that character to life would have to bring something special and unique to the role and he did that in spades. From the voice, to the mannerisms, the look, the overall aggressive and animalistic nature, everything was dialed to one hundred and presented to us without apology. My only regret was that we didn’t get to see more of this character through the runtime of the film. I understand that makes the moments we do get him on screen hit that much harder, this is just me being greedy. Skarsgård is another actor who continues to choose interesting roles and I’m excited to see what he does next.

Beauty Lives Forever

This movie was fantastic from top to bottom, the story and script were perfect, the actors chosen were impeccable, but the silent and not so silent stars that really shined here were, the cinematographer and the composer. Jarin Blaschke shot this on 35mm film and with the set design and the lighting he knocked it so far out of the park I often thought I was looking at a painting come to life. Basically everything was done as a practical effect and that isn’t something we get to see much of in the world of CGI spectacle. It was impressive and amazing and he deserves all of the awards.

source: Universal Pictures

The composer here was Robin Carolan and again, everything that was done only drew me into the story deeper. The haunting tones and underlying sense of dread that the music slowly built to during the course of the film heightened everything and made it hard to look away. The final flourishes that were played in the last couple of scenes somehow took the grotesque and made them beautiful. Everything and everyone in this film was and were firing on all cylinders.

It’s hard to quantify the difficulty level of making a successful yet still artistic movie in Hollywood that doesn’t really fit into the mold of the cinema machine. Somehow Robert Eggers has done it four times in a row. I hoped that this film wouldn’t be the first of his to flop, I am a huge fan of the source material, and I wasn’t let down. This is a movie that I would definitely recommend to my film junkie friends and I wouldn’t even need to add an asterisk. If you haven’t had the chance to see this yet, or you’ve been on the fence about it, it is now streaming, the extended addition is also available. You can’t go wrong either way (the extended is just four extra glorious minutes of Willem Defoe) and it is a movie that you need to see. Nosferatu is a cinema masterpiece, an art house piece from an indie director who could do anything he wanted yet he chooses to make high art. Whatever comes next, I’ll be the first in line.