Whisper House Press

Nosferatu (2024) spoiler-free film review / analysis

I’d put money on a wager that most of us in the horror community have been awaiting the release of Nosferatu with something approaching yearning. Some of us were let down by Longlegs. Others liked the idea of a remake of something we watched back in college (Todd Verdun’s vampire literature course at W&J College), film school (not me), or in a friend’s basement (friends?). And A24 films, boy howdy, have been on a tear. We might be reaching a saturation point, in fact—maximum capacity before diminishing returns. In any case, I was thrilled to see another A24 picture come out this year, and Nosferatu was just in line with what I wanted.

I saw this movie on Christmas morning and again the next night. It’s taken me a few days to digest what I’ve seen. It took longer with this film than with others because my feelings are more nuanced than they were with, say, A Complete Unknown, Speak No Evil, or Land of Mine. And the thing about feelings with regard to this film is that my feelings were not particularly impacted by the experience of watching the film itself. Rather, my five hours or so of viewing time amounted to an exercise in analysis even while watching. I don’t know what people who think differently about narratives and execution see when they watch Nosferatu, but I saw a puzzle comprising a perfectly divisible number of pieces, each of which is cut on all edges with strict adherence to a 90-degree rule. I found meticulous, surgical execution of an idea without emotion. I saw the finest acting, editing, and set design I’m likely to find in any film in the next few years. I felt… nothing. The film was perfect in many ways, but it communicated no great emotion.

Relevant to this reaction is the film I saw the night before its Christmas debut—the Dylan biopic mentioned above, A Complete Unknown. That film was far less meticulous but I’d bet will be much more memorable. Why? Its layers worked in tandem not just to set a mood and execute a story but to communicate emotions. It was, though a film in a wholly unrelated genre, a much better movie.

I realize this might come across as an attempt at a hot take. I’m not here to bash, and again—this film was a work in perfect artistry, in many regards. But its artistry was sterile. That’s where I’ve landed after a few days of contemplating this film from which I’d hoped for so much and that offered so many superb elements, individually.

The main question of the story told in Nosferatu seems to have been, “Does evil come from without or from within?” and the answer the story offers in perfectly clear terms seems to be, “Evil comes from outside of us.” Maybe it’s this answer, too, that bugs me. We are not as innocent as our protagonists in this film. Because whatever evil nests inside us doesn’t come from without but from ourselves—or at least is nurtured inside us. For all of its complexity, this film offers too simple a moral view of the universe.

I recommend seeing this film, and a big screen does it justice.

4 of 5 ⭐