New “Nosferatu” Stalks Theaters, Promising Genuine Terror After Years of Mixed Interpretations
The vampire myth, a creature as old as cinema itself, has once again risen from the shadows, this time under the dark and meticulous direction of Robert Eggers, Bloomberg reports.
His take on “Nosferatu,” a chilling reimagining of the classic vampire tale, arrives in theaters this Christmas, promising to deliver a primal fear that has been absent from many previous adaptations.
For over a century, various filmmakers have grappled with the legend of the bloodsucker. From F.W. Murnau’s silent, expressionist “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” in 1922, a thinly veiled adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” to the iconic Bela Lugosi portrayal in 1931, the vampire has remained a staple of the horror genre. Auteurs like Francis Ford Coppola and Werner Herzog have also left their marks, exploring different facets of the myth, from romantic tragedy to existential dread. And then there have been the less successful attempts, such as the action-heavy “Dracula Untold.”
Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” however, aims for something different. It draws inspiration from Murnau’s screenplay and Stoker’s novel but introduces a unique twist. Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter, a young woman in 1838 Germany whose husband, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), is sent to Transylvania to broker a real estate deal with the enigmatic Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard). But unlike previous versions where the vampire is drawn to Ellen through superficial reasons, here, she is the one who has unknowingly summoned him due to her adolescent loneliness, forging a cosmic connection that proves to be her doom. What follows is not a romantic melodrama but a nightmare of rats, thrashing possessions, and disturbing images that are sure to unsettle viewers.
The question now is whether Eggers’s dark and uncompromising vision will resonate with audiences, especially after the recent lackluster performances of two other Dracula-themed films. Last year saw both “Renfield,” a comedic take featuring Nicolas Cage as a flamboyant Dracula, and “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” a maritime horror, fall flat at the box office, earning just $26 million and $21 million worldwide, respectively. This recent track record underscores the challenge in bringing this legendary creature to the big screen, as his presence is not a guaranteed box office success.
Not all adaptations of Dracula have struggled. Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” from 1992, though often mocked for Keanu Reeves’s poor British accent, was a major hit, becoming the twelfth-highest-grossing film of that year in the US. Coppola’s version, starring Gary Oldman as the Count, leaned into the romantic aspects of the story, portraying Dracula as a tragic lover rather than a purely monstrous entity. However, it didn’t deliver true horror, and that is the gap Eggers intends to fill.
Where Coppola was romantic and Herzog’s 1979 film “Nosferatu the Vampyre” was existential, Eggers’ “Nosferatu” is unadulterated horror. The opening scene, revealing Ellen’s initial encounter with Orlok years before the main events of the plot, demonstrates this. A shadow calls to her, a darkness she is instantly drawn to, before the horrifying visage of Orlok suddenly appears, shattering any sense of tranquility. Eggers’ film maintains this unsettling power by keeping the audience constantly on edge, with an undercurrent of dread in every scene. Ellen begins the movie with Orlok’s evil already inside her, a haunting concept that makes the viewer complicit in the horror.
