NOSFERATU: Orlok Dead and Loving It

By Harrison J. Bahe

A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.

The tale of Nosferatu is an intriguing one. Not the plot itself but the original 1922 film. The film borrowed heavily from Bram Stoker’s Dracula so much that Stoker’s estate sued the filmmakers. The courts at the time ordered every print of the film to be destroyed. However, over the years, several prints were discovered to have survived the purging process and the film has resurfaced over time as an influential and important masterpiece not only for the horror genre but for cinema in general.

Now the time has come for prolific filmmaker Robert Eggers to tackle the legendary tale of Nosferatu and to bring the story to modern cinema goers. Eggers has developed quite the repertoire for producing high brow horror films starting with The Witch and then going onto make such films like The Lighthouse and The Northman. All of his films require a very specific audience and, let’s face it, the films are unique and odd enough to merit its distribution through A24.

A certain air of mystery was created around the character of Nosferatu. His identity has never been shown in any of the trailers or posters. He is only alluded to, seen in shadow and silhouette, and even his voice has been kept under wraps. This was done intentionally to keep the character mysterious and thus more horrifying. Bill Skarsgård, who notoriously brought the killer clown Pennywise of IT to life, portrays the vampire Nosferatu. His performance in this film is undoubtedly going to be the talking point of any film critic. Skarsgård completely inhabits this character in and out. The mannerisms, the voice, and the command of character is simply breathtaking. Gone are the romanticized vampires. Present now are the brooding bloodsuckers who ooze evil incarnate. Eggers himself has stated that he intentionally created this vampire to be undesirable and even placed maggots on Nosferatu to make him seem more unsettling. This film critic agrees, Skarsgård’s vampiric portrayal may single handedly have made the vampire genre great again.

Another one the things that stood out from this film was its lighting. Sure, its cinematography was stunning as ever but it’s the lighting that really struck me as a film goer. I think this is the first film I’ve seen in a long time that actually made darkness look incredibly naturalistic. I know for a fact that an entire scene was lit completely with thousands of candles. The entire film seems to follow this fact and is lit by practicals as opposed to artificial lighting. This decision gives the whole film an eerie look and actually grounds it in reality despite all of the supernatural happenings.

Nosferatu is a gothic horror film that may be under-appreciated by modern audiences. It isn’t your typical scare fest like many modern horror films. Instead, it relies entirely upon an encroaching dread and its ensuing darkness. Never before has such a vampire movie given its titular blood sucker a more evil presence than this. The mere presence alone of this vampire is enough to unleash a hellish plague which is why I give Nosferatu—

4.5 Rats out of 5

Nosferatu is Rated R for bloody violent content, graphic nudity and some sexual content. It is currently playing in theaters nationwide.