Nosferatu (2024)
December 26, 2024 9:28 AM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Lily Rose Depp) and the terrifying vampire (Bill Skarsgård) infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Also starring Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Adéla Hesová, Milena Konstantinova, Stacy Thunes, Gregory Gudgeon, Robert Russell, Curtis Matthew, Claudiu Trandafir, Georgina Bereghianu, Jordan Haj, Katerina Bila, Tereza Dušková, Ella Bernstein.
Written and directed by Robert Eggers. Based on Nosferatu by Henrik Galeen. Produced by Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Chris Columbus (yes, the director of Home Alone), Eleanor Columbus, Robert Eggers for Maiden Voyage Pictures/Studio 8/Birch Hill Road Entertainment. Distributed by Focus Features/Universal Pictures. Cinematography by Jarin Blaschke. Edited by Louise Ford. Music by Robin Carolan.
87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now playing in theaters. JustWatch listing for posterity.
Also starring Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Adéla Hesová, Milena Konstantinova, Stacy Thunes, Gregory Gudgeon, Robert Russell, Curtis Matthew, Claudiu Trandafir, Georgina Bereghianu, Jordan Haj, Katerina Bila, Tereza Dušková, Ella Bernstein.
Written and directed by Robert Eggers. Based on Nosferatu by Henrik Galeen. Produced by Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Chris Columbus (yes, the director of Home Alone), Eleanor Columbus, Robert Eggers for Maiden Voyage Pictures/Studio 8/Birch Hill Road Entertainment. Distributed by Focus Features/Universal Pictures. Cinematography by Jarin Blaschke. Edited by Louise Ford. Music by Robin Carolan.
87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now playing in theaters. JustWatch listing for posterity.
We just watched this yesterday, and we both had the same comment about the blood drinking as you. The whole thing was a paradox of being super stylized yet feeling very real and grounded at the same time. That's a feat all by itself. Performances were also great. My only complaint is that it felt a little long, but I'm honestly not sure what I'd cut.
posted by mrphancy at 10:33 AM on December 26, 2024 [4 favorites]
posted by mrphancy at 10:33 AM on December 26, 2024 [4 favorites]
Based only on the trailer, this looks much more like a Tim Burton movie than I would ever have imagined, lol. 2:12 isn't THAT bad, but it's long enough that I will definitely be checking in with this at home, when possible.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 11:42 AM on December 26, 2024
posted by kittens for breakfast at 11:42 AM on December 26, 2024
We enjoyed it, but it's so dream-like that all of us got sleepy at some point and one kiddo dozed for 15-ish minutes.
The big reveal for Orlok's appearance is that he no longer looks like a monstrous exaggeration of anti-Semitic visual tropes... now he looks like a 19th century Transylvanian. His mustache made me chortle, "Szekely."
I'd need to see this again to give a proper review. This first time, it kind of washed over me. (Pleasantly, though!)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:47 PM on December 26, 2024 [7 favorites]
The big reveal for Orlok's appearance is that he no longer looks like a monstrous exaggeration of anti-Semitic visual tropes... now he looks like a 19th century Transylvanian. His mustache made me chortle, "Szekely."
I'd need to see this again to give a proper review. This first time, it kind of washed over me. (Pleasantly, though!)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:47 PM on December 26, 2024 [7 favorites]
What a great cast this film has. It was my first time to see Lily-Rose Depp in anything, but she put in a great performance. Willem Defoe was amazing as always. And, I appreciated the added detail of him rescuing Ellen's cat at the very end. At least it wasn't a total tragedy.
