Ah, the festive season. Of course, it’s over now, but it’s always a time for ghost stories and chilling tales of redemption or damnation. Also, this year it was a time for a remake of a 1920s silent vampire classic it seems. Already a sizable hit in the US and legitimately the biggest opener that Robert Eggers has had so far, we’ve had to wait until 2025 to see it in the UK. Luckily, just for once that’s a minimal delay and it equates to literally one week later than the American release. It would be folly to try and cover the history and importance of F.W. Murnau’s film of the same name in 1922. Suffice it to say that Eggers was so struck by it at an early age, that he even adapted it as a play for his school and intended it to be his follow-up project to The VVitch with Anna Taylor-Joy as the female lead. Things never run according to plan though, so here we are with the film finally playing on both sides of the Atlantic at a much later date than intended. It features a very strong cast, including Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult, and Bill Skarsgård as the titular character. Getting excellent critical feedback from most of the mainstream viewing gallery, it would be very rude not to accept an invitation from the “good” Count now he’s arrived.

 

A short prologue introduces us to Ellen (a fired-up Depp), a gifted and unappreciated young woman whose loneliness unintentionally awakens a dark presence. Years later, she is now Mrs Hutter and married to Thomas (Hoult), a sincere and loving individual who is trying to become a successful broker and support an intended family in the Germanic city of Wisborg. Manipulated by circumstances (and a nefarious employer), he is charged with travelling to the distant Carpathian Mountains to meet with “eccentric” nobleman Count Orlok (a prosthetic-covered Skarsgård) and secure his signature to a deed. Despite his wife’s forebodings and the (inevitable) warnings of the local Romanies, he meets with the Count and only then becomes aware of his dark nature. It provides the catalyst for a plague to be visited upon his hometown and a long-forgotten covenant to be remembered. It seems that only Ellen’s love and the esoteric knowledge of Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Dafoe in fine form) can be depended upon to vanquish the evil of Orlok.

 

There is much in Nosferatu that is thematically close to Egger’s The VVitch. A strong female lead is repressed by a patriarchal society and is offered a way out by a malevolent presence, except this time the “living” is anything but “delicious”. It also has a wonderfully evocative sense of the Gothic which is supported by the sweeping soundtrack from British-Irish film composer Robin Carolan, making even the simple signing of a deed seem like a critical event. Given the gravitas that the original film has accrued and the importance of the source material to the filmmaker, what is perhaps surprising about the experience is just how unashamedly melodramatic it is and how entertaining it becomes. Despite that (or maybe as a result of it), it is perhaps the closest thing we’ve had to a merging of Universal and Hammer horror styles so far.

 

To put that into context, the crisp cinematography (mostly done in Prague and studio sets) is almost bled entirely of colour and apes the black-and-white minimalism of the original. This is helped by the snow and dark visual settings. Forget Die Hard, Nosferatu IS a Christmas film. Feel free to discuss this at repeat viewings in December 2025. The script is a blend of the Dickensian and Jane Austen, replete with “Sirrah”, “Cease your protestations”, and “Know your place, Madam!” (Harry Enfield fans rejoice!). It might be a bit hammy, but it works in context. The moment when a character bites the head of a pigeon and Dr Sievers (a scene-stealing Ralph Ineson) responds with a calming “My dear fellow, why did you do that?” is just perfect. If that sounds like it becomes a satire, it doesn’t. It keeps the distinction between OTT deliveries and effective acting just at the right level (although Aaron Taylor-Johnson pushes it a bit with his Victorian Dad act).

 

Add to this, the atypical depiction of Orlok. Rather than repeat the expected rat-like grotesquerie of previous versions, Eggers has modelled him on Bram Stoker’s literary version of Dracula and the visual depictions of Vlad the Impaler (the real-life Wallachian leader that supposedly inspired the character). Bushy moustache, big nose, bad attitude, cadaverous body. This is married to the notion of an arrogant nobleman with a raspy voice and breath control that makes Darth Vader sound positively healthy. The actor’s delivery of some phrases and words just defy description and he is unrecognisable, to say the least. Suffice it to say that it’s another good horror performance from Skarsgard, standing apart from other versions as the vampiric lore is pulled in unexpected directions. Apparently, Orlok was a “dark enchanter” who made a devilish deal for immortality. Rather than nibbling at necks, he’ll bite victims on the chest and gorge on blood from the heart. Ick. There are also some neat narrative touches to explain his pursuit and obsession with Ellen, a twisted version of Renfield, and a take on the doomed voyage of the Demeter.

 

Special mention must go to Depp, who gives Ellen some depth and nobility, in what could have been a tricky role to pull off. In a couple of striking sequences, she contorts her body into uncomfortable positions and delivers somewhat questionable dialogue with conviction. Although trailers suggested a “bad boy” type of attraction to Orlok, it’s established that she fights against the control he exudes against her and that it’s the pureness of her love for her husband that temporarily frees her. Gender attitudes of the day get some skewering as expected, with treatment for her “melancholia” consisting of being tied to the bed and wearing a tight corset! It’s an effective update for the more sexual aspects of the Dracula myth that has driven many adaptations from Hammer onwards.

 

Some tropes are adapted very well indeed. Although the Count never says, “I don’t drink… wine”, he does react to a cut finger and his shadow stalks up stairways to confront victims. There are some stylish visuals which excel in their presentation. In the sequence where the shape of the vampire’s hand extends over the city, it’s made much more chilling by having it accompanied by the screams of the inhabitants of the houses it covers. The trip to the Carpathian castle in a driverless carriage has a uniquely nightmarish quality to it which is hard to shake off, as is the sequence where the Romanies supposedly deal with a vampire in their own inimitable way.

 

Some issues can be found with the proceedings if you want to find them. It is a tad overlong, and several plot holes can be easily found. In particular, that old chestnut of knowing exactly where the recumbent vampire is but leaving it until the last hours of daylight to go there rears its head in such an obvious fashion that it’s hard to ignore. They even go for an afternoon nap to make sure they’re ready! But in all honesty, as well as being a remake, this is also very much an adult fairy tale. Themes of grief and sacrifice are woven into the storyline, accompanying such lighter notions as purity and true love… as well as plague-bearing rats and blood-drinking corpses. As such, it has a certain mainstream charm to it that some of Eggers's previous projects have not carried with them. Even with the mature themes, the bittersweet tone, and a gruesome final image, there’s an element of simple entertainment that is often missing from stylish genre movies such as this and it’s very much welcome as the genre opener to the New Year, a time often viewed as a “dumping ground” for horror films. Maybe not the surreal masterpiece that some people might have been anticipating, but it is nonetheless a highly entertaining piece of work and well worth seeing on the biggest screen possible, make no mis-stake. This is really how they should have done the Dark Universe films.