Nosferatu (2024)

“You are my affliction.”

I was a bit conflicted as to how I should approach 2024’s Nosferatu. The film, directed by Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Northman), is a remake of F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which was a ripoff of the original Dracula story by Bram Stoker. I really enjoyed Murnau’s silent tale, and I loved Eggers’ The Northman and really liked The Witch, but everything about Nosferatu feels forced.

The acting is all over the place, with Lily-Rose Depp winning the overacting award, Nicholas Hoult looking confused the entire time, and Bill Skarsgard hidden under a hulking mass of makeup, belching out muddled lines in long, drawn out monologues. Aaron Taylor-Johnson was a surprise to see in the film, but he seemed just as confused and out of place as Hoult. Willem Dafoe portrayed von Franz as a spastic old man. Only Ralph Ineson as Dr. Sievers seemed to have a hold on what he was doing in the film. This may be due to the fact that he already worked with Eggers in The Witch.

The pace of the film was slow. The cinematography was drab, intentionally, I know, but it was almost too drab, as if to make you feel some sort of impending doom while watching the film. The payoff that this drab look and feel arrived at was nothing special. In fact, the classic 1922 ending was much, much better.

In short, I didn’t care for this film. It was boring, too long, and full of bad acting and forced atmosphere that just never connected with me. Give it a look on Peacock if you’d like, but you aren’t missing much.