First and foremost, why in the world would Hollywood remake a silent film in 2024?
Providing some history, the original Nosferatu came out in 1922 under the title Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror) by German Director F.W. Murnau (Faust 1926, City Girl 1930). It was based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, but Stoker’s estate would let them have the rights to film, hence, the name change. The word ‘Nosferatu’ is an archaic Romanian word that means ‘vampire.’ It may come from the Romanian word nesuferitu, which means “the offensive one” or “the insufferable one.”
The film starred Max Schreck as Count Orlok, Gustav von Wangenheim as Thomas Hutter, Greta Schröder as Ellen Hutter, Georg H. Schnell as Harding, Gustav Botz as Professor Sievers, Alexander Granach as Knock, John Gottowt as Professor Bulwer, Hardy von Francois [de] as a doctor at a mental hospital, Max Nemetz as the Empusa captain, Wolfgang Heinz as the Empusa first mate, Albert Venohr [de] as the Empusa sailor, Fanny Schreck as a hospital nurse, Karl Etlinger as one of Bulwer’s students, and Guido Herzfeld as an innkeeper.
Although banned in Sweden ‘for excessive horror’ until 1972, it left a massive mark historically on the cinema world.
Jump forward to 1979, Werner Herzog directed a film called Nosferatu the Vampyre (Nosferatu – Phantom der Nacht), which was intended to be a remake of the 1922 film. It starred Klaus Kinski as the newly restored character name Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, Roland Topor as Renfield, Walter Ladengast as Dr. Abraham van Helsing, Dan van Husen as Warden, Jan Groth [de] as Harbormaster, Carsten Bodinus as Schrader, Martje Grohmann as Mina, Rijk de Gooyer as Town official, Clemens Scheitz as Clerk, John Leddy as Coachman, Tim Beekman as Coffin bearer, Margiet van Hartingsveld, and Lo van Hensbergen.
Werner Herzog decided to restore the original names of the characters the day the copyright of Bram Stoker’s Dracula expired in 1930 when it entered the public domain while still following the movie blueprint laid out by F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. It also did well with audiences and left a mark.
Then, in 2000, E. Elias Merhige released Shadow of the Vampire. Based around the filming of 1922’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, it is hampered by the fact that its star, Max Schreck, is taking the role of a vampire far more seriously than seems humanly possible. It starred John Malkovich as Frederich Wilhelm Murnau, the director of Nosferatu; Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck, who plays Count Orlok; Cary Elwes as Fritz Arno Wagner, the cinematographer; John Aden Gillet as Henrik Galeen, the screenwriter, Eddie Izzard as Gustav von Wangenheim, who plays Thomas Hutter, Udo Kier as Albin Grau, occultist; the producer, art director, and costume designer, Catherine McCormack as Greta Schröder, who plays Ellen Hutter, Ronan Vibert as Wolfgang Muller, Nicholas Elliott as Paul, Sophie Langevin as Elke, and Myriam Muller as Maria. Making a splash at the box office, it is still equally interesting to watch twenty-plus years later.
This leads us to 2015, when Robert Eggers was set to write and direct a remake, and Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen were to produce it. So, why did it take nine years to release? It was a passion project, which meant finding the right cast to achieve Egger’s vision to the standards of his notorious attention to detail with the budget he was able to secure.
Released Christmas Day, December 25, 2024 through Focus Features and Universal Pictures, Nosferatu stars Bill Skarsgård (It 2017, The Crow 2024) as Count Orlok, Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies 2013, Reinfield 2023) as Thomas Hutter, Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp (The King 2019, The Idol series) as Ellen Hutter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass 2010, The Fall Guy 2024), as Friedrich Harding, Emma Corrin (The Crown series, Deadpool & Wolverine 2024), as Anna Harding, Willem Dafoe (Platoon 1986, The Lighthouse 2019) as Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz, Ralph Ineson (The Witch 2015, The First Omen 2024) as Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, and Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2 2016, Carnival Row series) as Herr Knock.
A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
First, although beautifully shot in the US, UK, and Hungary, Nosferatu is just Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula, almost beat for beat, with filler added and 2024 sensibilities. This is sad to say since it was a passion project for Eggers, but it is true. Going from silence to talking did not help anything except for people who don’t have an attention span for silence.
The cast is all beautifully or handsomely dressed and plays their characters straight as if they are actually living in the world, but what is with Count Orlok’s new stache? He looks like a pasty Doctor Robotnik from the Sonic the Hedgehog films! Like they did with Skarsgard’s Pennywise, they tried too hard, and the character just was not scary…especially adding that stache the original Orlok did not have.
So far, Nosferatu has done relatively well in the week following the premiere. Overall, it is fun to see how Robert Eggers translated a one-hundred-and-two-year-old silent film into a 2024 feature… but honestly, it is good for a one-off. For this, Cryptic Rock gives 2024’s Nosferatu 3.5 out of 5 stars.
){kind=link}
No comment