Alright, it's the new year… let's talk about Nosferatu.
While one of the most anticipated horror films of 2024 was released on Christmas Day, I had to wait a few days in order to see it. On a matinee showing on New Year's Eve, I braved the cold to check out the even colder film Nosferatu, a movie that I'm sure has garnered enough hype to fill an entire boat full of plague rats at this point.
And it was…fun. I'll admit it. I think I was expecting a lot more, considering everything I was seeing online, but the movie won me over as someone who loves the best horror movies out there.
While there was plenty in this movie that was…disgusting, to say the very least, there was one particular relationship that I found myself loving more than the horror itself – and today, I'm going to get into it.
The Movie Itself Was Well-Made And Really Terrifying (In Certain Ways)
So, let me begin by saying that I did enjoy Nosferatu. The introduction makes it sound like I wasn't into it at all, but I did enjoy it from the beginning to the very end. I think I was just expecting it to be this gorey-vampire-filled movie that would legit give me nightmares. But instead…it was really a slow-burn horror film.
I had seen plenty of gothic movies before, but this one was probably the most gothic I had seen in years, and it was done exceptionally well. The locations were great, the setting was perfect, and the outfits were on par with the period they were going for. Everything regarding that was fantastic.
But, it's mainly from the interviews and other things I've read prior to Nosferatu's release that made me think it was going to be a lot more gross than it was. From Emma Corrin having a ton of rats on them to Bill Skarsgard saying he'd never want to play anything as evil as Count Orlok again, I really thought this film was going to put me through the wringer.
However, what it ended up being was a well-acted gothic horror film that is meant to keep you in the air of suspense for the majority of the movie. There were so many moments where I just kept saying to myself, "No, don't go in there. Why would you do that? You're smarter than that!" and waiting for something to scare me. There were a few jump scares, don't get me wrong – but man, this film just made me so uncomfortable more than creeped out, which I suppose was Robert Eggers' vision.
Oh, and Nosferatu naked is something I don't ever want to see again, thank you. That was the scariest part of this film. That was indeed a gory mess.
The Entire Cast Acted Incredibly Well, But Lily-Rose Depp And Emma Corrin Knocked It Out Of The Park
I knew the Nosferatu cast was going to knock it out of the park, and they really did, every single one of them. I've always been a big fan of Nicholas Hoult's best movies and TV shows, and I would add this to that list. I want to see him in way more horror after this. He knows how to act terrified so well.
The same goes for Bill Skarsgard as the main villain – but we always knew he was good at that since he was the head of the IT franchise as Pennywise the Clown. Either way, he did super well, too.
But I have to say…Lily-Rose Depp shocked me, and Emma Corrin rocked their role.
Depp can act well, but I didn't think she'd do as great in a horror film like this (Tusk does not count, that’s almost a comedy to me), especially something as intense and uncomfortable. Her starring role in the HBO series The Idol really gave her a slingshot to stardom in the acting world because she did a good job with her performance (despite how much The Idol would have been great but just wasn’t).
Her part as Ellen in Nosferatu, however, has acting that is career-defining. This was proof that she really does have the range to do anything – from a pop star to the complete opposite, a scared gothic woman who an evil vampire literally possesses. I don't think you could get any more opposite than that, and she crushed it.
Emma Corrin is an actor that I've always enjoyed watching regardless, especially from their time in The Crown as Princess Diana, and they also had an incredible role in Deadpool & Wolverine as Cassandra Nova. Still, I also think this is a career-defining performance for them. Anna, while not as impactful as the other characters in this film, was a clear guiding light for Ellen despite everything – and I really believed the friendship with Ellen the more I watched these two.
The Friendship Between Ellen And Anna Really Hooked Me
The horror of Nosferatu is excellent and well done, but the friendship between Ellen and Anna was one of the most intriguing parts of the film for me for a few reasons.
We rarely get to see the friendship of two women in a gothic movie. Most of the time, gothic films lean a lot more towards horror or romance and never really show the outside world beyond what is happening, at least in my personal experience with them. However, we did get to see a little bit of the friendship between these two, and I really enjoyed it.
Ellen opens up to Anna about her dreams and fears, and Anna tries to be there for her—she really does—but it's hard to do so when she doesn't quite understand. Even so, you can still clearly see that she cares and loves her—which is why she even lets Ellen stay in her bed at one point during the film when Thomas does not want her in there.
She cherishes their friendship and wants Ellen to feel better. Even when Ellen was having spasms at night, Anna implored her husband to find some way to help her. We don't see that often, and I was really into it.
I Wish That Anna Didn't Die As Quickly As She Did
I know that this is Nosferatu. Deaths have to happen if it ever wants to label itself as one of the best vampire movies. But I wish Anna didn't have to die – or at least, so quickly.
It absolutely sucked to me that Anna was the first to die. Well, technically, her children were the first to go, but Anna was the first to get sick and bitten up by all those rats, and then Orlok took her out not that long after. I'm honestly okay with her dying, but I wish she had maybe been the last to die.
My perfect vision is that we get to see more of the friendship between Ellen and Anna and watch as it slowly deteriorates as her husband and children are killed rather than her.
Instead, we see the opposite, which is fine, but I think it could have been more compelling if we saw how this all affected the friendship between Ellen and Anna.
I know that's not the point of the film, but it's these moments that really separate great horror movies from standard scary ones and transform them into unforgettable films. Expanding on that friendship could have led to a really interesting story change, but, I'll let that idea sit in my mind.
Now that Nosferatu is out, I wonder what other upcoming horror films I have to look forward to. It's time to start thinking of the next scary movie to obsess about – while I wait for all my friends to see this one.
