Movie Review: Nosferatu (2024)
2024 has been a spectacular year for horror films. There have been a slew of horror films, from hits like Smile 2 and A Quiet Place: Day One to hidden gems like Late Night with the Devil and What You Wish For to surprises like The First Omen and Longlegs. So, it caught me by genuine surprise that the best horror movie of 2024 came at the very end of the year. Robert Egger’s Nosferatu is a stunning achievement that will send shivers down your spine as you wonder at filmmaking mastery.
In this remake of F.W. Murnau’s iconic 1922 reimagining Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Eggers takes us to 1800s Germany where visions of a horrifying creature haunt Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp). When her future husband (Nicolas Hoult) travels to the castle of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) to close a business deal, she worries about his safety only to realize that the creature that has been haunting her for years is closer than she thinks.
Eggers sets the tone of Nosferatu from minute one and never lets up, making it a truly chilling experience with a few jump-scares sprinkled in, which add tension to the dread we are already feeling. Eggers made the decision not to reveal the look of Count Orlok right away, a brilliant movie that only ratcheted the tension even more. The first time we meet Count Orlok, we never see his face. He’s a shadowy figure who looms around Hoult’s Thomas. We hear his deep, menacing voice and see his silhouette, but never his face or his full figure. All we see is Thomas’s reaction, which expresses fear and terror as he tries desperately not to scream and run away. And even after Count Orlok is revealed, the tone stays consistently chilling and terrifying, leading to the film’s haunting finale. A lot of directors can make a horror movie with cheap jump scares, but it takes a great one like Eggers to be able to scare the hell out of us during the film and keep that terror lingering in our system after the credits roll.
What impressed me most about Nosferatu was Eggers’ direction. This might be his best effort yet as a director, which is impressive given his filmography. Aesthetically this is one of the best-looking movies of 2024. The gray-toned, shadowy cinematography is stunning, and felt like Eggers was tip-toeing the line between black-and-white and color. The era-appropriate costume design is gorgeous and the production design is so detailed and crafted I wanted to spend hours living in Orlok’s castle or Hutter’s town. He also churns out career-best performances by Depp and Skarsgård, whose process of getting Nosferatu’s voice is a true work of art. Watching Nosferatu, I got the feeling that Eggers was fully formed as a director. This is his fourth feature film and while I have liked his previous films, this is his most impressive feat as a director.
Despite being terrifying and set in a world of dread, I loved everything about Nosferatu. I loved how the film looked on a technical level, was immersed in its world and tone, and was drawn in by the classic story thanks to Eggers’ script, and the top-notch cast. Nosferatu caps off a great year of horror films and is one of the best films of 2024.
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