Understand that Robert Eggers didn’t decide to make an adaptation of the 1922 silent German film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” on a whim. In the director’s statement for his “Nosferatu,” Eggers says that in many ways it is “my most personal film.”
The century-old work, directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as the vampiric Count Orlok, is one Eggers has “lived with, within and dreamed about since childhood.” In high school, he co-wrote and performed a stage adaptation.
And after making the world take notice of his talents with his directorial debut, the 2015 Puritan-era horror film “The Witch,” he weote a draft of “Nosferatu.” However, he set that aside and delivered two other enthralling pieces, 2019′s “The Lighthouse” and 2022′s “The Northman.”
Finally, his highly unsettling and largely entertaining “Nosferatu” arrives, inspired by both the silent film and its source material, “Dracula,” the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker.
Eggers grabs us from the opening sequence, when Lily-Rose Depp’s young Ellen calls out at night for someone or something, which, unfortunately for her, proves to be the evil force Nosferatu. In these first few moments, Eggers gives us ecstasy, horror and, finally, darkness.
The tale begins in earnest years later — in 1883, in the fictional Baltic coast town of Wisborg, Germany — with Ellen the happy wife of Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult). He’ll start a family, he tells friends Friedrich and Anna Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin), when he’s not a “pauper.”
Thus, he accepts a task assigned by his employer, Herr Knock (Simon McBurney), to make the six-week voyage to Transylvania. There, he will close a transaction with the wealthy Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), who’s said to be looking to buy an estate. Secure the deal, Knock says, and Thomas will secure his future with the firm.
Ellen is dead set against the idea, but, as distraught as she is, her objections aren’t enough to dissuade him from going.
