Holt is especially moving as Hütter, a would-be hero who falls ill with a fever caused by his trip to Transylvania and his own desperate desire to rise to a higher social and economic class. Depp, on the other hand, is a revelation as the troubled Ellen. The eerie relationship between the Count and the heroine mirrors that of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, but Eggers places it at the dark heart of Nosferatu. Ellen is deeply in love with her husband, but for years she has been haunted by nightmarish, sensual visions of another man. As Orlok preys on the people of Wisborg, she is haunted by the question of whether he is a real monster or the embodiment of her own emotional instability and unfulfilled desires.
In contrast to most vampire movies, this movie is more about sex than sexiness. So it’s not that vampires are demonically attractive, it’s that men control women’s bodies. One of Eggers’ astute points is that the doctors of the time may have been vampires themselves. When Ellen began having seizures, Seavers’ diagnosis was not that she was possessed by an evil spirit, but that the hysterical woman simply had “too much blood” in her veins.
Still, no matter how layered and innovative Nosferatu is, there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s still a Dracula movie. That is, familiar events occur one after the other to familiar characters, and the inevitability of it all makes this movie more sad than scary. As Eggers moves steadily and methodically through the events of Murnau’s masterpiece, one may be impressed by the intelligence and painstaking craftsmanship that went into the work, but the actors, not the real people, are historical figures. You might feel like you’re watching a character play a role. deadly danger. Horror fans need not worry, however. A similar terrifying shock exists in Nosferatu. And after years of watching cool teenage vampires, it’s refreshing to see a scary old vampire again. But what sets Eggers’ Nosferatu apart from this body of work is how deeply it explores the imagery and themes of the vampire legend. There aren’t many Dracula movies that are as immersive as this one.
★★★★☆
Nosferatu will be released in the US on December 25th and in the UK on January 1st.
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