‘Nosferatu’ review: bloody, beautiful vampire remake is a bit of an empty vessel

Having blazed onto the scene with Anya Taylor-Joy leading his deliciously creepy folk horror sizzler The Witch in 2015, writer-director Robert Eggers has hit the mark twice more. The Lighthouse was a monochrome comedic oddity that saw Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe on bawdy form, while The Northman was a mighty blood-and-thunder Viking epic with a cast including Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman and actual Björk.

• READ MORE: ‘The Northman’ review: you’ll be bowled over by this brutal Viking epic

Now Eggers turns his hand to adapting Nosferatu – the iconic silent movie by director F. W. Murnau that borrowed heavily from Bram Stoker’s Dracula back in 1922. Names and details were changed by Murnau to avoid legal issues, though Stoker’s estate still successfully took him to court. Most copies of his influential horror were destroyed as a result but fortunately, in true vampiric fashion, some miraculously survived. A more modern take on the classic came in 1979 via director Werner Herzog but even with all the name changes, Nosferatu has the same narrative beats as Dracula, alongside the expected terror and eroticism.

This new take on the story is once again set in 1838, with the horrifying action happening in the fictional German seaside town of Wisborg. Estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is dispatched by his boss Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) to a castle in nearby Transylvania to conclude some urgent business with the mysterious, irritable Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård).

Skarsgård made a terrifying Pennywise The Clown in the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s It and here, he gives the swaggering Orlok a monstrous presence. A grotesque, captivating figure, he mostly appears in shadows and the dreams of Hutter’s wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp).

Herr Knock also seems to be under Orlok’s spell and is soon taken away to an asylum after losing his mind. While Thomas is away on business, family friends Friedrich and Anna Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin) do their best to look after Ellen but they soon find themselves affected by Orlok’s ghoulish telepathy. Worried about the bloodthirsty Count’s increased influence, the gang seek help from eccentric vampire expert Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Dafoe).

What marks out Eggers’s take from the many adaptations of Dracula’s story is its visual style. The American filmmaker has rightfully earned a reputation for impressive looking movies but Nosferatu is perhaps the most beautiful film of the past 12 months. Teaming up with regular cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, the horror’s ornate, artistic frames are always impactful, whether they’re depicting a plague of rats overcoming a city or fire engulfing a tomb. It’s a treat for the eyes. As for the energetic cast, they’re having so much fun that the film’s occasional slow periods aren’t too tiresome.

There are, however, questions about whether we really need yet another faithful cover of this old tune that loom heavy over the film, just like Orlok over Wisborg. Unless you’re attempting something wildly radical, why bother? This take on Nosferatu may be essential viewing for fans of gothic horror but must be recommended with caution for everyone else.