Overall, I liked Eggers' version Nosferatu/Dracula very much; he made a few contributions to a classic story without messing with its legacy. It was great to see the local cinema almost completely filled on xmas day too. I was expecting to be one of two people in attendance, but there was a line around the block.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 11:14 PM on December 26, 2024 [5 favorites]
Overall, I liked Eggers' version Nosferatu/Dracula very much; he made a few contributions to a classic story without messing with its legacy. It was great to see the local cinema almost completely filled on xmas day too. I was expecting to be one of two people in attendance, but there was a line around the block.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 11:14 PM on December 26, 2024 [5 favorites]
Two parts of the cinematography really got me: firstly, how the film is in color during the day, but becomes desaturated to the point of being allllmost a black and white film in the evening periods. And second, the camerawork is fantastic - in particular I loved how in Castle Orlok the camera moved just like Orlok did.. there are frequent pans that don't 'settle' on their final framing, but just abruptly halt. However since they're moving with this glacial deliberateness in the first place it doesn't feel jerky or halting, it feels like a massive stone block slamming into place.
Also the sound design of the schlurps really drives home how appalling that moustache must smell
posted by FatherDagon at 7:22 AM on December 28, 2024 [5 favorites]
Also the sound design of the schlurps really drives home how appalling that moustache must smell
posted by FatherDagon at 7:22 AM on December 28, 2024 [5 favorites]
Really liked this movie. It's an excellent allegory for addiction.
Orlok really is utterly repulsive, nothing but rot and appetite. And yet I believe that Ellen is seduced by this creature, because of the Rose-Depp's incredible performance and the precise craft of the filmmakers.
Can't say enough about Rose-Depp's performance. Her physicality is its own special effect.
Ellen is seduced despite herself. The way she tries to cleave to her friends and her fiance is both desperate and a half-measure, especially in the face of the overwhelming pestilence that she attracts.
Don't feel like I'm spoiling anything because it's essentially the plot of every Dracula movie, but done here as a mesmerizing, baroque, dissociative fever dream.
posted by ishmael at 3:32 PM on December 28, 2024 [4 favorites]
Orlok really is utterly repulsive, nothing but rot and appetite. And yet I believe that Ellen is seduced by this creature, because of the Rose-Depp's incredible performance and the precise craft of the filmmakers.
Can't say enough about Rose-Depp's performance. Her physicality is its own special effect.
Ellen is seduced despite herself. The way she tries to cleave to her friends and her fiance is both desperate and a half-measure, especially in the face of the overwhelming pestilence that she attracts.
Don't feel like I'm spoiling anything because it's essentially the plot of every Dracula movie, but done here as a mesmerizing, baroque, dissociative fever dream.
posted by ishmael at 3:32 PM on December 28, 2024 [4 favorites]
Lots of little pings as I watched this inspired me to revisit Werner Herzog's Nosferatu The Vampyre when I got back from the theatre after enjoying the Eggers take, and boy, am I glad I did.
I don't have the vim right now to do a whole Nosferatu '79 post, but there's a lot of loving DNA in the Eggers version that lifts liberally from the Herzog '79 rendition, including some shot-for-shot remakes of small sequences and Depp The Younger being an astonishing ringer for '79 Isabelle Adjani, down to the hairstyle. Smaller things too, like the "trying the doors in the castle" sequence and streets festooned with rats.
Herzog is less bound to Every Frame A Painting filmmaking, and there's some flat workmanlike stuff in his Nosferatu, but it also hits some eerie heights that I don't think even Eggers reaches this time around. Well worth checking out.
I really liked the Eggers take on it too!
We all agreed on leaving the theatre that it seemed like a massive waste of time and money to turn a Skarsgard into Peter Stormare when Peter Stormare is, like, right there. Put some lift shoes, a gooey bald wig, and a pimp coat on ol' Pete and you've got yourself an Eggers Orlock.
posted by Shepherd at 4:40 PM on December 29, 2024 [9 favorites]
I don't have the vim right now to do a whole Nosferatu '79 post, but there's a lot of loving DNA in the Eggers version that lifts liberally from the Herzog '79 rendition, including some shot-for-shot remakes of small sequences and Depp The Younger being an astonishing ringer for '79 Isabelle Adjani, down to the hairstyle. Smaller things too, like the "trying the doors in the castle" sequence and streets festooned with rats.
Herzog is less bound to Every Frame A Painting filmmaking, and there's some flat workmanlike stuff in his Nosferatu, but it also hits some eerie heights that I don't think even Eggers reaches this time around. Well worth checking out.
