‘Nosferatu’ peels back darkness to reveal themes of misogynistic oppression
Scott: I would start by noting this is hardly my first vampire rodeo! I saw the original Nosferatu as part of a class at Carroll College back in the day. Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula also had some redeeming merits (if you can overlook Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder). Shadow of the Vampire actually uses the filming of the original F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic as its setting and conflict - superb.
Brydon: Similarly, my first introduction to Nosferatu was in a college classroom, but I have been a fan of the genre (despite not loving jump scares) ever since I saw Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf and was reintroduced to Dracula for the first time. From that starting point to 30 Days of Night to Interview with the Vampire, I enjoy thinking about how all of these wildly different narratives spring from Bram Stoker’s original well. That is perhaps what I liked most about Robert Eggers’s most recent version: his willingness to honor canonical traditions while simultaneously managing to break the mold and imprint his own style onto the proceedings.
Scott: Totally. I loved The Witch and The Lighthouse and, as a lover of Shakespeare, seeing his take on the inception of Hamlet through The Northman was fabulous. No matter the tale, I can always see Eggers’ style. In Nosferatu, he holds true to canon. Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is trying to climb the ladder at his firm and gets sent to Transylvania to meet with a mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard). Spoiler alert - he’s a vampire! Hutter leaves his wife, Ellen (Lily Rose-Depp), behind and let’s just say that both of them deal with some possession issues of the blood sucking variety. We’ll get to Skarsgard later, but what did you think of Hoult and Depp?
Brydon: I always find Hoult enjoyable; even though we know he is somewhat doomed from the start, I was still pulled in by his performance. Is he reinventing the wheel with his choices? No, yet there is something stirring in how he haplessly walks right into his fate (always read the fine print - especially legal contracts in a foreign language!). I pitied him and his plight, but I empathized with his motivation to provide the best life possible for his wife. Speaking of his wife, I’ve seen reviews of Depp’s performance ranging from terrible to transformative, and those accusations of nepotism seem destined to follow her a bit long; however, in a movie full of shadows, I thought she stepped out from under her father’s with this performance. The way she fully commits to the physicality of Ellen’s torment captivated me most, but the balance she found between acting haunted and as the heroine was also striking. The final image of the film, which she is a central part of, has stuck with me!
Scott: Oh man, a thousand percent. She was a revelation and carried the movie. Her physicality at various parts of the movie reminded me of Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch. Of course, if I had Skarsgard haunting me as an undead zombie lover, I’d have the shakes too. That’s something I really appreciate about Eggers’ interpretation. In most Dracula adaptations, they evolve the physicality to mirror the sexual attraction (and make it more palatable for the audience). Not here! This Nosferatu feels fresh from the soil, a mustachioed menace wafting with the juices of the undead. And yet, he bewitches Ellen, which speaks more to her need and loneliness than anything. That’s what I find most interesting about the timeless nature of ‘horror’ - it’s not really the horror of the creature but of the human need for connection that it reveals.
Brydon: Exactly! The real monster I saw in the film was the infantilization of women and how often their voices go unheard, their desires go unaccounted for. I mean, Hoult’s Hutter basically gives her two pats on the head and counsels her to “keep her fancies to herself” when she tries to reveal her dark dreams - similar to last year’s Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos with an enchanting Emma Stone), the men in this movie simply can’t put their pride aside, and the women in their orbit come crashing down to earth as a result. You know, it is interesting how Eggers chose to light this film; in a society that pushed women into liminal spaces, forcing them to fight to be seen, his cinematography does exactly that to the viewer. The haze, the shadows, and the dimly lit rooms all work together to create an atmosphere of dread where you’re constantly struggling to see what is happening on the screen. Is that a shadow or a monster? The viewer can never relax, never lose focus for a moment lest they be lost, and in that experience, they know a fraction of what Ellen must have been feeling. Which of Eggers’s other cinematic choices resonated with you?
Scott: It has to be the sound mixing. The ambient landscape truly creates a lush, almost palpable sense of dread throughout the entire run. From the cityscapes to Hutter’s nightmarish ride to visit Count Orlock, Damian Volpe engineers a truly entrancing experience. I found myself, for a moment, wishing for subtitles so I could follow the dialogue more clearly, especially when Orlock was droning on in this sort of guttering, subterranean growl. From what I have read, Skarsgard created and performed this voice of his own volition, and it definitely creates a profoundly unsettling experience. After a bit, I let myself give in to the experience. Really, the words don’t matter so much as the fear. For this sort of language, this sort of evil, signifiers truly fail. That also plays nicely with your view of the darkness and the way the shadows play. We feel the way Ellen is oppressed by the power and charisma of the undead, not by something so petty as language. Eggers crafted a unique vision of a tale as old as time. I would watch it again, in the dark, late at night. Your final thoughts?
Brydon: I already can’t wait for a second chance to watch it and be drawn into its world again. It is a piece of art that works well on so many levels, but I worry it is the kind of film that has fallen out of favor with the majority of America’s movie-going audience. In a society that seems to favor instant gratification, this slow burn that prioritizes brains over visceral bloodshed and scrutiny over jump scares may be overlooked (by viewers and critics alike), but I truly hope that I am wrong about that. In my opinion, it is exactly the kind of art that our world needs - something that makes us slow down and think critically about the world around us, something that sparks open and diverse dialogue, something that moves us to feel. Could people spend one hundred and thirty-two minutes doom scrolling instead of watching this film? I suppose. I hope they don’t though; I hope they choose progress over that cerebral pacifier - Nosferatu rewards that risk.
by Trent Scott and William Brydon
Published February 3rd, 2025
Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue IV