THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When you think of monsters, you can get the certainty that danger will be lurking. Once the possibility is confirmed, all you can do is hope the terror ends sooner than later because the experience is bound to be unpleasant.
PLOT
2024’s Nosferatu is an expanded retelling of the 1922 silent inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. The story takes place in the 1830s Wisburg and shows a young lady named Ellen who prayed for something to ease her loneliness. What she got in return was a mustachioed yet decayed creature who makes her pledge herself to him eternally. Sometime later, she marry real estate agent Thomas Hutter who must now accept a commission from his employer, Herr Knock, to sell a decrepit manor in Transylvania owned by the reclusive Count Orlok. As Ellen fears being alone, he sends his wife under the care of his wealthy friend Friedrich Harding, alongside his pregnant wife Anna and their two daughters. When arriving at the Carpathian Alps, he gets shunned by a local peasantry solely for a minor association with Orlok. At night, he’d see a group of Romani exhuming & impaling a corpse that is claimed by the people to be a vampire. The next morning, he loses his foot and continues heading for the castle until continuing via an unmanned carriage. He does meet the Count himself who is instantly menacing towards him which leads to immediately completing the sale. When having dinner, Thomas accidentally cuts his fingers and quickly blacks out. When waking up, he finds bite marks on his chest. When unconscious, Orlok stole a locket of Hutter’s that contained Ellen’s hair, later coercing him to sign another contract that he claims to be related to selling the manor. Thomas can’t confirm this due to the script being written in an occult language he can’t read. As he gets sicker, he tries to kill him with a stake like the Romani would, only for him to be fed on again by him. He does later escape the castle and gets cared for by nuns nearby, whereas the Count sets sail for Wisburg in a ship with plague-carrying rats, killing the crew during the voyage. At home, Ellen would start having seizures when not sleepwalking, thus leading to Friedrich reaching out to Doctor Wilhelm Sievers and philosopher Albin Eberhardt Von Franz for help. Although Wilhelm suggests continuing to medicate her, Albin believes she’s being possessed by a vampire. Knock also gets himself institutionalized after being caught eating raw sheep. When both doctors search his office, they confirm he serves Orlok. By the time Thomas returns home, Wisburg’s populace is ravaged by Orlok’s plagued rats. Knock does escape from confinement to take his master back to his manor. There, the Count contacts Ellen again confessing that despite being incapable of love, her pledge has made her insatiable to him and the document he tricked Thomas to sign was to void their marriage, giving her three nights to submit or she will kill her husband. Ellen tells Thomas of what has happened before having another seizure. Shortly after, they choose to have sex to defy assert her love for him and defy the Count’s influence. Because the latter see this telepathically, he retaliates by killing Anna and her children. Heartbroken, Friedrich would die as well from the plague while lying next to their corpses. After the Harding funeral, Albin would contact the Hutters and Wilhelm to share that the vampire can be destroyed via fair maiden’s sacrifice. Knowing she is the only one to end the reign of terror, Ellen conspires with Von Franz to keep Thomas distracted. The men go to Grunewald Manor to kill Knock who was sleeping in Orlok’s coffin. Only after the deed is done does Thomas realize what his wife is doing. Ellen re-pledges herself to him and allows him to feed on her by sunrise, in which the sunlight kills him. As Von Franz confirms her sacrifice ending the plague in the city, the film ends with Thomas returning and holding Ellen’s hand before she draws her last breath.
THOUGHTS
Having seen Robert Eggers’ past films, folklore period pieces are his thing where he can bring uncanny passion to the story as we know it. So it goes without saying this remake was meant for him because everything about it lives up to the hype in being instantly better than the original silent film. The production/costume design to match the setting felt just as surreal as when seeing 1992’s Dracula. The cinematography by Jarin Blaschke was fucking chilling from the start as it makes clear how relentless the feeling of dread is gonna be throughout. Like LongLegs, hiding the appearance of the villain is a smart move because the reveal of the main attraction delivers in being furthermore shocking. Bill Skarsgard is straight up breathtaking in his unrecognizable makeup transformation as Count Orlok, on par to his previous landmark of a performance as Pennywise from IT. The difference though is that this vampire does not hide its monstrosity inside and out, making sure you’re uncomfortable with his presence. He is so intimidating to watch due to having no hesitation in being a menace to the world around him with his motive of immortality. Just seeing this monster rise so high before having a mighty fall really nails the theme that Dracula is all about where there will always be consequences to letting selfishness be part of your path to achieve desires. With an ensemble that are far more saint in comparison, the message couldn’t be any more clear. When you look past Simon McBurney making Knock a far more corrupt version of Renfield who expresses no regrets in his acts of a familiar, the biggest victim is Ellen because as you follow Lily Rose-Depp in her possessive performance, she was afraid of living alone and wanted confirmation she wouldn’t stay that way by unintentionally awakening a monster. She found that true companionship she was seeking when Thomas came her way, only at that cost of cursing herself with him and all she cares about. She couldn’t bare Thomas leaving because she was sure her greatest fear would come true which only paved the way for everyone else to be vulnerable like her. She loved Thomas so much because as we pick up from Nicholas Hoult, he was a guy who had the bravery she was lacking before he saw the truth that monsters exist, becoming rightfully afraid in the process. He loved her back because she’s expressed stability since they met and she was motivation in wanting to be happy in more ways than one. He had good intentions in wanting to be financially comfortable, but should’ve had a limit in wanting to get there. The same can be said with having the Hardings watching her but cursed or not, the trail of tragedy could’ve been avoided had he put more thought into how she was feeling. Nevertheless, his actions didn’t change the fact how cared about her. Again, the Hardings were just as much victims in this case but much differently because they don’t believe in what Ellen is going through without physical proof. Aaron Taylor-Johnson & Emma Corrin both succeed in presenting Friedrich & Anna as caring people, yet can’t help it when it came to being rational because they’ve never expanded their horizons in what reality can be. Whether or not they could’ve been open minded like Von Franz expressed, they were doomed from the start, as were their children. With so much innocent blood being shed, Ellen had to do the absolute in ending this trail because it was her desire that started a terrible chain reaction no one could’ve predicted. Her death was undoubtedly the saddest that occurs here because in order to defeat evil, she had to go down with it and it took death to be at peace with loneliness. If there is any bright side, it would be Thomas was able to be there for her before her time was up. Of course, she doesn’t get this content had it not been for the one who found the right information needed to slay the beast. Now I respect Ralph Ineson making Sievers being thoughtful in sharing his knowledge, but it’s really Von Franz that had the right batch thanks to an eccentric mind brought to life by Willem Dafoe. Had he not known anything of vampires in advance, the town would’ve remained a wasteland as they knew it and the Hutters could’ve had a much worse fate. It’s characters like him that remind the gift of knowing more than you intend to know because it can all be helpful in unconventional situations. In conclusion, 2024’s Nosferatu is a fantastic horror film for its respected enhancements needed to make the story furthermore immortal than it already was. If you love vampires, see this now.
Comments