Atmospheric, Nosferatu puts the bite on an impressionable youngster, who carries her commitment to Dracula into her marriage, with terrifying consequences. Writer and director Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse) is at the helm of this supernatural horror film. He was inspired by Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula (1897) and by the screenplay for Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) by Henrik Galeen.
Anna Harding (Emma Corrin) effectively makes a pact with the vampire when she is but a teenager. Thereafter, she is plagued by nightmarish visions, which carry on when she falls in love with and marries Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). When Friedrich is given the opportunity for a leg up in the real estate business in which he works by securing a client’s signature in Transylvania, she is concerned.
Anna has a premonition about what is about to happen and implores Friedrich not to go, but her husband dismisses her apprehension. Little does he know that the client is none other than the notorious Nosferatu, aka Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard), who local gypsies recognise is evil personified. In no time, he has Friedrich terrified, before hitching a ride in a crate on a ship back to the Baltic German town in which Friedrich and Anna live in the 1830s.
Nosferatu means to eliminate Friedrich and reclaim Anna, who by now is experiencing seizures. Still, Anna is having a hard time convincing her best friend Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) and her husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) that her fears are real. Soon enough though that changes when Nosferatu gets a taste of blood. On Anna’s side is a knowledgeable university professor (Willem Dafoe), who recognises just what a threat Count Orlok is.
With alternating sequences in black and white and colour, a portent of doom hangs over Nosferatu. A loud and potent score underpins the dread. Fine, as that is, given the subject matter I found the storyline disjointed, convoluted and unnecessarily drawn out. In short, the film laboured. There is no way this movie justifies a two hour plus running time.
Emma Corin is given a thankless task. At one point she remarkably transforms from being “off with the pixies” to “normal”, without so much as a beg pardon. I wasn’t sold, nor was I of many of the other transitions that constitute the film. Bill Skarsgard mumbles his way through his role as the devil incarnate in a foreign accent. Willem Dafoe is unconvincing as the august professor. Like much of the picture, what he does feels affected.
I simply didn’t buy what he or the other characters were selling. In many instances, the dialogue sounded disingenuous and the acting appeared forced. I couldn’t countenance Nosferatu, which became a very, very long sit. It goes down as the earliest of contenders for worst film of 2025.
Alex First
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Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.