Nosferatu Fresh-Out-Of-The-Cinema Reaction
Added 2025-01-17 17:42:50 +0000 UTCPlease take this with a pinch of salt, I'm doing an immediate reaction to the film after getting home. There are jokes that are probably in bad taste, colourful language and criticism - but I absolutely loved the film and one day later I can already feel that criticism fading away in favour of all the good.
It was tricky editing this down because I kept thinking of things I wanted to add, noticing mistakes or times I misspoke, but I resisted the urge in the name of keeping this to strictly reaction and getting you guys more content quickly.
In terms of updated Eggers-rankings I definitely prefer The Lighthouse to Nosferatu, I definitely prefer Nosferatu to The Northman, I'm just not sure if I prefer Nosferatu or The VVitch. Either way, very excited to do a Complete Guide and this is a triumph for Eggers, especially in terms of mainstream acceptance. My (small) cinema was still mostly full in the middle of the day on a Thursday, weeks after release.
Comments
I enjoyed it. I saw it twice in theaters. I want to own the film. I loved how gothic it felt. Just really good.
jenna welborn
2025-01-27 10:34:32 +0000 UTCI didn’t really buy any of the acting. Like there’s so much dread & I didn’t feel like any of them were selling it enough frankly. I’ll def need to rewatch but when I saw it in theaters I was bored 😔
shoshana
2025-01-26 17:12:44 +0000 UTCHad to look who that was up, and, yeah, in that one portrait Taras has a large mustache and the fur hat in the same style.
Kelly S. Moyes
2025-01-26 01:07:58 +0000 UTCI love that I can now recognize a Robert Eggers film! It was dark and beautiful
Larissa Rios
2025-01-26 00:05:41 +0000 UTCI couldn't get over how much like Taras Shevchenko he looked with the stache😂but that's definitely a me take hah
Valeriia Shvets
2025-01-25 17:01:41 +0000 UTCRobert Eggers stated in a Nosferatu interview that this film was an inspiration for his remake, along with the OG film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT7SAmPZlpI
Kelly S. Moyes
2025-01-23 16:29:17 +0000 UTCHad NO idea there were werewolf trials, but ofc that makes perfect sense if you believe in werewolves! Thanks for sharing the link, will check it out!
Kelly S. Moyes
2025-01-23 16:14:55 +0000 UTCI've seen other comments online about the mustache - I honestly don't get why it was a big deal to some viewers, and am wondering if maybe it's a generational thing. I grew up in the 70s/80s, when men wore mustaches. Not 'ironically', not to be a 'hipster' or whatever, but just because men wore mustaches. It's just facial hair that sometimes is in fashion, sometimes not. I have to wonder, do these same people think Robert P looked 'funny' or 'silly' or 'wrong' in The Lighthouse? I mean, he had a mustache! Or is it just because no other film has depicted Dracula/Nosferatu that way? Actually, no, I just remembered Gary Oldman had a mustache. Yeah, I still don't get the 'controversy'. I honestly feel kinda bad for those who lost their suspension of disbelief over it. I thought the film was near perfection, I've already seen it 3 times!
Kelly S. Moyes
2025-01-23 16:11:33 +0000 UTCI know I'm so excited! Iirc it's like 13th Century England, but when I was researching the VVitch (I think I used an etching of it on screen) I came across the concept of werewolf trials. They're a little bit later on and more European but still very cool ground to pull from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_witch_trials England actually had a wolf population up until around the time of those trials too, when they were hunted to extinction. So could be a case of us seeing what leads up to that (the establishment of werewolf folklore) like we saw events that lead up to Salem in the VVitch. It's also interesting that (again iirc) viking berserkers played a role in the establishment of the werewolf mythos. The film is titled 'Werwulf' so it's got that Germanic connotation to it and we got a little bit of Viking Berserkers during The Northman. So it could be a really cool way of tying everything together, and it's certainly cool that he'll have done vampires, witches and werewolves!