I really liked the Eggers take on it too!
We all agreed on leaving the theatre that it seemed like a massive waste of time and money to turn a Skarsgard into Peter Stormare when Peter Stormare is, like, right there. Put some lift shoes, a gooey bald wig, and a pimp coat on ol' Pete and you've got yourself an Eggers Orlock.
posted by Shepherd at 4:40 PM on December 29, 2024 [9 favorites]
I've seen Nosferatu 3 times now, so I finally feel like I can come here and talk about it.
1) See it on 35mm if you can. The difference between the digital version and the 35mm is striking. A film literally lit via candles needs all the detail real film allows. The digital is all blue-blacks- the 35mm is dead, deep blacks and true greys that pick up the spaces in ways digital cannot. I sound like a film nerd and I am so not that girl- but find a theater showing a real print of this movie.
And the difference in the crowd from when I saw it at the Regal on Christmas vs the local theater on 35mm was also a big argument for seeing it that way. This is slow art horror. It is not Terrifier 3.
2) Probably because of the above, I want so many scenes framed on my wall. It's so stunning to look at. The carriage scene! The final vision of death and the maiden! This is a true Gothic Horror film that is now part of my life and I am excited for the ways it will influence me.
3) I saw Bram Stoker's Dracula in the theater when it debuted (and was probably waayyyy to young to see it). To my preteen eyes, Coppola's version felt so unhinged, pornographic, and bloody. As a fan of Egger's other work, I was scared he was going to take those vibes and make them similar just somehow worse or more gory...... but he didn't! It felt like it's own, independent telling of the story. I LOVED how he brought the occult/demonic possession aspect into it. He made it sensual yet grotesque, and really played with The Fear of the Unseen in a very lovely way.
4) Holy hell did Lily Rose Depp rule that film. Every time I see it I appreciate her performance even more. And she is whole and center- everyone else- including Orlok- become background players when she is on the screen.
5) As an Anne Rice devotee, I was dreading the return of the folklore-esque rotting corpse vampire, but I really loved how menacing- but still regal- Orlok is. I do not understand all of the mustache hate he's getting online-- but I am appreciating the long list of people saying "hear me out" about his sexiness. He is so the opposite of Oldman's Dracula, and yet......
6) I am loving the discussion of what the vampire in this film represents. If I'm taking it at face value, and thinking of it as depression, the ending is very, very dark. I don't think it's an either/or meaning, as Eggers is too interesting of a human to do that. I think it will mean different things to different people who have their own monsters.
I'm going back again on New Years day and will probably have more to say. What a beautiful Christmas present.
posted by haplesschild at 9:00 AM on December 30, 2024 [15 favorites]
1) See it on 35mm if you can. The difference between the digital version and the 35mm is striking. A film literally lit via candles needs all the detail real film allows. The digital is all blue-blacks- the 35mm is dead, deep blacks and true greys that pick up the spaces in ways digital cannot. I sound like a film nerd and I am so not that girl- but find a theater showing a real print of this movie.
And the difference in the crowd from when I saw it at the Regal on Christmas vs the local theater on 35mm was also a big argument for seeing it that way. This is slow art horror. It is not Terrifier 3.
2) Probably because of the above, I want so many scenes framed on my wall. It's so stunning to look at. The carriage scene! The final vision of death and the maiden! This is a true Gothic Horror film that is now part of my life and I am excited for the ways it will influence me.
3) I saw Bram Stoker's Dracula in the theater when it debuted (and was probably waayyyy to young to see it). To my preteen eyes, Coppola's version felt so unhinged, pornographic, and bloody. As a fan of Egger's other work, I was scared he was going to take those vibes and make them similar just somehow worse or more gory...... but he didn't! It felt like it's own, independent telling of the story. I LOVED how he brought the occult/demonic possession aspect into it. He made it sensual yet grotesque, and really played with The Fear of the Unseen in a very lovely way.
