Nosferatu

I initially found Nosferatu to be an acceptable, if underwhelming watch the first time I saw it. I think when you love a director's work, it's good to rewatch a film, unburdened by expectations, and see how you really feel.

I will say, I found myself liking Nosferatu a lot more the second time around. It's eerie, dreamlike nature is unsettling and really wraps you in. The larger-than-life power of the titular vampire feels like an omnipresent curse upon our characters and the town of Wisburg. Also, if you're a sucker for winter movies, this one does tickle that fancy quite well.

Speaking of which, this film, as expected, looks absolutely phenomenal from beginning to end. Not only is it wonderfully shot, but the costumes and sets just look fantastic. There are little nuances in how the characters act as well that are accurate to the time that I really appreciated as well. How, Nicholas Hault's Thomas Hutter, when confronted with his wife Ellen's (Lily Rose Depp) ravings, his immediate reaction is to ask her not to say these things again, rather than seek help. It's reflective of the repressive, image conscious times, and like many an Eggers film, reflects how deeply he cares about depicting the period accurately.

A lot of this works because of the tremendous performances by the cast, who really sell their period flair. Hoult is fantastic as usual, but naturally, it's Depp's incredibly physical and demanding performance that is the highlight. She is remarkable in this film and dispels any notion that her success comes (entirely) from her parentage. Bill Skarsgard truly melts away under unbelievable make up and costuming as Count Orlock. I found him even less recognizable here than as Pennywise. And you have heavy hitters like Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Emma Corrin, and a surprisingly great turn from Aaron Taylor Johnson as well.

Yet, I still found Nosferatu somewhat hard to connect to. Skarsgard's incredible performance aside, I just found the talk of Orlock being this mythical, terrifying presence a bit hard to square with the somewhat goofy character he ends up being.

I'd honestly rather him have less lines and be seen less.

The final scene feels oddly anticlimactic; are we seriously going to act like "keeping Orlock awake long enough so that he forgets he will die if exposed to sunlight" isn't anything but lame? Really?

As much as I loved Depp's performance, I honestly wish we learned more about her character. The depth of her loneliness is never explained outside of one scene, and how she even managed to contact Orlock is a bit confusing as well. I felt like this relationship could've been expanded upon, which would've been legitimately interesting.

As it stands, I do have a higher opinion of Nosferatu than I initially did, but I still think it's easily Robert Egger's weakest film.

I was very excited to see this movie and finally went to see it. And it is....... Fine.

I've read other reviews saying it was beautiful and emotional but I honestly didn't feel very connected to these characters.

It also wasn't very scary. Very creepy! But not very scary.

The monster is constantly seen. He doesn't give me the creeps that the old Nosferatu still gives me appearance wise.

The actors are good but overall the majority of the film feels pointless.

The shaking of the characters particularly the lead is incredible and they do seem to show genuine dread. But again it felt like it was building and nothing happens. Also the ending is kind of just whatever. I think if the characters meant more to me by the end it would've been a good ending but also I kind of didn't care about the characters as they tell you intimate details about the characters which is why you should care but do nothing to build the characters so that you do care.

I usually love Robert Eggers' work - his films have this unique ability to pull you into eerie, unsettling worlds that linger with you long after the movie has finished. But his take on Nosferatu just didn't land for me.

The pacing was painfully slow, to the point where it felt like it was dragging for the sake of atmosphere rather than tension. And while I can appreciate deliberate storytelling, this just felt uninspiring, like it was going through the motions without that signature spark Eggers usually brings to his projects.

To make matters worse, I couldn't stop seeing Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog every time Nosferatu was on screen. It's probably not fair to the film, but the resemblance was so distracting that I found myself more amused than unsettled.

Ultimately, Nosferatu lacked the sharp, visceral energy that made Eggers' previous work so compelling. Instead of feeling haunted, I left the theater feeling underwhelmed.

It is boring. The acting is way too much and ridiculous overacting. The crying, the terrified faces and behaviour all felt so overplayed and unnecessary. The scenes, images and costumes are very impressive but that's about it. I didn't like any of the characters, Lily Rose Depp and her husband are not my definition of beautiful or handsome. The count's "breathing" is very annoying too.

The scenes as individual images were really well-made. I like historical settings in movies but overall, the film felt pretentious and self-indulgent, trying too hard to impress without delivering real meaning or a real story.

Lushly beautiful with fine period costumes, lovely cinematography, and a hard-working Lily-Rose Depp in thrall to the vampire, this adaptation of Nosferatu ultimately falls flat by too many hypnotized fits by Depp, too much exposition, and a villain that grows less interesting with every appearance until he finally appears looking like an undead Ringo Starr on a stretch-rack. Nicholas Hoult is commanding in the Jonathan Harker role and it's clever to cast Willem Dafoe in the Van Helsing role since he played Count Orlock in 1999's much better Shadow of The Vampire, but this ultimately lacks bite.