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Saturday is Horror Day #224 – Nosferatu (2024)

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Nosferatu (2024)

Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) dreams of a man, a man who wishes to possess her. A man she wishes to be possessed by. Is he real? She doesn’t know, but she is all too aware that she is a newly married wife with a husband she loves, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) Thomas is a rising star with his law firm, and eager to please. When he learns that he is to deal with a new client, he is pleased, until he finds that the man is infirm and cannot travel, so he must travel to the man – to his home in the distant Carpathian Mountains.

Of course he does not refuse, although Ellen pleads with him not to go. On his arrival, the local folk are less than welcoming, especially one he has revealed his destination – Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard)’s castle. The trip to the castle is an eerie one, and his reception by Count Orlok just as odd. Especially his obsession with Ellen, whom he spotted in a locket – and promptly took, refusing to return. Things go from bad to worse when he finds himself a prisoner in Orlok’s castle, and he discovers the true nature of the client he has come so far to serve.

Meanwhile, at home, an anxious Ellen confides her fears to her best friend, Anna (Emma Corrin), who is married, with children, to Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and pregnant with another child. Ellen, who has always been supernaturally sensitive, continues to have “visions” of her dream lover, suffering from mysterious fits which alarm her friend. They send for an eminent professor, Albin Eberhart von Franz (Willem Dafoe), who arrives, as well as Dr Wilhelm Sievers (Ralph Ineson). They are at a loss to explain her fits, and the suggestion is made to send her to an asylum for the insane to safeguard the others. And Ellen is concerned that Thomas has not returned from his business trip – and he is long overdue.

Nosferatu is a reboot of the original 1922 film, which was itself a ripoff of Dracula, for which the makers were sued. It is very similar to that, and to the 1979 version, which I previously reviewed. Cinematically, this film is breathtaking, each shot carefully planned and framed. The performances are extra-ordinary, particularly that of Lily-Rose Depp who is, of course, the daughter of Johnny Depp. The story does indeed resonate with what came before, but in its own way. It was very well done, but at the same time I found myself somewhat dissatisfied in ways I can’t completely explain. The dynamic between Ellen and Orlok drew me in at the beginning, but I feel as if it could have used some more depth, especially considering the ending (which I won’t reveal, of course)

I did like it much better than the 1979 Klaus Kinski version, but I felt the storytelling was perhaps uneven. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree. I’m not denying it’s a very good film. But perhaps not as satisfying as I would have wanted. I’ll give this film 4 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #218 – Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

Solicitor Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) is sent by his employer Renfield (Roland Topor) to Transylvania to assist a new client, Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski) in the purchase of a house in Wismar, Germany, where Harker lives with his wife Lucy (Isabelle Adjani). The people in the nearby village warn him not to go there, that there is no castle, and only danger lies there. But he doesn’t listen and, when they refuse to take him there, he walks to the Borgo Pass, where he is met by the Count’s carriage.

The castle is a strange place, and so is the Count. Harker finds it difficult to get him to concentrate on the business at hand. But when he accidentally cuts himself, the Count’s reaction is inexplicable. Harker finally realizes there is something very off about Dracula. Even worse, he is a prisoner in this place – and Dracula is headed toward Wismar – and Lucy.

Meanwhile, Lucy is anxious to learn any news of her husband, who has fallen silent. Her friend Mina (Martje Grohmann) tries to console her, but Lucy is distraught. When a mysterious man appears in her bedroom, the Count, Lucy is both frightened and fascinated. Meanwhile, there seems to be a growing problem with rats in Wismar, and as they spread their plague among the village, the death toll is rising, as Harker races back to save his wife.

I admit I had some high hopes about this version of Nosferatru, and the review I saw was good, but I quickly became disillusioned and almost turned it off, but decided to stick it out in order to give it a fair shot.  That didn’t help. Where to start? The actor playing Renfield was so manic and over the top, that in reality, he would have been locked up well before he was in this film.