4) Holy hell did Lily Rose Depp rule that film. Every time I see it I appreciate her performance even more. And she is whole and center- everyone else- including Orlok- become background players when she is on the screen.
5) As an Anne Rice devotee, I was dreading the return of the folklore-esque rotting corpse vampire, but I really loved how menacing- but still regal- Orlok is. I do not understand all of the mustache hate he's getting online-- but I am appreciating the long list of people saying "hear me out" about his sexiness. He is so the opposite of Oldman's Dracula, and yet......
6) I am loving the discussion of what the vampire in this film represents. If I'm taking it at face value, and thinking of it as depression, the ending is very, very dark. I don't think it's an either/or meaning, as Eggers is too interesting of a human to do that. I think it will mean different things to different people who have their own monsters.
I'm going back again on New Years day and will probably have more to say. What a beautiful Christmas present.
posted by haplesschild at 9:00 AM on December 30, 2024 [15 favorites]
I'm a bit of a dissenter: I didn't like it that much. It is a beautiful, beautiful film and the sound design is awesome, but it didn't impress me much deeper than that.
One thing of note: in the nearly-full theater when I saw it, every time Lily-Rose Depp had her 'The Exorcist' moments, from the start, there was uncomfortable giggles from various people the audience (it wasn't just one person or group), which only grew in intensity until the scene where she was flopping in the shallows, at which point a loud argument started between some laughers and someone trying to take the film seriously. Then the giggling got quiet but turned in to uncomfortable rustling and whispers.
I sort of agree with the uncomfortable giggling; I don't think this weird redesign of that character benefitted from going from eerie prognosticator resisting a spectral force, to feral seizures and demon voices. I think they rewrote things to make this a breakout performance for Lily-Rose Depp, and the film suffered for it.
Also: in the original, the Ellen character figured out how to defeat the vampire, orchestrated it so she couldn't be stopped from sacrificing herself, and saved everyone in the end, all on her own. In Eggers' version she kinda thought of it, but then the Willem Defoe character told her what to do and he distracted the husband so she could do it. It went from tragic hero who saves the day through her own sacrifice, to sad ingenue who has things done to her and gets used up.
Lastly: there's a point in the movie where Orlok is on the move, and Thomas is trapped in the castle; Thomas escapes and then it's a race of who gets to Bremen first and whether Thomas can prevent Orlok from succeeding. After that point, the film should be ramping up the pace, there's urgency and the goal is clear -- but in Eggers' version, it slowed down to a plodding pace where everyone's talking about how worried they are about things when they're not tying LilyRose Depp to the bed. It felt like they were just repeating scenes in different rooms for a while.
I can't really remove myself from comparison to the original, given how explicitly it is a remake of the 1922 silent film, but even if I look at avoiding comparison, replacing the action of the third act with spooky despair to stretch the movie out to over two hours is still a negative for me.
(I have not seen the Herzog version but someone I know recommended that if I didn't like this one, to watch that one)
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:58 PM on December 30, 2024 [10 favorites]
One thing of note: in the nearly-full theater when I saw it, every time Lily-Rose Depp had her 'The Exorcist' moments, from the start, there was uncomfortable giggles from various people the audience (it wasn't just one person or group), which only grew in intensity until the scene where she was flopping in the shallows, at which point a loud argument started between some laughers and someone trying to take the film seriously. Then the giggling got quiet but turned in to uncomfortable rustling and whispers.
I sort of agree with the uncomfortable giggling; I don't think this weird redesign of that character benefitted from going from eerie prognosticator resisting a spectral force, to feral seizures and demon voices. I think they rewrote things to make this a breakout performance for Lily-Rose Depp, and the film suffered for it.
Also: in the original, the Ellen character figured out how to defeat the vampire, orchestrated it so she couldn't be stopped from sacrificing herself, and saved everyone in the end, all on her own. In Eggers' version she kinda thought of it, but then the Willem Defoe character told her what to do and he distracted the husband so she could do it. It went from tragic hero who saves the day through her own sacrifice, to sad ingenue who has things done to her and gets used up.
