Maybe sometimes remakes are a good thing!

“Nosferatu” is a remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name, following a 19th-century vampire (Bill Skarsgård) that brings a plague upon a small German town. Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe also star, while Robert Eggers writes and directs.

“Nosferatu” was initially supposed to be Robert Eggers’ second film following his 2015 debut “The Witch” (or “VVitch,” if you’re one of the cool kids), but it lingered in development hell with several cast members coming and going and Eggers making “The Lighthouse” and “The Northman” in the meantime. It finally picked up new life in 2022, and is finally here. It is likely the most accessible of all of Eggers’ films to-date, though still has all the folklore, historical accuracy, and slight bit of freak the director has come to be known for.

I enjoy Eggers’ films, even if they do tend to get a little too out-there for me (in the sense he finds farts funny and blood sexy). What I really appreciate about all four of his films are their attention to historical detail, whether it is early colonial America, Viking regions, or 1890s New England. “Nosferatu” is set in 1838 Germany, and contains all the gothic structures and fancy clothing of the rich of the time. Eggers prides himself on being as authentic as possible with his settings, and in an age where many actors look and feel as if they are specifically from the iPhone age and sets are often merely green screens, it is so refreshing to have a director make sure his audience feels immersed.

Shot by Jarin Blaschke, who has worked on all four of Eggers’ films as well as M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin,” the movie was filmed using nearly exclusively natural and candlelight. Not only does this give the film a period-authentic feel, with light flickering off cold castle walls or a room being dimly lit at night, but it truly makes it all come off as a lived-in world. Not to pick on “Wicked” like the internet loves to (I think it’s shot fine-enough), but that and many other $150 million movies nowadays feel fake and very much like the soundstages they were shot on, which creates a distance between the world and its audience. Eggers and Blaschke put in the effort to have shadows become characters of their own, and I think the result is gorgeous.

As the titular role of Count Orlok, Bill Skarsgård is entirely unrecognizable. You could watch him for hours and not see his face or hear his voice. Losing “significant weight” and working with a vocal coach to get his voice down several levels, I really liked what Skarsgård did with the character and think audiences should go in as blind as possible for it, including hearing his voice for the first time when seated for the film (that’s what I did, and every time he spoke I felt chills; it really is an effective creepy performance).

The rest of the cast is solid, with Lily-Rose Depp playing possessed well, Nicolas Hoult (who has had himself a successful 2024 with “Juror #2” and “The Order,” as well as hopefully earning a nice paycheck for his role in the awful “Garfield Movie”) as the loyal husband, and Willem Dafoe doing his normal freak thing.

There are times the film, which mirrors the plot of “Dracula” since the original “Nosferatu” was an unlicensed adaptation of the famed novel, can get a little repetitive. Orlok visits Depp in a dream, one of his brainwashed henchmen kills someone, and Dafoe schemes about how to stop him. It’s never boring, but when we suddenly arrive at the climax things do feel a bit rushed to get to that point.

“Nosferatu” is an incredibly well-made horror film, and is one built to last due to the dedication of its director and his crew. I would love to next see Eggers tackle a story in Ancient Rome or the French Revolution, I feel those kinds of periods in time that are focused on blood, corruption, and greed could lend themselves perfectly to his style. 

Critics Rating: 8/10