
By Aydan Cantu
Alongside Jordan Peele and Ari Aster, Robert Eggers is one of the most acclaimed horror filmmakers today. His latest film, Nosferatu, an adaptation of the 1922 silent film directed by F.W. Murnau, houses a packed cast with the likes of Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe. Over the holiday break, I went to Los Angeles and saw the film at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema on 35 mm film. The experience at the theater was great. The film wasn’t.
From the trailers, I expected to be frozen in my seat with fear. However, I was the exact opposite. Half the time, I was wondering what I was watching. Although the villain in Nosferatu is the titular character, the true villain is its pacing. At times, it’s too boring, and others too fast. Aside from Ellen Hutter (Depp), none of the characters have good development; they’re just there.
Aside from its pacing and story, Nosferatu is an incredible technical film. Eggers masterfully directs this film, even if it’s a mess. The gothic style he brings is why he’s one of the best horror filmmakers today. The cinematography by Jarin Blaschke is beautiful and my favorite part of the film. The naturally lit scenes are reminiscent of Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon and make the movie even more gorgeous. I found the score by Robin Carolan to be very powerful by itself. When paired with the movie, though, the music goes away. It dies down and becomes dull background music someone like Bryan Tyler would compose.
The performances from Depp, Hoult, and Skarsgård are excellent, yet Dafoe, Johnson and Corrin never reach their full potential due to their undeveloped characters. As much as I wanted to like Nosferatu, I couldn’t. There was too much crammed into its 2-hour and 12-minute runtime. Nevertheless, its haunting, yet beautiful production has left a major impression on me with a final rating of three out of five stars.