Lastly: there's a point in the movie where Orlok is on the move, and Thomas is trapped in the castle; Thomas escapes and then it's a race of who gets to Bremen first and whether Thomas can prevent Orlok from succeeding. After that point, the film should be ramping up the pace, there's urgency and the goal is clear -- but in Eggers' version, it slowed down to a plodding pace where everyone's talking about how worried they are about things when they're not tying LilyRose Depp to the bed. It felt like they were just repeating scenes in different rooms for a while.
I can't really remove myself from comparison to the original, given how explicitly it is a remake of the 1922 silent film, but even if I look at avoiding comparison, replacing the action of the third act with spooky despair to stretch the movie out to over two hours is still a negative for me.
(I have not seen the Herzog version but someone I know recommended that if I didn't like this one, to watch that one)
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:58 PM on December 30, 2024 [10 favorites]
Ask your doctor if Nosferatu is right for you
posted by ishmael at 2:01 PM on December 30, 2024 [20 favorites]
posted by ishmael at 2:01 PM on December 30, 2024 [20 favorites]
I finally saw this today and enjoyed it very much. The cinematography was great.
posted by gemmy at 9:18 PM on January 4 [1 favorite]
posted by gemmy at 9:18 PM on January 4 [1 favorite]
Accidental post of my first line of the comment...
What I was going to say was that I loved the slow build, the movie is gorgeous, the performances just top notch all around. I want to see it again to see some of the details. The ending shot was amazing and evocative.
My major problem to start was mostly my own issue, which was that the Count sounded super Swedish-accented to me, which makes sense but which was so not to the setting. It took me a long while to stop being annoyed by it.
posted by gemmy at 9:24 PM on January 4 [2 favorites]
What I was going to say was that I loved the slow build, the movie is gorgeous, the performances just top notch all around. I want to see it again to see some of the details. The ending shot was amazing and evocative.
My major problem to start was mostly my own issue, which was that the Count sounded super Swedish-accented to me, which makes sense but which was so not to the setting. It took me a long while to stop being annoyed by it.
posted by gemmy at 9:24 PM on January 4 [2 favorites]
Amazing! Just saw it, and I've heard (though trying to avoid too much commentary) a lotta snark and small gripes, and I get it's not for everyone. It's causing things to percolate in my head and, ha ha, in my heart, a la the sand and the mollusk, so at some very fundamental level I think this is Gothic art. I could watch this again and again and fully expect to do so.
posted by cupcakeninja at 12:44 PM on January 5 [5 favorites]
posted by cupcakeninja at 12:44 PM on January 5 [5 favorites]
Saw it over the weekend. Wow! Really visceral and stunning. Great performances by everyone. I'd see it again in the theater.
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:57 PM on January 6 [2 favorites]
posted by Liquidwolf at 1:57 PM on January 6 [2 favorites]
Beautiful scenes, great lighting, solid performances, the cat is rescued, we get to do imitations of Count Morlock.
"Schnapps!"
posted by k3ninho at 3:04 PM on January 6 [3 favorites]
"Schnapps!"
posted by k3ninho at 3:04 PM on January 6 [3 favorites]
I appreciate all the insightful commentary, but I just want to know: why is his head so tall? To fill out his tall hat?
posted by zeptoweasel at 7:32 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]
posted by zeptoweasel at 7:32 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]
why is his head so tall? To fill out his tall hat?
I imagine some o that height is monstrous zombie overgrowth, and some of it is the high hairstyle.
Apparently some Romanians of that region had that hairstyle in the late 15th century. Kind of similar to the hairstyle of Cossacks. Ukrainian illustrator Vladislav Erko has done some excellent playing card illustrations showing medieval Ukrainians rocking that hairstyle.
posted by ishmael at 12:38 AM on January 7
I imagine some o that height is monstrous zombie overgrowth, and some of it is the high hairstyle.
