Movie Database Nosferatu

[OmegaMeistro]

It's finally coming out in Singapore next week, on the 27th. Can't wait.

 

[OmegaMeistro]

1838, Germany. A plague has swept the town of Wisburg, a walking curse of darkness and disease destined to wipe out all humankind.

Spoiler: Movie Plot

Robert Eggers' Nosferatu is not so much a straightforward story as it is an allegory. To take it at face value, one would have to ask why the Count was dumb enough not to leave before sunrise. Instead, its stylish and theatrical nature is meant to captivate the audience from scene 1 so that you too are consumed by the darkness of it all and get swept along. It's less of a movie and more of a dance or a poem, even with its own coda at the end uttered by Willem Dafoe's Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz:

“And lo, the maiden fair did offer up her love unto the beast and with him lay in close embrace until the first cock crow. Her willing sacrifice thus broke the curse and freed them from the plague of Nosferatu.”

The film was originally released in December 2, 2024 in Berlin and then in December 25, 2024 in the US, but it only came to my country, Singapore, today, February 27, 2025, so I finally have the opportunity to experience it.

I enjoy the stylishness of it all even though it played its horror tropes very straight, including having the secondary characters not believing the good guys' warnings of the evil coming for everyone, and the "wise man" figure who plot-dumps the creature for the characters (and the audience). It's also a monster movie where the creature's appearance is kept hidden away until the very end. However, in this case, that is intentional as Orlok is meant to be a creature of shadow, almost a corporeal spirit at times as he stalks Lily-Rose Depp's Ellen Hunter. The allegory to the black plague is also not subtle as the subtext is only text, but with a movie like this that relies heavily on its theatricality, you don't want to be vague, so I think it's the right move to go for broad strokes, like how Ellen's fear of her shadow self is all but shouted out for the audience. Like I said, not so much a movie, more of a theater play.

Being a 2024 movie, Nosferatu can also be interpreted as a very feminist movie with an emphasis on the usual tropes of old timey men doubting women's sanity. Unlike the original Nosferatu, Ellen Hunter also has a bigger role as the protagonist here while Nicholas Hoult's Thomas Hunter takes a more secondary role. The great thing though is that it doesn't overplay its hand in this department and keeps it natural. The doubt of women's mental stability comes with the times, and while Nick took on a less significant role, Thomas didn't really come off as an insufferable or incompetent buffoon. Lily also reminds very well what a truly empowered woman feels like, one whose assertive outlash feels justified in a frustrating patriarchal world based on science where it's hard to speak out about demons and monsters. Some might interpret the ending as problematic, however, perhaps even comparing it to virgin sacrifices of old, but I feel like it's important to note Ellen's agency in her decision, not to mention that the heroic sacrifice role has been a traditional archetype since storytelling existed, except this time, it's not a man in the role.

Overall, I had a great time. It's not nearly as compelling as The Substance in its execution when it comes to 2024 horror flicks, but I think it's a great passion project by Eggers done excellently, deserving its praise.

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