A Hollywood remake of F.W. Murnau's Dracula-inspired classic from 1922, Nosferatu "is one of those films that will divide audiences", said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday.
"Some will see it as a ponderous anachronism, a vampire picture ... lacking in vital sexual undercurrents and failing to move the reliably popular genre forward at all." Others will love it, and see it as an homage not only to Murnau, "but to cinema itself". To my surprise, "I found myself in the latter camp", albeit by only a few steps.
Set mostly in 1838, the film stars Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen, the troubled young newlywed whose husband (Nicholas Hoult) is dispatched to Transylvania to facilitate the sale of a property to the enigmatic nobleman Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). While he is away, she goes to stay with friends (Emma Corrin and Aaron Taylor-Johnson), where she is plagued by night terrors and convulsions. "With a screen bled of nearly all colour, and even subtitles that come in gothic script, this is a visually stunning" production; and Hoult and Depp are both excellent. However, the film is about 15 minutes too long, and it doesn't scrimp on cinematic clichés.
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