Apparently some Romanians of that region had that hairstyle in the late 15th century. Kind of similar to the hairstyle of Cossacks. Ukrainian illustrator Vladislav Erko has done some excellent playing card illustrations showing medieval Ukrainians rocking that hairstyle.
posted by ishmael at 12:38 AM on January 7
That was pretty good. But it didn't impress me quite as much as "The Lighthouse". The pace dragged a bit and I think it could have been cut a bit tighter. I could have done with a bit less "ugh" and a bit more "Aargh!"
One question I saw: Is this a Christmas movie?
posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:20 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]
One question I saw: Is this a Christmas movie?
posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:20 AM on January 10 [3 favorites]
I can't speak to it being a Christmas movie or not, though I know people who saw it on Christmas, so therefore...
I think it could have been longer! That's not a sentiment I usually have about most films, but this one... I'd have enjoyed spending more time with these characters.
posted by cupcakeninja at 7:50 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]
I think it could have been longer! That's not a sentiment I usually have about most films, but this one... I'd have enjoyed spending more time with these characters.
posted by cupcakeninja at 7:50 AM on January 11 [2 favorites]
Saw it twice. To me it feels like any reading of this movie that doesn't cite the clear groomer narrative is incomplete. Yet little of the discussion here or elsewhere is about the obvious TW child sexual abuse aspect. Am I just totally off? Did I see a different movie?
posted by kensington314 at 11:48 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]
posted by kensington314 at 11:48 AM on January 12 [2 favorites]
I thought the stylized acting was really walking a tightrope here. It was definitely a little bit hammy, but if it had been more naturalistic, I think the whole thing would have gotten too abrasive for me to appreciate. Every element of the movie was like that I think - the sound, the visuals, the pacing - walking right up to a line of challenging subject matter and presentation without ever crossing in such a way I wanted to tune out to a more safe mental space. Extremely precise execution in that way. Loved it.
Also crucially, extremely strong mustache game all around. Quality era for cookie dusters.
I find rats cute. It's a problem for this kind of movie, where I get that I'm supposed to be disgusted but I'm just sitting there all like, "dang those rats are really having a party."
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:08 PM on January 13 [2 favorites]
Also crucially, extremely strong mustache game all around. Quality era for cookie dusters.
I find rats cute. It's a problem for this kind of movie, where I get that I'm supposed to be disgusted but I'm just sitting there all like, "dang those rats are really having a party."
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:08 PM on January 13 [2 favorites]
The actors didn't love finding out that even trained rats are incontinent. So the 5,000 rats scene was essentially 5,000 rats pissing on things.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:14 PM on January 13 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:14 PM on January 13 [2 favorites]
Okay finally saw this. I agree with kensington that there's some exploration needed here. Clearly there is familiarity here between Ellen and Orlock. This was actually my only real gripe with the movie -- Herzog's version really shows how completely taken the Count is with Lucy. I'm hoping the director's cut will show more backstory that puts Orlock's obsession (and Ellen's as well) into context.
Things I loved: the lighting, the smokey interiors, the fact that Harker has more agency in this version compared to Hutter in Herzog's film. Loved the way Orlock moved around in different spaces, and I laughed at all the scenes involving Anna's two little girls (except for their last scene, ahem). I actually found Lily-Rose Depp's performance to be really good in spite of its over-the-top acting. It worked in this movie, and I agree with Phobos that it really was executed well. Anything more or less wouldn't have felt right to me, especially since in the film, Friedrich was losing patience and feeling less and less sorry for her. She needed to be that freaky and uninhibited, which of course, in that society, was unappealing. Her being all depressed and listless just doesn't evoke the same sort of disgust from others.
Best shot was the final one, how utterly grotesque those damn legs were. Orlock bleeding from the eyes was also a treat.
