‘Nosferatu’ remake goes “harder than any other horror film this year,” according to early reviews

8 November, 2024

Lily-Rose Depp in 'Nosferatu'

The first reviews of Nosferatu are in, and it’s fair to say it’s been well-received by critics so far.

The movie, which is set to release on December 25 in the US and January 3 in the UK, is a remake of the 1922 film of the same name, which in turn was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Directed by Robert Eggers, it stars the likes of Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin.

Courtney Howard, a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, said that Nosferatu “goes harder than any other horror film this year,” and calls it a “gorgeous grotesquerie of dread-infused terrors and a divine dark delight.”

She described Skarsgård’s Count Orlok as “pure sinister nightmare fuel” and calls the movie Depp and Hoult’s “best work to date”.

Fellow film critic Carlos Aguilar said: “After a few months I can finally share I loved Nosferatu. It further crystallizes Eggers’ exploration of evil as an elemental force, as inherent to existence as desire, emerging from the same divinity as kindness. It’s so inextricable from us, fighting it demands great sacrifice.”

Entertainment journalist and Den of Geek editor David Crow singled out Depp for praise and wrote: “Robert Eggers digs deep into the native soil beneath Nosferatu and Dracula, finding the gruesome (yet perversely alluring) core of the creature’s appeal. He also transforms THE vampire story into a Jungian tragedy and one of the most achingly beautiful films this year.”

Writer and former horror journalist Heather Wixson, meanwhile, called Nosferatu Eggers’ magnum opus, adding: “It is a breathtaking masterpiece & my favorite film of 2024. Meticulously directed & featuring incredible performances from the entire cast, Robert Eggers casts an intoxicating spell w/his haunting take on this timeless tale … This one immediately imprinted itself in my heart and soul. I loved it so freaking much.”

Nosferatu is set to be Eggers’ fourth feature film, following his 2015 debut The Witch, 2019’s The Lighthouse, and 2022’s The Northman. It’s been a long time in the making, too, with an Eggers-directed remake first announced back in 2015.

NME gave The Northman a five-star review, writing: “If there’s one criticism to be made, it’s that the more avant-garde moments sometimes turn tedious. Dafoe is best when he’s freaking out, but an early rite-of-passage sequence that ends in an orgy of burping and farting seems silly – even if it does soften up the viewer for a shocking plot twist. Later, a mounted Valkyrie with braces flying through the sky tries to add layered meaning, yet causes confusion instead. Tone down the oddness, however, and you’d just have another gory historical snoozefest. Eggers’ style is totally unique and he’s obviously enjoying himself, even if his actors might not be.”

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