- Directed by Robert Eggers
- Written by Robert Eggers, Henrik Galeen, Bram Stoker
- Stars Lily-Rose-Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgard
- Run Time: 2 Hours, 12 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd9d5MPmWs8
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a remake of a silent classic that was hit and miss for us. We saw it at the theater and are reviewing from a second viewing at home. It’s visually impressive, and the cast does a fine job. The story and script didn’t give us enough of anything new. We thought the beginning was strong, a bit dull for a long stretch, and then a strong finish.
Spoilery Synopsis
Ellen sits up and prays “Come to me. Hear my call.” Something hears her. “You wakened me from an eternity of darkness. You are not for the living. You are not for humankind,” it says. She walks outside, and she swears to love him. Then she has a weird seizure/orgasm as credits roll.
Years later, in 1838 Germany, Ellen talks to Thomas; they are newlyweds. She’s dreamt about “him” again. He’s a workaholic, and he really wants a promotion at the real estate firm. Mr. Knock has a special job set up for him; he’s been dealing with a foreign count who wants to buy a house here in town. The old count asked to buy an old ruin, and he’s paying top dollar. The catch is that Thomas needs to go to Transylvania to get the count to sign the paperwork. The money is good and a promotion is hinted at, so Thomas really has no choice. Count Orlok will be waiting for Thomas’s arrival.
Ellen is moody and needy and weird, and she doesn’t want Thomas to leave so soon after the wedding. She’s had a weird dream wherein she married Death and was happy about it. He tells her never to talk about these things, as people will think she’s mad. “It portends something awful for both of us.”
Thomas’s wealthy shipping friend Harding congratulates Thomas on his new position. He brags that he has three children – two little girls and a boy on the way, and he’ll be taking care of Ellen while Thomas is away. She suffers from “melancholy.” We cut to Mr. Knock, who is doing some kind of demonic ritual; he’s clearly both insane and working dark magic.
It’s a long way to Transylvania, and the local gypsies confuse Thomas. They don’t even want to hear Orlok’s name. He stays in the inn overnight, and everyone there is weird. An old woman warns Thomas to avoid Orlok’s shadow; it has a mind of its own.
That night, Thomas snoops and watches the locals go to a vampire’s grave and drive a stake into its heart. In the morning, the entire village has cleared out and taken his horse with them– he has to walk the rest of the way to the castle. At midnight, he encounters a silent black carriage that takes him the rest of the way there.
The count is odd, and Thomas is afraid of him from the very beginning. He wants to get right down to business and sign the paperwork. He’s a slow wheezy old man, but he moves suspiciously fast at times. He tells the count about what he saw last night, and the count gets annoyed. When he accidentally cuts himself, Orlok gets excited and Thomas gets really frightened.
We cut to Helen talking to Anna, and she’s all morbid. “I’m not mad, Anna. My heart is lost without Thomas.”
Thomas wakes up in the morning, and the castle is deserted. Thomas explores and finds that he’s got a bite on his chest. Rats, maybe? That night as the two men finish signing the paperwork, Orlok wants to see a photo of Thomas’s wife and sniffs it all over.
Thomas finds another bite on his chest and runs through the castle. The Count has refused to let him leave, but now he finds himself alone in the huge old place. Eventually, he finds a cellar with a big tomb inside. He finds Orlok inside, but the count looks dead. Thomas raises a pick above his head and tries to impale the count, who wakes up and sics his wolves on Thomas. We soon see the count sucking the blood out of Thomas’s chest. Thomas wakes up and jumps out the window, falling into the river below.
Orlok sniffs the locket again and commands Ellen to dream only of him. She gets so upset that Harding calls in Dr. Sievers to treat her; he says she has too much blood and that Harding should tie her to the bed. Harding warns Ellen that Thomas has gone missing, and Mr. Knock has vanished as well. Harding is getting tired of Ellen’s whininess and morbidity.
At Dr. Siever’s asylum, a new patient comes in. We recognize Mr. Knock, who has been killing animals and eating them raw. Knock talks about “His Lordship” and how he serves his master. “He is coming.” Meanwhile, Ellen continues to have seizures, or “hysterical spells” as Harding and the doctor discuss. Sievers recommends contacting Professor Eberhart von Franz, who is brilliant but was discredited when he became obsessed with the occult.
We see Thomas being found by a group of nuns who take him to a temple and start taking care of him. They know of Orlok and his shadow, and they say he’s safe with them. Thomas, however, knows that Orlok is heading to find Ellen.
Sievers and Harding visit Professor von Franz. Thomas leaves the temple. The ship that Orlok is sailing on experiences some personnel issues as he feeds on the crew.
