Nosferatu is getting a proper big-time treatment in 2024. If you are going to make a period-piece horror film, there is no better person to put in charge than Robert Eggars. The trailer has just dropped, and the film will be released on Christmas 2024. Early Impression? It looks AMAZING.
The director of The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northmen is taking on the F.W. Murnau masterpiece and making it his own. If, for some reason, you are not familiar with the 1922 film Nosferatu, it is one of the first depictions of the Dracula story put to film. Change Dracula’s name to Count Orlock, swap the Harkers for the Hutters, and you have a close adaptation of Stoker’s original story.
The big difference? Nosferatu remains scary after all these years, and Bela Lugosi’s iconic turn on Dracula is practically cuddly by comparison. The Count is no longer elegant or outlandish. He is a gnarled and fearsome wretch and the stuff of nightmares. There was, and is, a feral and savage nature to Nosferatu that Dracula never had. Forget sexy/sparkly vampires; this is a creature of the night. Another prominent difference between Nosferatu and Dracula is the heroic female twist, and I am eager to see how Lily-Rose Depp portrays Anna Harding.
As expected from a Robert Eggars movie, the new trailer displays impressive costumes, set design, and makeup. His films are densely structured and often layered with heavily accented dialogue. The Nosferatu tale is pretty straightforward, so it will be interesting to see if this film adds any layers of complexity to it.
Starring:
Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Willem Dafoe, Lily-Rose Depp, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, and Simon McBurney
Nosferatu will be released widely on Christmas Day, 2024. Nothing says happy holidays like an emaciated Transylvanian vampire. Jingle! Jingle!
I would not be surprised if Nosferatu is up for Oscar contention for cinematography, production design, costume, and makeup. The release date suggests that Focus Features has aspirations for awards and a vote of confidence in their film. The previous two Dracula films that Universal released (Renfield and Last Voyage of the Demeter) were box office duds. This film may be immune to box office issues, as Eggar’s reputation as an artiste lends itself to a critic’s darling indie expectation rather than light popcorn fare.
