The new Nosferatu is spooky, exciting, and God-less

MPAA Rating: R
Reel Rating: 3 out of 5 reels

F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) is one of the first great horror films ever made, even though it was a brazen rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was written a quarter-century prior, in 1897.

Now comes a remake of this great remake, which is almost a point-by-point reproduction, though with a century of cinematic development and a fresh vision on the subject. There’s nothing startlingly new, but watching this was like visiting an old friend from college who’s had some impressive work done. It has much to entice, yet ultimately doesn’t deliver anything special.

As a teenager, Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) made a rookie mistake. Lonely and misunderstood, she desperately prays that any spiritual creature or force would bring her comfort and companionship. Years later and newly married to Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), she experiences terrible nightmares, fits of extreme melancholy, and violent seizures. Thomas receives a mysterious but highly lucrative real estate offer from the aging Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) deep in the Carpathian Mountains, who wishes to “retire” to his quaint coastal village.

When Thomas travels to Orlok’s castle, he descends into a trance, moving in and out of reality, dreams, and hallucinations as Orlok alternatively argues over paperwork and drinks his blood. When Orlok’s plan for Thomas’s bride is set in motion, he starts a journey towards Germany, intent on taking her for himself. Unbeknownst to Orlok, Thomas catches wind of his plan, and–with the help of the eccentric, disgraced professor Von Franz (Wilhelm Dafoe)–hurries home to destroy him.

A movie like this lives or dies on its mise-en-scène; in this regard Nosferatu is a resounding success. It has the best use of dream logic since Mulholland Drive. The audience is never quite sure what is real or imagined, but everything makes sense and progresses logically. The camera lingers, moving slowly and oddly, revealing and unrevealing things in the peripheral vision. It is not filmed in black and white but is highly saturated to give a similar effect. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, twisted like Tim Burton if he adapted A Christmas Carol. It is gothic Victorian horror at its best, which alone makes for engaging viewing. Of course, there is more gore and nudity than the original, but not unnecessarily and always tethered to the storytelling.

Throughout her life, Ellen has seen a range of physicians, the most recent being Dr. Sievers (Ralph Insen). While emphatic and kind, he is also firmly rooted in “modern science.” Every one of Ellen’s symptoms must have an explanation in the body (even if that involves bloodletting and the humors). His reasons have impressive-sounding names, but Von Franz gets right to the point. “It is a demon,” he says flatly. His acceptance of the intangible allows him to see more clearly and find a real solution to the problem. Director Robert Eggers is reminding the world that material science, while important, is incomplete, and we ignore our spiritual life at our peril.

The most frustrating aspect of Nosferatu, and so many films like it, is the absence of God. Yes, God is invoked several times, but he seems like a small and distant presence compared to the evil of the vampire. Even when some Orthodox nuns and a priest manage to successfully expel Orlok’s influence over Thomas, he immediately leaves and ignores their advice. Even though Thomas and Von Franz embrace the reality of spiritual evil, they still believe–like Sievers–that they can solve the problem through their own ingenuity. Ellen too thinks she can save her husband only by betraying him and seducing Orlok. There is an unhealthy fascination with evil but complete apathy towards holiness. Whenever a demon shows up on film, people fly to a priest for an exorcism but never confession or the Eucharist.

Like a terrible storm, Nosferatu is spooky and exciting. It wants you to stand outside and fight with a lightning rod in the rain and flashing sky, but you would do better to just go inside next to a nice fire. It takes spiritual warfare seriously but not holiness. Like Ellen, the modern man wants meaning so desperately that he will invite anything when all he needs is to say, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”