Nosferatu 35mm

16132 min

If Bela Lugosi’s Dracula became the template for the exotic aristocratic count as comfortable at the opera or in the drawing room as in his decaying castle, F. W. Murnau’s Count Orlok launched an entirely different strain of cinematic vampire, rooted in monstrosity and disease. That strain has continued to find a home in film and television for over a century and Robert Eggers 2024 remake of Nosferatu represents the most recent provocative take on Stoker and Murnau’s master vampire. In Eggers’ film, Bill Skarsårgd’s Count Orlok is the figure of death, spreading decay and disease across the German town of Wisburg while also stirring an intense sexuality in the object of his blood lust, Ellen Hutter. Shot on 35mm colour film stock but with desaturated colour grading, DOP Jarin Blaschke has created richly dark shadows that collide with intense white costumes, make-up and lighting, generating a chiaroscuro indebted to the work of expressionist cinematographer Karl Freund. The film features an intensely physical performance by Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen, conveying her loneliness, isolation and passion that has trapped her in the violent and obsessive grip of the Count from which only she can save herself and those she loves. The film is a powerfully Gothic viewing experience, rich in detail and replete with memorable performances from Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Emma Corin. A love letter to the movement that would spawn the cinematic horror genre, Nosferatu is a must see on 35mm this Halloween.