Nosferatu Review: An Atmosphere of Terror

Leo Josse ’28 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer 

Images Ahead.

As a moviegoer, I find enjoyment in many different genres. One of them is horror. I still remember the first real horror movie I saw in my preteens, The Conjuring (Wan, 2013), which quickly became my benchmark for horror movies. But the more I watched, the easier it became to notice a horror formula. The way a scene builds to a jumpscare, techniques in camera movements, and eerie music mixed with equally eerie silence. It became predictable. Some movies mastered these techniques so well that it was hard to notice the formula at work, while others felt like cheap attempts at a scare. To scare me again, I needed to witness something that charts its own path in horror, that breaks the modern formulas and relies on different techniques to terrify me. 

Nosferatu is just that.

Watching the movie, I was constantly in awe of how terrified, captivated, and transported I was. Nosferatu captured fear like no other horror movie I had seen prior. It relies less on the jumpscare tactic, and more on the atmospheric nature of the terror. This atmosphere allows the movie to emanate terror throughout its entire 132-minute runtime. The film achieves this through Robert Eggers’ deft direction bringing everything together masterfully. From the script to the score, the acting to the production design, Nosferatu is firing on all cylinders. 

Before I dive deep into why Nosferatu worked so well for me, I need to give some background on my experience with the source material. Nosferatu (2024) is a remake/reimagining of a 1922 German expressionist film directed by F.W. Murnau, which itself is an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. I am not someone who has particularly invested myself in the Dracula lore, as I have never read the book and the only Dracula films I’ve seen are the first three Hotel Transylvania movies. I had also not seen the original Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror before seeing Eggers’ 2024 reimagining, so I had no idea what to expect going into the theater. I understand that this drastically limits my point of view compared to many going into the film but it also proves that this is a successful jumping-off point for newcomers to the fandom. 

Spoilers Ahead.

When watching Nosferatu, it’s clear that Eggers had a definitive vision of what he wanted this movie to be, and communicated that vision to everyone working on it. In interviews, Eggers stated that he has wanted to adapt Nosferatu since he was nine years old. That passion is very much on display, as this movie is brilliantly crafted to terrifying results. As I mentioned before, the atmosphere is really what brings this all together. Eggers talks about how the story is a simple fairy tale, crafted around real fears and legends from the 19th century. Some people believed in vampires, others made artworks, and Eggers used it all to craft his authentic atmosphere of terror. It’s 19th-century German setting, the creepy isolation of Orlok’s castle, all the little symbols on his coffin; even though it’s a fairy tale, you believe in its presented authenticity. That’s what sells the fear. 

The acting is all-around outstanding. In the original 1922 version, the film’s protagonist is Thomas Hutter, the real estate agent who journeys to Count Orlok’s castle in Transylvania. Nicholas Hoult plays Hutter here, and while he’s still important to the story, the movie brilliantly flips the point-of-view character onto Hutter’s wife, Ellen Hutter, played by Lily-Rose Depp. In both versions, Orlok ends up pursuing her, leading to her sacrifice to defeat him in the end, but in Eggers’ version, making her the point-of-view character allows a new level of depth to the character and the relationships around her and Thomas. We explore Ellen’s loneliness, which leads her to call out to the spirits and the Nosferatu to answer, and her struggle to fit into a world that doesn’t believe in the supernatural. It creates an instantly engaging character, allowing her sacrifice to be moving and heroic. Depp conveys all these concepts with such mastery that it seems she was born for this role. There are also a lot of moments that require intense acting from her, and she sells it completely. She has multiple episodes of contortions and convulsions, and Depp is doing it all. No visual effects were necessary. She does all of that while keeping the character grounded in the story, and not losing the emotional center of the film. Her intense physical scenes could have easily overshadowed her nuanced portrayal of loneliness but it never does. She deserves all the accolades she is getting, and I can’t wait to see whatever she does after this. 

Another standout cast member is Bill Skarsgård, as Count Orlok/Nosferatu. You may often hear the phrase, “an actor disappeared into the role.” Well, I don’t think a phrase can better describe Skarsgård’s performance here. He is quite literally unrecognizable as Orlok. Everything from the insane prosthetics and makeup that the makeup and prosthetic teams designed—making him look 80 years older than he is—to his voice, which he achieved by training with an opera singer to lower his register down an octave. All of this works together to build such a breathtaking sense of fear, allowing the audience to really identify with the characters that must deal with his presence in the film. It’s an incredible transformation. 

The rest of the cast is phenomenal as well. I immediately think of Willem Dafoe, who I generally see in creepy/villainous roles, but here is much more of a mentor-like character, while still retaining the craze he so effortlessly captures in many of his other roles. Simon McBurney is also fantastic, playing Herr Knock, Count Orlok’s devoted servant. I am not particularly familiar with McBurney’s work, but after seeing his performance here, I am much more inclined to look out for him in older and upcoming works. He plays the slimy, crazy servant extremely well, and clearly had a lot of fun with it. The character reminded me of Timothy Spall’s performance as Wormtail from the Harry Potter series; I can draw many parallels between the two performances in these films. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Ineson, and Emma Corrin round out the cast, and each delivers on their characters’ more grounded nature, which builds tension as the events they are dealing with are far from grounded. 

Now onto the technical aspects of Nosferatu. Starting with the production design, it’s drop-dead gorgeous—pun intended. Everything feels authentic to the time, and the world they built feels very lived in. The cinematography is also stunning, which goes hand in hand with the production design to create the visual landscape of this movie. Robert Eggers employs lots of long, unbroken takes, which not only let you feel as if you’re truly a part of the world but also build tension and fear as you stay with the characters and moments, rather than changing shots or cutting away. The way the shadows are used to keep things void in the unknown, amplifying the fear and atmosphere, is inspired. It all feels very intentional, and is, as Eggers has stated that he maps out all his shots and camera movements meticulously before shooting, and is not a fan of improvisation. The coloring of the shots too is brilliant. Most of the movie is colored to almost seem black and white, with a cool blue hue visible just enough to show that it’s not monochromatic. 

Something that really stuck with me on top of all of this was Robin Carolan’s score for the film. A movie’s score is a big component for me in determining how I feel about the movie, and from the first second of the movie, before even a single image graced the screen, Carolan’s score captivated me. He turns away from a typical horror-sounding score and instead focuses on capturing the tragic and melancholic elements of the story as well as staying true to its gothic nature. It feels timely yet fresh and elevates the movie’s atmosphere to a level beyond what it had already achieved. As soon as I left the theater, I knew I had to go and listen to the whole soundtrack again. 

After seeing how Eggers and his talented actors and crew effortlessly created such a captivating and creepy atmosphere for Nosferatu, I will gleefully watch whatever they do next. Nosferatu is already proving to do well with audiences and at the box office, already becoming Eggers’ highest-grossing movie; his filmography includes The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman. He recently signed on to direct a film titled Werwulf, set in 13th century England, and the sequel to Jim Henson’s 1986 movie Labyrinth, both of which he’s co-writing with Sjorn, who he worked with on The Northman. I eagerly await these movies, and while we’re at it, I have a pitch for Eggers. Maybe this is just me being a selfish fanboy, but as a diehard Star Wars fan, it would bring me such delight if he signed on to make a movie about the origins of the Dark Side of the Force/the Sith, as I think his gothic/horror sensibilities could really bring some artistic flair to the franchise, as well as fit that material really well. Lucasfilm and Eggers, hear me out on this!