Von Franz talks to Ellen, and he orders that she not be sedated anymore. She’s always been a little psychic, and she gives examples. She used to get visions and night wanderings, and those went away when she met Thomas, but they returned as soon as he left. The old doctor “bleeds” Ellen. As the doctor questions Ellen, she goes all “Exorcist”-y in front of everyone.
At the asylum, Knock escapes at the same time that Orlok’s ship arrives. Thomas arrives in town as well, but he collapses as soon as he arrives. Harding gets called to the dock where the ship has crashed, and he watches zillions of rats disembarking. “It’s a plague ship!” Sievers examines the bodies and concurs, though is puzzled about the lack of blood. Von Franz has some ideas.
Orlok sends Knock to kill Thomas, who wasn’t supposed to live. “She must willingly repledge her vow.”
Orlok soon visits Ellen in the night. “I am an appetite; nothing more.” He blames her for waking him from the grave. He also explains that he tricked Thomas into signing divorce papers to free Ellen so she can be with Orlok. She says she hates him, so he promises to make her suffer for three nights where he will kill everyone she loves. Ellen wakes up to find that Anna’s been attacked by rats; her torment is just beginning.
At the hospital, Sievers deals with the plague, which has affected the entire city. He and von Franz search Knock’s office and find a bunch of occult stuff there.
When Ellen tries to talk to Harding about Anna’s issues, he’s had enough of her loony crap and tells her and Thomas to leave the house. She tells him how it is, but that just makes her look even crazier.
Von Franz admits that he’s never met a Nosferatu before, but he’s read all about them. This does not impress Harding who thinks the old scientist is crazy as well. Harding is convinced that all their troubles are due to the plague and the rats, but von Franz warns him that he’s misguided.
Ellen tells Thomas that this is all her fault. She invited Orlok in her dreams. She tells him about calling out for him in the pre credit sequence. She puts on quite a display for Thomas, which leads to crazy sex for some reason.
Across town, Orlok kills Harding’s whole family. The funeral takes place surprisingly quickly, and Harding finally starts to listen to Thomas’s stories.
Von Franz explains the plan to kill Orlok, and all the characters are included. Later in the afternoon, Harding goes to the family tomb and finds something unpleasant and then dies from the plague. Von Franz remains behind and burns all the bodies.
Thomas, von Franz, and Siebert break into Orlok’s new estate and search for Orlok. Instead, they find Knock and a zillion more rats. Von Franz burns him as well, saying that Orlok is going after Ellen.
Back at the house, Ellen has dressed up in a bridal gown for when Orlok arrives, and he doesn’t keep her waiting. She accepts him of her own free will, which is what he was waiting for. She climbs into bed, and he gets undressed and follows her. He’s all rotting, deformed, and decomposing, but he bites her and drinks until sunrise. He looks up at the sunrise, and Ellen encourages him to have seconds. Soon, his purpose fulfilled, Orlok dies just as Thomas comes in.
Thomas looks at Ellen, who is also dead. Von Franz says that her willing sacrifice has broken the curse of Nosferatu.
Brian’s Commentary
It’s essentially a remake of the original “Nosferatu” from 1922 with some modernizations. Nosferatu, originally, was an unofficial adaptation of the original “Dracula” novel with only a few minor changes. This, surprisingly, is the thing that worked against the film for me– we’ve seen this exact story too many times, and that made it really, really dull. When I heard this was coming out, I mistakenly assumed the story would be a new take on the creepy, bald 1922 movie character, but it wasn’t.
This version of Orlok has little resemblance to the original movie version, which is unfortunate. This one is tall, has half a head of hair, a huge bushy mustache, and shows visible signs of rotting and decay. There have been uncounted jokes about the mustache, but, although silly-looking today, is straight from the book.
The promotional material all made a big deal about Orlok being played by Bill Skarsgard, but he’s completely unrecognizable here. Nicholas Hoult is excellent here as Thomas, and he’s appropriately terrified as needed. Ellen is really the weak point here; she’s weird and apparently unstable from the very first scene. Lily-Rose Depp definitely puts on a performance here, but I’m not convinced it was a good one. Willem Dafoe chews the scenery as the Van Helsing character, and he’s always fun to watch.
The visuals are incredible. Everything is dark, but there’s still somehow some color to everything. The city, castle, and houses are all very well done.
Again, the problem here is the too-often-rehashed story itself. I think the first fifty minutes are absolutely excellent, but once we leave Orlok’s castle, it’s just a long string of dullness with a good five minutes at the end.
Kevin’s Commentary
It would be easier for me to just say, “What Brian said.” I agree almost completely. Though seeing it the second time, I’ve decided I’m impressed with the performance from Lily-Rose Depp. It’s beautiful to look at. I did enjoy it more on my second viewing, but I still didn’t love it.
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