Nosferatu review: a terrifying gothic tale and the most beautiful film of the year

After The Witch, The Lighthouse et The Northmanthe talented director Robert Eggers today puts his atypical touch on the remake of a horror classic more than a century old, Nosferatu the vampire Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau.

As usual, the American filmmaker offers us a radical, visually stunning and terribly captivating proposition. Here is the review of the film, guaranteed without spoilers.

The story of the film

In 1838 Germany, the obsession between a haunted young woman, Ellen Hutter, and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who is stalking her, Count Orlok, will lead to indescribable horror.

Our review

Released in 1922, the Nosferatu by FW Murnau is one of the first masterpieces of German cinema and expressionism (like Metropolis a you Cabinet of Doctor Caligari). This unauthorized adaptation of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (the production will also be caught by the patrol) also knew how to create iconic images, still vivid in the collective imagination.

Robert Eggers, crowned with the reputation of a filmmaker with a dark and aesthetically daring universe, has now taken up this monument to offer a reinterpretation that is both modern and respectful of the original work. A remake of crazy beauty, which stands out as one of the great cinematographic slaps of the end of the year 2024.

Connoisseurs of the famous vampire will not be lost with this new adaptation, as the Nosferatu by Eggers is faithful to the original story. We thus find the young Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) sent by his employer to Transylvania to seal a deal with the mysterious Count Orlok. He leaves his wife Ellen in Germany, but she seems to be under the strange influence of Orlok.

A simple narrative tool in Murnau's film, the character of Ellen finds herself here at the center of the plot and its themes: the social prison, repressed desire, the latent animality of man… By slightly modifying the point of view, Eggers' version reveals all its richness and relevance, giving Lily-Rose Depp a golden score in the process. The Franco-American actress, inhabited and astonishing, finds here the great role of her (short) career.

Far from simply adapting a century-old story, Eggers transcends his original material both in substance and in form. The film handles its references with care, summoning the aesthetics of silent cinema, German expressionism and the work of Murnau (from Faust has Dawn) through a multitude of dizzying visual flashes.

From a gigantic black hand placing its shadow over an entire town to Thomas lost in a dark and snowy forest, through the spectral and nightmarish appearances of the creature and the desaturation of the image reminiscent of the original black and white, Nosferatu is quite simply one of the most beautiful films of 2024.

From these words you could imagine that Nosferatu is only a visual proposition, detached from consideration for its spectators. This is not the case. Where The Lighthouse could seem pompous, Nosferatu fulfills its role as a terrifying and effective horror film, which will make you jump in your seat more than once.

The feature film is indeed the expected horrific tale. He thus handles his effects with care and intelligently diffuses his mythology and his frightening folklore. Above all, the terror surrounding Orlok is beautifully maintained and each appearance of the character chills the blood.

Nosferatu is, however, far from flawless. Because if Eggers' proposal between visual homage, respect for mythology and modern rereading works for the most part, the film unfortunately fails in its last part, where a tension so nicely constructed collapses a little. The last half hour, too programmatic and redundant, thus breaks some of our enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, despite this last act and a narrative which would have deserved to be tightened, Nosferatu remains a tremendous success and one of our final favorites of the 2024 cinema year. Not to be missed in theaters.

Nosferatu hits theaters on December 25, 2024.

• Watch the movie trailer: