291. 31 Days of Halloween 2025 - Day 26: NOSFERATU (2024) dir. Robert Eggers

During this 31 Days of Halloween series, I've viewed things that would make Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother's womb. Thankfully, one of those isn't Robert Eggers' crack at NOSFERATU, released in 2024. I'm a fan of Eggers' last three films (2015's THE VVITCH, 2019's THE LIGHTHOUSE, 2022's THE NORTHMAN.) They seem to not only faithfully recreate the enivronment of past histories, places and times, but also the attitudes present in the lives of those who lived in these settings. For all the ways technology can open us up to discovering new stories and learning new information, its stewards (us) have done a piss-poor job at preserving the information already discovered. When histories die, the people who wrote them gasp a final breath from the grave. I don't think Eggers can stand that. I think he believes there's still a wealth of knowledge to glean from those who stressed, struggled and discovered, long before Google or Claude. In pursuing these recreations of century-old film aesthetics, Eggers seems to start from a place of darkness and chip away with light, in a manner similar to how a sculptor would use a chisel to chip away at stone. Light cuts through shadow like a blade; blood gushes from a vampire's victim like a geyser. It's an elegant, if haunting mixture that leads to a dreamlike effect lying out of grasp on 1931's capability. As much as I'm charmed by DRACULA and its Gothic sensibilities, the special effects limitations of its time lend themselves to a kitschy charm. It looks like a play. NOSFERATU (2024) looks like an actual nightmare. Here, the nightmare can't be vanquished with a simple stake to the heart, a grave damaged enough to foil a vampiric retreat. It, like all true nightmares, remains in the mind, bolstered by the obsessive fear of the person sleeping. The journey of Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) has been deemed by some reviewers as psychosexual, though I find the first part of that term to be more present than the latter. Her cry to be comforted by any spirit capable of hearing the plea reads less as a sexually stunted housewife and more as a woman terrified by an inability to control/manage her burdgeoning psychic abilites. As incomplete is psychological treatment within the late 1800s is also the rationale of men to explain why a woman feels disturbed, despite her telling them. If there's anything sexual here, it reads more as a homoerotic dick-waving contest between Thomas and Orlok. Maybe they should've watched NO REST FOR THE WICKED... --- Follow The Movies on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Throw a couple dollars in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tip jar!