Novum
2025-01-23 15:59:04 +0000 UTCEggers has announced he's making a 'Werwolf' movie next!
Kelly S. Moyes
2025-01-23 15:51:30 +0000 UTCThat's a shame the mustache threw you off so much. Orlok was tall, imposing, had a terrifying voice and stare...I barely registered he had a mustache. Not only is the mustache period accurate, Dracula in the novel had a mustache. Mario is a short, fat Italian cartoon stereotype, so I don't think that crossed anybody's mind while making this movie.
Kelly S. Moyes
2025-01-22 00:20:11 +0000 UTCHumor is definitely subjective! What you considered 'macabre humor' in the Witch I didn't find at all funny. IMO, Katherine thinking she was suckling her dead baby Sam when it really was the Devil was tragic and horrifying; Mercy was acting like a spoiled bratty child who was being groomed by the Devil himself at the river, not like an old woman; William getting buried by his own ineffectual homesteading was pathetic; and 'our corn is trash' was just a statement of fact. On the other hand, 'I've seen things that would make Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother's womb' definitely made me smirk. Other than that, there wasn't much humor in Nosferatu, or the Witch for that matter. The Lighthouse was meant to be funny, and it was. The others weren't meant to be funny, so they weren't.
Kelly S. Moyes
2025-01-22 00:08:07 +0000 UTCI kind of adored the devotion to the...ludicrousness/crassness of lily's 'dream coming/sex' scenes? there was something so metal and shameless about her acting choices that I really appreciated. in a time where I think sex has only gotten more taboo and conservative, especially depicted on screen, I genuinely loved this approach to sex in the film. edit: not to mention the kind of sex depiction within the context of 1838, incredible and can't wait to deep dive into that. the opening *ahem* scene kind of was like a primer of sorts I felt, and I think her hand action was definitely intentional and not an accident. so much more to say but ahhh I loved this film, I also liked Nic's performance, it was actually ATJ I was so-so on, until his final scene in the crypt, thats when I bought his performance.
Elle D
2025-01-19 19:04:04 +0000 UTCThis movie made me want to leave the theater and immediately, and dig into books! I can't think of higher praise to give a film than to say it left me wanting to hunker down with some research.
Bailey Albrecht
2025-01-18 17:32:58 +0000 UTCAdding the fangs to your logo is crazy. 😂
whippster26
2025-01-17 20:57:01 +0000 UTCOverall, I really enjoyed Nosferatu (2024), but I felt it was Robert Eggers’ most commercial film to date, which has its pros and cons. While I consider The VVitch and The Lighthouse to be all-time classics, The Northman and Nosferatu are very entertaining but lean too much toward mainstream appeal for my tastes. One thing I missed while watching this film was the dark humor that defined his earlier works. In fact, I found myself laughing at moments that probably weren’t intended to be funny. The possession scene, where LRD sticks her tongue out, was unintentionally hilarious. Orlok shaking his hips while sucking Hutter was another odd moment that left me chuckling. In contrast, The VVitch has several moments of dark, macabre humor: 1. The raven aggressively pecking at Kat’s breast while she cackles. 2. Mercy, a young girl acting like an old woman, taunting Thomasin at the river. 3. Black Phillip gloating on his rear hooves before charging toward William, eventually burying him under chopped wood. 4. Hilarious lines like “Our corn is trash!” The humor in Nosferatu felt significantly different, and not in a way that resonated with me. Additionally, like The Northman, I didn’t find the same level of tension in Nosferatu that I experienced in Eggers’ earlier films. It looks fantastic, and it’s definitely entertaining like I said—I watched it three times—but after that, I don't feel the need to revisit. It stands as one of the best films I’ve seen in 2024, but not the best, which was my expectation going into it. Lastly, I have to say that I still prefer Coppola’s Dracula over Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024), despite its flaws, such as Keanu Reeves’ performance. I hope Eggers returns to making films in the style of his first two works, but with the way the industry works, I doubt it. That said, my admiration for The VVitch and The Lighthouse remains strong, and I will continue to revisit them.
