Nosferatu, written and directed by Robert Eggers, is the first film I’ve seen in 2025 and definitely not one I’ll forget anytime soon. Some people seem to love the film, others have come away underwhelmed, and then there are those like the teenagers sat a few seats away from me in my screening, who were rustling popcorn, fidgeting and whispering the entire time because they had no idea what was happening.
The film is, of course, an adaptation of the 102 year old German silent-horror classic directed by F.W. Murnau, which was itself both an unauthorised adaptation and the oldest surviving film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. *Dracula's Death, an Austrian film from 1921, is considered lost, but it was the first film to feature Count Dracula.
The presentation, as anyone familiar with Eggers’ previous work would expect, is incredible. From the costumes to the production design to the lighting to the cinematography, Nosferatu is visually impeccable and immersive to a degree that should prompt legitimate animosity if the crew does not get the extensive awards recognition they deserve - even in a year as stacked as this.
The sound work was also an essential part of what made the performances in this film so haunting. Skarsgård's voice may initially seem overwhelming, but within his first scene, it becomes evident that the crew has captured a performance that embodies the essence of a walking nightmare. Even with the knowledge that it was him underneath the prosthetics, there was no point where I could have otherwise identified it was him; he was consistently disgusting, disturbing, and more than lived up to the incredible technical stage Eggers and the crew set up. I understand they’re doing something very different with their performances, but this makes Gary Oldman’s Dracula look even more hilarious than it already was by comparison.
I grew up with Nicholas Hoult: from studying About A Boy in high school to watching him play the original Nate Jacobs AKA Tony Stonem in Skins, co-starring multiple other people that would go on to be huge stars, as well as a load of people who would correctly choose to abandon acting altogether. I thought his performance was really believable and, though he spent most of his time cowering in fear, genuinely petrified in a way that this character has never been portrayed in the past, only further accentuating the terrifying shadow Orlok casts over this town and its inhabitants.
I’m of two minds about Lily-Rose Depp’s portrayal of Ellen and where I would place the blame for these aspects. With more than enough justification as Orlok burrows his way into her consciousness, she spends around twenty percent of her time on screen undergoing seizures. Obviously I’m not saying seizures are something to be laughed at, but there was usually something about the way her eyes would roll back and she would begin repeatedly shaking that I couldn’t really take seriously. I wouldn’t even mention this if there weren’t so many examples of films that do almost this exact same thing but whether it was the directing, editing, or the performance in these other examples, I didn’t find myself quite so taken out of the tone they had established up to that point. To an extent I felt the same way about a few of her line deliveries early on but, as the film continued, I think I began to appreciate her character a lot more and began to question whether my opinion would change if I saw the film again. I would largely say the same of Aaron Taylor Johnson and Emma Corrin; they sometimes felt slightly wooden and lacking conviction in their line delivery when compared to the likes of Nicholas Hoult. The child actors weren’t great, but Eggers definitely knows how to direct kids of this age. A couple of their lines sounded like they were recorded ADR, but it could have just been how bad the setup was in my screening room at Odeon. Willem Dafoe, as always, was phenomenal and at this point I’ll be disappointed if there is ever a new release from Robert Eggers and Yorgos Lanthimos without him at the very least in a supporting role.
I guess the only thing that stops me from loving Nosferatu is the story at the heart of it. Dracula has been adapted dozens and dozens of times and while this film delves into bold and impressive new territory in terms of its thematic focus, I found myself struggling to become heavily invested in a story I’ve never really connected all that much with. The elements I connected most with all happened to be moments where it deviated most starkly from the source material. Obviously, this film focused much more on Ellen than Thomas and, despite my nitpicks with her performance, I am definitely glad this decision was made and I think this is largely what makes it feel so refreshing when compared to previous adaptations.
In spite of that, I really did enjoy Nosferatu and I would definitely watch the film again once it comes out on streaming platforms.
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