The original iconic ‘Nosferatu’, that came out 103 years ago (1922), is an unauthorized adaptation of the infamous Bran Stoker novel ‘Dracula.’ For the 1922 film, the filmmakers changed the names of the characters and a few other small details to get around the copyright holders.
Now, over a century later, the iconic ‘Nosferatu’ gets the remake treatment and I must say that this new adaptation of the story is extremely well done!
In the 1830s, estate agent Thomas Hutter travels to Transylvania for a fateful meeting with Count Orlok, a prospective client.
In this absence, Hutter’s new bride, Ellen, is left under the care of their friends, Friedrich and Anna Harding. Plagued by horrific visions and an increasing sense of dread, Ellen soon encounters an evil force that’s far beyond her control.
This version of ‘Nosferatu’ is a dark, gothic tale that’s actually one of the best ever of the vampire character. Now, even though the story can be familiar since just about everyone knows the Dracula/Nosferatu story and a little predictable due to that familiarity, this is still a truly incredible watch.
‘Nosferatu’ delivers quite a few amazingly tense scenes, great cinematography, and incredible performances, especially from Bill Skarsgard, who portrays Orlok.
This new adaptation has a haunting feel throughout the film and the gothic set design is incredibly well done. The film does a tremendous job making the 1830s time period look really authentic and most of the film’s dialogue also helps give it a great authentic vibe.
The visual effects work in this film is also extremely fantastic. There are indeed some moments that can get a little bloody, but that’s expected with this film. Another thing I really enjoyed about the effects is that they are done practically and no CGI was seen (at least any noticeable CGI).
The incredible make up effects for the Orlok character is simply amazing and makes the character even more terrifying. I can actually see the visual effects and make up work getting some nods during the awards season.
Speaking of awards recognition - time to talk about the performances. All of the actors in this film did a tremendous job and I can actually see any of them getting some recognition for sure on the award front. Willem Dafoe does a great job as always as the professor who’s an expert in the occult and mysticism.
Bill Skarsgard is amazing as Orlok! He always does an outstanding job disappearing into his role (just like he did as Pennywise in the recent ‘It’ movies). Skarsgard makes Orlok so memorable and even a little emotional with a few of his moments with the Ellen character.
Lily Rose-Depp (daughter of Jack Sparrow) actually steals the show as Ellen Hutter. She does an exceptional job going from being highly emotional to being completely erratic when Orlok possesses her during a few scenes. The actress has been in some indie films, but this role will very likely be her most memorable one yet!
Let me know on my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page on Facebook your favorite iteration of the Dracula/Nosferatu character!
Cast: Bill Skarsgard (Count Orlok/Nosferatu); Nicholas Hoult (Thomas Hutter); Lily Rose-Depp (Ellen Hutter); Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Friedrich Harding); Emma Corrin (Anna Harding); Ralph Ineson (Dr. Wilhelm Sievers); Simon McBurney (Herr Block); Willem Dafoe (Professor Van Franz).
Writer/director: Robert Eggers (The Witch; The Northman; The Lighthouse)
Trivia: A remake of the 1922 film was announced in July 2015 with Eggers initially planning to do this as his second film. The exteriors of Orlok’s castle were filmed at Hunedoara Castle, aka Corvin Castle, a Romanian castle located in Transylvania and one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. And, it's the castle where Vlad Dracula was briefly imprisoned.
‘Nosferatu’ is rated R for bloody violent content, graphic nudity and some sexual content (running time 132 minutes)
The exteriors of Orlok's castle were filmed at Hunedoara Castle, also known as Corvin Castle, a Romanian castle located in Transylvania and one of the largest medieval castles extant in Europe. What's more, it's the castle where Vlad Dracula was briefly imprisoned.
Bill Skarsgård trained with an opera coach to lower his voice an octave to make the voice of Count Orlok as deep as possible.
The castle scenes were filmed in the Pernstejn Castle in the Czech Republic, the same location that was used for Werner Herzog's film Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979).
Willem Dafoe did a scene with 2000 live rats.
To get the film's eerie, hyper-moonlit look for the night scenes, the crew filmed the scenes during the day time and in post production ran it through a computer to remove the red and yellow color spectrums.
Producer Chris Columbus said Bill Skarsgård was so terrifying in costume that he couldn't even approach him on the set. That is until Skarsgård made everyone laugh. Then, Columbus "knew Nosferatu had a sense of humor."
The original 1922 film was almost lost. Bram Stoker was the creator and author of the novel "Dracula" in 1897. His widow took legal action against F. W. Murnau, the director of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), due to the similarities to Dracula. The judge ordered all copies of the 1922 film to be destroyed, but thankfully some survived, or this remake might never have been made.
The shots and editing techniques used to portray way Orlok's psychic communication with Ellen are directly inspired by Svengali (1931). More broadly, Orlok's attempts to mentally dominate Ellen are heavily inspired by the film.
This is the second Nosferatu-related film that Willem Dafoe, who plays Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz in this film, stars in. The first film is Shadow of the Vampire (2000) in which Dafoe portrays a fictionalized vampiric Max Schreck. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) is a quasi-remake of, a semi-biopic, and fictional behind-the-scenes look at Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922).
Harry Styles and Anya Taylor-Joy were originally cast in the lead roles. Styles dropped out due to "scheduling conflicts", and the project got delayed, which resulted in Taylor-Joy also dropping out later, as she was filming Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) at the time. Lily-Rose Depp took over Taylor-Joy's role.
As with on the sets of It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), despite portraying a villainous character in this film, Bill Skarsgård made sure that he didn't purposefully frighten his fellow co-stars and crew members while not filming and joked around with them.
Nicholas Hoult also starred in another loose adaptation of Dracula, Renfield (2023).
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