Writer and director Robert Eggers had already proven himself to be a singular filmmaker with his preceding trifecta of films: folk horror debut The Witch (2016); towering triumph of a character study The Lighthouse (2019) and blood-soaked Viking epic The Northman (2022).
His latest film, the long-gestating passion project Nosferatu, has solidified that reputation.
Eggers has created an expertly realised reimagining of the iconic cinematic vampire, first brought to the screen by F. W. Murna in the 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which was an unauthorized and unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.
The film has been in various stages of production for almost 10 years, while the story has been of particular interest to Eggers for even longer - he first directed the play at school when he was 17.
His devotion to this tale seeps through every scene.
Eggers has brought his exacting attention to detail, faithfulness to historical accuracy and sumptuous, all-enveloping sets and costumes to another level on Nosferatu, an intense, bleakly beautiful gothic horror, underpinned by committed performances and an almost suffocating undercurrent of dread.
Lily-Rose Depp leads the cast as Ellen Hutter, a young woman in early 19th century Germany who has been haunted by the terrifying ancient vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) since she inadvertently summoned him as a lonely child.
She is newly married to Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult), a naïve, ambitious estate agent who has his eye on a promotion at work and wishes to please his peculiar boss Herr Knock (Simon McBurney). Despite all the bad omens, not least Ellen begging him not to go, he agrees to undertake a perilous journey to a mysterious client's faraway castle to do business with him.
Thomas soon regrets his decision when he is faced with the horrifying undead creature at the castle, who is brought to life by an unrecognisable Bill Skarsgård. As well as a physical transformation with layers of prosthetics, Skarsgård trained to lower his vocal range to create the vampire's uniquely rasping, laboured voice.
At home, Ellen, who has a strange and unmooring psychic connection to Orlok, is in the care of the couple’s well-to-do friends, Anna and Friedrich Harding (Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson). When she becomes increasingly disturbed and suffers from seizures, they bring in the help of Dr. Wilhelm Siever (Ralph Ineson).
It soon becomes clear his treatment, which includes tightening her corset at night to "calm the womb", is utterly ineffectual and he brings in a professor of the occult Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe). At last, someone who understands what the hell is going on.
What unfolds is truly disturbing, with well deployed jump-scares and judiciously timed moments of gore. While all of the cast members make an impression, it is no understatement to stay that 25-year-old Depp, who previously is best known for the HBO television show The Idol and films Voyagers and Wolf, has a star-making turn.
Scenes in which Ellen is possessed by the demon are particularly mind-blowing as Depp contorts her body in a way that defies comprehension. Skarsgård’s Orlok is a blood-curdling addition to the vampire canon and Hoult is the perfect audience proxy as he trembles in his presence.
Casual misogyny and men’s control over women’s bodies is an underlying thread in this beautifully crafted, chilling film that demonstrates Eggers’ keen skill for world building.
Nosferatu is out in cinemas on 1 January, 2025.