Wonderful movie that I'll rewatch again.
posted by extramundane at 10:36 AM on January 22 [3 favorites]
Things I loved: the lighting, the smokey interiors, the fact that Harker has more agency in this version compared to Hutter in Herzog's film. Loved the way Orlock moved around in different spaces, and I laughed at all the scenes involving Anna's two little girls (except for their last scene, ahem). I actually found Lily-Rose Depp's performance to be really good in spite of its over-the-top acting. It worked in this movie, and I agree with Phobos that it really was executed well. Anything more or less wouldn't have felt right to me, especially since in the film, Friedrich was losing patience and feeling less and less sorry for her. She needed to be that freaky and uninhibited, which of course, in that society, was unappealing. Her being all depressed and listless just doesn't evoke the same sort of disgust from others.
Best shot was the final one, how utterly grotesque those damn legs were. Orlock bleeding from the eyes was also a treat.
Wonderful movie that I'll rewatch again.
posted by extramundane at 10:36 AM on January 22 [3 favorites]
We just saw this last night, and....eh? It's beautifully shot and well acted and everything, but it just kind of left us cold. I think it was the pacing. There's no real need for Nosferatu to be over two hours long.
I'll stick with the original...my first exposure to which was at a small film festival held in a church hall in southeastern London that had live musical accompaniment on a high-tech accordion, of all things. It was amazing.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:21 AM on January 28 [1 favorite]
I'll stick with the original...my first exposure to which was at a small film festival held in a church hall in southeastern London that had live musical accompaniment on a high-tech accordion, of all things. It was amazing.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:21 AM on January 28 [1 favorite]
this looks much more like a Tim Burton movie
No way. Pistols at dawn.
Going to rewatch, I do love the sound design.. the whole scene in Orlock's castle was wonderfully disorienting, as we fall into the shadow. The absolute lack of human presence in the castle feels epic.
posted by eustatic at 8:54 PM on January 28 [3 favorites]
No way. Pistols at dawn.
Going to rewatch, I do love the sound design.. the whole scene in Orlock's castle was wonderfully disorienting, as we fall into the shadow. The absolute lack of human presence in the castle feels epic.
posted by eustatic at 8:54 PM on January 28 [3 favorites]
I've seen it twice in the past week and also almost immediately got in an internet fight about it by praising someone's take 98% instead of 100%. (They were mad! They wanted that 2%!)
I appreciate that there is a Dracula take where the vampire is unambiguously a monster. Herzog's Nosferatu pities the Count (who is named Dracula in that version even though the plot largely follows Murnau's); it weighs his loneliness into the equation. So does Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is largely Stoker with a little of Herzog's influence around the edges.
Eggers pities nearly everyone else, who didn't knowingly ask for Orlok to happen to them. I don't think this movie tries to humanize him for even a second. The film is really interesting on a second viewing, when you may pick up on more details.
I was also thinking about it against The Northman -- Ellen's fate against Amleth's fate. Are they both inevitable?
posted by verbminx at 3:01 AM on January 29 [3 favorites]
I appreciate that there is a Dracula take where the vampire is unambiguously a monster. Herzog's Nosferatu pities the Count (who is named Dracula in that version even though the plot largely follows Murnau's); it weighs his loneliness into the equation. So does Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is largely Stoker with a little of Herzog's influence around the edges.
Eggers pities nearly everyone else, who didn't knowingly ask for Orlok to happen to them. I don't think this movie tries to humanize him for even a second. The film is really interesting on a second viewing, when you may pick up on more details.
I was also thinking about it against The Northman -- Ellen's fate against Amleth's fate. Are they both inevitable?
posted by verbminx at 3:01 AM on January 29 [3 favorites]
Matt Skuta channel has clipped scenes from the three Nosferatu together, so you can observe the same scenes in parallel
posted by eustatic at 9:16 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
posted by eustatic at 9:16 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]
one thing i noticed about the 2024 version, which is very 2024, is the count's insistence on his nobility, wealth, and power. looking back, it never made narrative sense that Orlok shlepped his own coffin boxes of dirt around. I know that is part of the theme of 1979's 'loser Orlok' but i find it inconsistent with the idea that the Vampyr is powerful
posted by eustatic at 9:24 AM on January 31
posted by eustatic at 9:24 AM on January 31
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posted by theatro at 9:46 AM on December 26, 2024 [18 favorites]