Nosferatu

Robert Eggers' adaptation is the most faithful Dracula adaptation yet

Despite Dracula being one of cinema’s most indelible figures, there has never been a truly definitive adaptation. Bela Lugosi’s iconic portrayal in Dracula (1931) was restrained by the Hollywood Production Code, while Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) was visually ambitious but narratively unfocused. Even the unofficial adaptation Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), despite its striking expressionist imagery, lacked depth in character development. Now, Robert Eggers attempts to create the definitive adaptation of Stoker’s novel with his remake: Nosferatu (2024).

Nosferatu follows the stand-in characters from the original novel, which were altered in the 1922 German film to avoid copyright infringement—a legal battle that was ultimately unsuccessful (you can fall down that off-screen rabbit hole yourself). Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is a real estate solicitor, newly married to Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) in 1830s Germany. He is tasked with traveling to the Romanian province of Transylvania to meet the wealthy and mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), who is secretly the dreaded vampire Nosferatu.

Eggers has found his cinematic home in period horror, whether exploring Vikings in The Northman (2022), 19th-century lighthouse keepers in The Lighthouse (2019), or Puritan settlers in The Witch (2015). In Nosferatu, Eggers delivers his most visually immersive film yet, creating an unrelenting and inescapable gothic world. Every aspect of filmmaking, from Jarin Blaschke’s haunting cinematography—where each frame is worthy of hanging in a gallery—to the meticulous sound design, fluid editing, and chilling imagery, contributes to the film’s claustrophobic, nightmarish atmosphere. The rare sunlit scenes and sparse use of color feel jarring, leaving viewers cynically longing to return to the safety of the ominous shadows.

Eggers’ storytelling matches his visual ambition. He builds dread through patience and restraint, allowing the audience’s imagination to do much of the work. Count Orlok—terrifyingly played in the original Nosferatu by Max Schreck—is kept mostly in the shadows, enhancing both his mystery and menace. There is nothing more unsettling than a villain who remains unseen. Eggers maintains this approach as long as possible, though by the third act, Orlok’s full presence becomes inevitable. Skarsgård delivers an impressively menacing performance, even considering his past work as Pennywise in IT (2017). The remarkable makeup work sustains the horror once Orlok steps into the light, though, as is often the case with the unknown, the imagined horror is more terrifying than the revealed creature. One curious choice, however, is Orlok’s Poirot-worthy mustache—a stark contrast to Schreck’s famously bald, rat-like visage—which proves more distracting than effective.

Eggers’ Nosferatu remains remarkably faithful to Stoker’s novel, ironically making this “unofficial” adaptation one of the most accurate page-to-screen renditions of Dracula, even with some creative changes to the finale. One of the most notable alterations is the expansion of Ellen’s role, transforming her from the traditional passive damsel-in-distress into a more autonomous and pivotal figure in the story’s climax.

However, in adhering closely to the novel, Eggers runs into pacing issues in the second and third acts. The narrative slows as characters piece together vampire lore—a process that feels redundant given how ingrained these tropes are in popular culture. For modern audiences, sitting through real-time discovery of vampire weaknesses and behaviors can feel tedious and repetitive.

Eggers enlists familiar faces from his previous films, with Willem Dafoe playing the stand-in for Van Helsing (here renamed Von Franz) and Ralph Ineson as Dr. Sievers. Hoult is excellent as the tormented Hutter, his paranoia and helplessness growing as he realizes he cannot escape Orlok’s grasp. Skarsgård is unrecognizable, delivering a chilling performance with a Romanian accent that never slips into parody but instead drips with malice in every word. However, it is Depp who steals the film entirely. In an expanded role, she becomes the haunting face of horror—more so than the vampire himself. Her performance is astonishing, as she navigates Ellen’s transition from a refined Victorian lady to a desperate wife to a woman possessed by dark forces. Her presence lingers long after the film ends.

Ultimately, Nosferatu stands as one of the most definitive Dracula adaptations ever put to screen. Eggers, operating at the height of his powers, delivers a gripping, gothic nightmare—one that is both terrifying and impossible to look away from. While the second and third acts slow at times due to lore redundancies, the film’s chilling grip never loosens, lingering with viewers long after the credits roll.

8.2/10