A bloody, funny take on the Dracula story
Nosferatu, written and directed by American filmmaker Robert Eggers, is a remake of the 1922 German film of the same name. I left the cinema thinking, ‘Hold on, is this a love story?’
He may be a bloodsucker by nature but for writers, filmmakers, playwrights and artists Dracula is more like a blood bank. He’s there when anyone requires a transfusion.
Nosferatu, written and directed by American filmmaker Robert Eggers, is a remake of the 1922 German film of the same name, directed by FW Murnau and starring Max Schrek, which is based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula.
Leaving aside 1970s porn flicks such as the unimaginatively titled Dracula Sucks, the infamous vampire has shown he can wing it on screen between horror (Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, Richard Roxburgh) and comedy (George Hamilton, Leslie Nielsen, David Niven).
Nosferatu, set mainly in Germany in 1838, is somewhere in between. In that sense it bears similarities with the recent Renfield, starring Nicolas Cage as the lip-licking count.
It is gruesome and funny, with Bill Skarsgard as the vampire fanging it like nobody’s business and Willem Dafoe as occult expert Albin Eberhart Von Franz responding with melodramatic humour.
“I have seen things in this world that would have made Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother’s womb,’’ declares Professor Von Franz. That Dafoe delivers this line with a straight face is a credit to him. Unless, of course, he didn’t at first and there’s a blooper tape out there. If there is, I’d love to see it.
Skarsgard is Count Orlock. In 1922, the German filmmakers were unable to secure the rights to Stoker’s novel, so a name change was required for their unauthorised adaptation.
He’s an imperious aristocrat in Transylvania who insists on being called Sir or Lord. “I will be addressed in the honour of my blood.” He makes that demand to Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult), a young real estate agent (in the novel he’s Jonathan Harker and a lawyer) sent off to meet the count and arrange for him to buy a place in the German city of Wisborg.
He’s dispatched by his boss, Herr Knock (Simon McBurny, who gives Dafoe a run for his money). “It will be an adventure my boy,’’ he tells Hutter.
“He insists we offer him an agent in the flesh.”
The next time we see Knock he is crouched naked over a pentagram, which suggests the adventure may be more than his junior colleague has bargained for. This becomes even more apparent when it transpires that the count wants to be in Wisborg, where Hutter lives and works, to see Hutter’s wife, Ellen (a brilliant Lily-Rose Depp). It seems they have a connection.
What follows, once the count is on German ground, sticks reasonably closely to the 1922 original, but takes it to some interesting places. The director has a deep interest in mythology and folklore, as shown in previous films such as The Lighthouse (2019), starring Dafoe, and The Northman (2022).
The final scene is out-and-out amazing. I left the cinema thinking, “Hold on, is this a love story?’’
I’m not sure if it is but I do think this film offers a different and fascinating take on the Dracula story.
Nosferatu (MA15+)
132 minutes
In cinemas
★★★½
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