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Coming to theaters everywhere on December 25 is Robert Eggers's Nosferatu, a reimagining of the highly influential 1922 German expressionist vampire film of the same name. The film had its black-carpet premiere on December 12 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles and has since been nominated for four Critics Choice Awards.
Somewhere in the heart of Transylvania, in the shadows of a castle tucked away into the Carpathian Mountains, a gothic tale of infatuation, mystic psychic connection, and unspeakable horrors unfolds. Nosferatu, derived from the archaic Romanian word "nesuferitu," which translates to "the insufferable one," tells the story of the relentless obsession between a Transylvanian vampire, Count Orlok, and his object of desire: a haunted young woman named Ellen Hutter.
The eerie world of Nosferatu is brought to life by a brilliant cast, featuring sinister performances by Bill Skarsgård (It, The Crow) as Count Orlok, Willem Dafoe (Poor Things, The Lighthouse) as Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, and Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol, The King) as Ellen Hutter. The ensemble also includes Emma Corrin as Anna Harding, Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter, Ralph Ineson as Dr. Wilhelm Siever, and Aaron-Taylor Johnson as Friedrich Harding. And who better to craft this world than Eggers, who has brought us visionary psychological thrillers such as The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019) in recent years.
The original 1922 silent film by F. W. Murnau, according to an interview with Eggers for the Washington Post, is said to have been an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula, whose characters names had been changed to become more accessible to its targeted German audiences. (At the time, they were sequestered from the international film scene in the aftermath of World War I.) Despite its local appeal, Nosferatu's influence spread, becoming regarded as a bar-setting masterpiece of the horror genre, an all-time classic. Considering this, Robert Eggers's visionary reinvention of the tale has been no small feat.
The director shared that he ultimately chose to adapt Nosferatu over Dracula because he wanted to focus on telling the classic vampire story through Ellen's eyes. "Something that I really loved about the Murnau film is that it ends with the female protagonist being the heroine," Eggers told ScreenRant. "...It had the potential to be more emotionally and psychologically complex than an adventure story about a real estate agent. As much as it is a scary horror movie -- and it is, there's even jump scares -- it is a gothic romance, and it's a tale of love and a tale of obsession."
With this in mind, we're eager to see how Nosferatu takes on new life as the age-old vampire story resurfaces through Eggers's adaptation this holiday season.
As of now, Nosferatu is only available for viewing in theaters. Audiences can watch the film by purchasing a ticket at their local movie theater.
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As a Focus Features release, viewers can expect the film to eventually land on Peacock, thanks to a deal the streamer inked in 2021. A streaming release date has yet to be announced, though we expect for it to be released sometime in 2025.