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Coffee N’ Comics’ Hot Take: Nosferatu


I had to sit and think for a while about how to start this review because, well... I'm still not sure if I liked Nosferatu.


I've been consuming vampire fiction since second grade, when I stumbled upon a battered copy of Dracula, a photo book of the 1931 Bela Lugosi film. From there, it was all Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bram Stoker, Carmilla, True Blood, and beyond. Was it always the best material? No. But I enjoyed it.


The original Nosferatu debuted in 1922 as a silent film. It was, quite frankly, a ripoff of Dracula—so much so that a court ordered all copies destroyed after Bram Stoker’s widow sued... oops.


This 2024 version is, obviously, wildly different. I was intrigued to see Robert Eggers' vision after The Witch (2015), which I really enjoyed. Normally, I roll my eyes at reboots, but the 100+ years between Count Orloks felt like an interesting opportunity. The aesthetic and cast looked promising, the trailer was haunting, and I was ready for a truly scary vampire to return to the screen. Even the coffin-shaped popcorn boxes at certain theaters had me excited.


But the movie... was hard to sink into. Eggers clearly put a ton of effort into bringing Ye Olde Germany to life. The actors gave it their all. The script was meticulously crafted. And yet, I couldn't fully suspend my disbelief.


Everyone in Germany spoke with an English accent. Count Orlok’s dialogue was so deep and drawn out that it was hard to discern actual words, even in a language I don’t speak. I was confused about what exactly bound Lily-Rose Depp’s character to Orlok, despite multiple explanations. When I say I don’t understand, I don’t mean that I missed the mechanics—I mean that I didn’t believe it.


The lack of backstory for the Hutters' marriage left me puzzled. Ellen had clearly been unstable for a while, so what did she and Thomas have in common? How did they fall in love? Given the time period, why hadn’t their friends intervened and warned Thomas that this was an unwise match?


That said, I appreciated that Orlok was genuinely terrifying. He had real power and sway, he possessed and devoured, and his lair was a labyrinthine nightmare. There was no redeeming him, and that was oddly refreshing—it made me root for the heroes even more.

I also liked that Ellen had more agency than her Dracula counterparts. Unlike Mina and Lucy—who either ended up beheaded or saved by a man—Ellen had some control over her fate. She didn’t wait for salvation; she actively chose to save others, even at her own expense.


But the film is incredibly drawn out. If you want Dracula with superfluously extended dialogue and lots of possessed, eyes-rolling-back moments, this is for you. It’s not bad, but it’s clearly made for those who appreciate artistry in their horror, who enjoy slow-burn tension. Or maybe it’s for people who want to see a whole lot of Skarsgård or Depp—but in a classier way than in modern slashers.


Again, it’s not that the movie is bad (though I did hear someone behind me snoring before Thomas even made it out of Transylvania). It’s just that it’s for a very specific audience. With old-school monsters making a comeback, Nosferatu could be a trendsetter. Maybe we’ll see the Creature from the Black Lagoon reimagined, or Jekyll and Hyde given the spotlight in ways that weren’t possible during the original Universal Monsters era.


The Dark Universe has tried to reboot itself multiple times—with some successes (The Invisible Man, 2020) and some definite flops (The Mummy, 2017). Reviving classic monsters is tricky; they’re deeply ingrained in pop culture yet long dormant on film. It’s a fine line to walk with casting and storytelling—one misstep, and it’s easy to get swamp(thing)ed.


Nosferatu found box office success, regardless of my personal opinion, and for some reason, the vampire himself has become the object of many enamored hearts. This could open the tomb for other monsters to rise—perhaps starting with last month’s Wolf Man (which I hesitate to see, since Lon Chaney Jr. was my guy in the original, but I’ll get around to it). If studios play their cards right, this could mean a glorious return of summer popcorn monster movies. And that? I’m all for.


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