Note: Starting in January 2025, we began publishing long-form DVD reviews written by GFPL staffers. The DVDs are all available to check out at the Library, or from one of our Partner Libraries. We post a new review each month! Come back next month to find the next review.
Nosferatu (2024) is a visually stunning movie with a derivative plot
Review by Autumn, Library Specialist
Nosferatu (2024) is a rated R horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers. It stars an unrecognizable Bill Skarsgård as the vampire Count Orlock, Lily-Rose Depp as the main female protagonist Ellen Hutter, Nicholas Hoult as Ellen’s husband and real estate agent Thomas Hutter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Thomas’ best friend Friedrich Harding, and Willem DaFoe as the eccentric, occultist Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz.
Nosferatu is Bram Stoker’s Dracula with a few minor changes: names, location, and monster appearance. If you’ve ever seen Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) with Winona Ryder, Gary Oldman, and Keanu Reeves, you’ve seen Nosferatu.
It’s no secret that when the original movie was released in 1922, Bram Stoker’s widow sued the production company over copyright violations, and as someone who has never seen the 1922 film, I can clearly see why she would sue. The plot is the same, just set in Germany. The characters are the same, just with different names. The story of this movie is akin to asking your friend to copy their homework and telling them you’ll change a few answers.
This movie was billed as a horror movie, and when I saw that, I was expecting modern horror. Nosferatu falls more in line with classic horror, pulling from its roots. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you tell a modern audience that your movie is classified as “horror”, but do not deliver upon what makes up the genre today, then you will have a disappointed audience.
At about the hour and 50 minute mark in this 2 hour and 12 minute movie, the story started to feel rushed. We’re coming down to the wire, the final countdown, the emotions are heightened, we are finally reaching the penultimate point we have been waiting for for over an hour! The subtle and not-so-subtle foreshadowing have all led up to this! And then! It’s over. The ending fell flat, far from my expectations and what the build-up was gearing toward. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I felt like I was led to believe one thing and then given something else entirely.
Saying all that, the background work that went into making this movie is incredible. There is clear direction, and the lighting was well used, making it feel like you are watching a classic, Old Hollywood film. I will say the slow, panning shot was a bit overused, as I found myself feeling bored when another one happened; and they just kept happening. Scene transition? Slow, panning shot. Environmental shots? Slow, panning shot. The only jumpscare in the movie? Slow, panning shot. It may have been a tool to make the movie feel cohesive, but it just ends up feeling like a substitute for tension.
The makeup department truly deserves a round of applause for the prosthetic work done on Bill Skarsgård. Also the fact that Skarsgård sat in the chair for 3-6 hours is a feat in and of itself.
Nosferatu (2024) is a visually stunning movie. However, the work, effort, and skill behind the shots, direction, wardrobe, makeup, score, lighting, edits, and the talent in front of the camera are overshadowed by the fact that the story is something we’ve seen before. The color of the bow might be different, but the package is still the same.