Fourth Horseman
2025-01-17 19:20:51 +0000 UTCI also saw this by myself (twice) and I think I enjoyed it more that way since I don't have a local friend who loves Eggers as much as I do. I would have spent too much time worrying about what a companion was thinking. It was fun to kinda people watch the other moviegoers around me and, at the end of the film, pick out which ones had absolutely not been prepared to see a Robert Eggers movie. One of my coworkers told me after that she'd taken her (adult) son, his girlfriend, and the girlfriend's mom to see it as sort of a "family bonding" outing and none of them were ready for it. The mustache initially threw me off, but I was into it by the end of the movie, and on second viewing, I couldn't imagine Skarsgard's Orlok without it. I think visually, this was my favorite Eggers movie and I just want Eggers and Blaschke to frame and film every movie I ever watch from now on. The shot of Thomas at the crossroads is just absolutely perfect gothic horror. I feel like every shot in the film was pretty much perfectly framed. The scenes that were lit with solely fire and candle light were a little bit mind blowing for me because I'd just never seen it before and never imagined it could be done so well.
Aniafaery
2025-01-17 18:54:59 +0000 UTCGlad you enjoyed it, I've yet to see it as I'm struggling for a babysitter but hopefully next week. How was the soundtrack? I know it's already available but I like to deep dive after I've heard it within the actual film.
Barry Hurst
2025-01-17 18:48:48 +0000 UTCIt's funny you mention the English language thing, because as an American audience member, it was easily my biggest criticism of the film. I think Eggers set an unfortunate precedent by being so meticulous about dialects in his previous films in English speaking settings (I haven't seen The Northman), that I felt myself a little deflated that the movie was either set in Germany or spoken in English. Like if the whole film had been in German instead, I would have loved the movie that much more (likewise, if it had been set in England). Kind of an immersion dampener, especially since I'm not a super huge fan of flowery, Victorian English dialects in period pieces. It's been done to death. In spite of that criticism, I can't stop thinking about this film and I look forward to a 2nd viewing. Such a beautiful, gothic horror.
Surina Slack
2025-01-17 18:13:12 +0000 UTChttps://youtu.be/husMGbXEIho?si=A6H_GmC7IFDt6bc4
Novum
2025-01-17 18:09:09 +0000 UTCI forgot to say, they played a trailer for Oz Perkins new film 'The Monkey', it looks absolutely ludicrous but I am kind of hyped.
Novum
2025-01-17 18:08:40 +0000 UTCYeah I know about Vlad. I feel.it was an unfortunate choice that for me, did not improve the film.
Jessica Elsener
2025-01-17 18:07:28 +0000 UTCIt was based on history. Vlad III, the real life inspiration for Dracula, had a big mustache. It was in style for Romanian aristocrats. I quite liked the mustache, really. It made Orlok visually distinct from the original film and the previous remake from 1979.
Surina Slack
2025-01-17 18:06:01 +0000 UTCI BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE! eta: just finished your ama video and you inspired me to finally put my personal passion project on the donner party into video form. Even if it sucks I gotta let myself be bad at it. Thanks dude!
Caroline
2025-01-17 18:02:14 +0000 UTCListening to confirmation hearings right now, but looking forward to this. I'm already needing to distance myself from Nosferatu, as it's nowhere near my favorite film from last year and I think it's kinda already overrated. However, I love your reviews on Eggers' material. The Witch deep dive was awesome.
Stitches
2025-01-17 17:51:38 +0000 UTCI, as most of us do I'm sure, adore Eggers. However , I have no idea,even if it was based on history...why on earth Robert thought, "You know what would make my Nosferatu the most terrifying? A huge Mario mustache. Why scream..when you can laugh?" I plan on seeing the film again, I have no idea if I've ever typed anything like this lol but...the mustache really ruined the movie for me. I kept waiting for him to say, "It's A Me!!! NOSFIO!"
Jessica Elsener
2025-01-17 17:48:43 +0000 UTC