Also, I found Isabelle Adjani’s acting to be terrible, and very over the top but not in a good way. I understand she is considered to be a talented actress, but I saw none of that in this film.

The original Nosferatu was an actual rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (and they did get sued for that). In this version, for some reason, they made some changes to the original story. Lucy is Harker’s wife, instead of Mina. The other suitors, aka Dr Seward and Quincy Morris, are nowhere in evidence. And the rats is simply a twist on Dracula’s ability to control the rats in the scene in Carfax Abbey.

Klaus Kinski’s make-up, as Count Dracula, is clearly modeled after the original Nosferatu, but his mannerism is at times almost simpering. Other than the fact that he drinks blood from his victims, what is scary about him? Nothing. Neither does he possess the sensuality of Bela Lugosi or Gary Oldman.

All in all, I was disappointed in what at first glance appeared to be a pretty film. But alas, I discovered that it lacked the substance I was hoping to find. I’ll give this film 2 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #11 – Nosferatu (1922) – (x-posted at Full Moon Dreaming)

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

 Nosferatu (1922)


A young married man  named Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is sent on a business trip by his employer Knock (Alexander Granach). The purpose of his trip is to help finalize the sale of a house in England to a distant customer, Count Orlok (Max Schreck) in Transylvania. Although missing his wife Ellen (Great Schroder). Hutter dutifully makes the trip. But the closer to the Count’s home he gets, the more the people become nervous and afraid for him. He can’t even get transportation all the way to his destination, as the driver refuses to go any closer. But as he sets out to walk the remaining distance, a carriage appears, and its strange driver beckons to Hutter to get in.

Hutter finds the castle eerie and the count peculiar. But business is business, and once he is done he can


return to his beloved wife. While going through some papers, Hutter accidentally drops a miniature of his beloved, which the Count picks up. The odd nobleman seems quite taken with Hutter’s pretty missus, to his consternation. Things get even eerier when at night, he spies the Count loading coffin-shaped boxes onto a wagon, all by himself! When Hutter investigates during the day, he discovers the Count lying in a coffin, and realizes he has to get out of there as soon as possible! But he is stricken by a strange illness, and begins to wonder if he will ever make his way home.

Ellen anxiously awaits her husband’s return, in the company of her husband’s friend, Harding, and Harding’s sister Ruth (Ruth Landshoff). In the meantime, the Count has acquired passage for himself and his boxes on a ship bound for England. But strange things begin to happen on this vessel. Sailors grow sick and die, but no one can determine the cause. And when the ship pulls into the port, there is no one left alive.

 

The village begins to be troubled by mysterious deaths for which the citizens find a scapegoat – the increasingly erratic Knock, who has fallen under the Count’s spell, albeit from a distance, and who looks forward to the master’s arrival.

Hutter returns at last, to Ellen’s relief, and she finds the book he was reading while in Transylvania, Nosferatur, which gave him such terrible nightmares. He warns her not to read the book but she can’t help herself, and finds herself drawn to the mysterious Count. According to legend, only a beautiful maiden can break the curse of Nosferatu, by keeping him in thrall until the cock crows, and with her blood. Ellen knows what needs to be done…

This is the German film that started it all, the first cinematic version of Dracula, even before Bela Lugosi enchanted us so so me years later. Director F.W. Murnau has given us a cinematic classic. The reason  it wasn’t called Dracula, even though it’s taken from the novel by Bram Stoker, had to do with problems with the Stoker estate  This film is silent, and being silent, of course everything is told in the actor’s actions, as well as the dialogue cards. To those unused to silent films, the action may come across as melodramatic and over the top. But even almost a hundred years later, Nosfterau has a presence that can’t be denied. The music, the cinematography, the editing, as well as the performances, add up to a classic horror film which stands the test of time. This is my first time viewing it, but won’t be the last. One of the scenes which impressed me was the arrival of the ship, an ordinary event, and yet so not ordinary considering what is about to unleased on an unknowing city. Next time I’ll watch it at night, I’m sure it will add an element of gothic horror.

I recommend this film, and give it a solid 4 stars.