The problem with horror film is that the feeling of horror doesn’t last a full feature-length film. Eventually, you’re going to get bored with the monsters. The atmosphere is going to get a bit tired, and soon you won’t be scared anymore.
Nosferatu is scary from start to finish with no levity.
The film is about the happily married couple Ellen and Thomas Hutter in a remake of the 1922 silent film. Ellen has visions of doom as Thomas has to temporarily leave her in order to go to Transylvania where he will sell a home to the dreaded Count Orlok.
Bill Skarsgard somehow makes a Romanian accent terrifying while looking like Mario’s syphilitic cousin. Every time he was on screen, I was frozen in place watching his Count Orlok stumble through the uncanny valley. What made the original Count Orlok from the original silent film so unnerving was his inhuman movement and appearance. He wasn’t just a vampire, he was an ethereal force of evil. And Robert Eggers translate this to a new film with a frightening new adaptation that builds on the original instead of trying to improve where it didn’t need to.
I haven’t been this scared of a movie monster since Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown from It. I still have nightmares about that harlequin bastard. You owe me more than one sound night of sleep, Skarsgard.
But it’s not just Billy here chewing the scenery. Lily-Rose Depp does a perfect portrayal of the disturbed newly wed Ellen. The horror doesn’t just come from Count Orlok, it comes from the effect he has on poor Ellen. You’d be forgiven if you thought that a vampire’s power begins and ends at late night blood snacks. No, in Nosferatu a vampire is a curse – a wreckoning on mankind’s moral failure.
Sucking blood is a sexual nature. Vampires are a commentary on lust and mankind’s most carnal behavior, and Nosferatu understands this. Count Orlok isn’t just a predator because he feasts on human flesh, but because he will violate your body when you’re most vulnerable. As disgusting as he is to look at, there’s something very sexual about his design. It goes to some horrific places with horrific implications. This movie will disturb you on so many different levels.
The only issue I can take with this film is how predictable certain parts can be. Everything else is crafted with the utmost effort and works perfectly. This is horror that touches you on a primal level and stays with you hours afterwards. See it if you can take the unrelenting terror that isn’t afraid to, well, go to places you didn’t want it to go.
– The Madness
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