00:00Nosratu, director Robert Eggers' enthralling new adaptation of the iconic film,
00:04starring Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Holt, and Bill Skarsgård, has had everyone talking.
00:09While it might have been snubbed by the Oscars nominations,
00:13audiences have found a lot to love, and be horrified by, when it comes to the film.
00:18But what is it really that makes this movie so haunting?
00:21And why is it so, uh, spicy?
00:25Let's unpack all of that and more.
00:26There aren't here. Nosferatu.
00:30Nosferatu is a remake of the film of the same name from 1922, directed by F.W. Murau,
00:36which in the last century has cemented its place as one of the most iconic horror movies of all time.
00:42Story is based on Bram Stoker's gothic horror novel Dracula.
00:46The title Nosferatu comes from the seemingly mistranslated word for vampire mentioned in Dracula.
00:51The name change was part of a number of changes made to the story and characters
00:55in an attempt to avoid copyright infringement issues with the Dracula property and Stoker estate.
01:01In the same way that Dracula has gone on to inspire countless retellings,
01:05Nosferatu has also spun off a world of its own,
01:08and in fact was the original source for a lot of things that we all now associate with vampires,
01:13like the son full-on killing them.
01:15While Dracula is usually portrayed as a pretty suave, if imposing guy,
01:20Nosferatu went in a much more deliberately creepy direction.
01:23And Eggers took that and ran with it in his new adaptation.
01:28And I tell you, if we are to tame darkness, we must first face that it exists.
01:34Like with every adaptation, versions of these stories are usually used to say as much about
01:38the time in which they're made as about the area in which the story is set.
01:43Nosferatu covered a lot of ground, from plagues to othering to the horror of war to the occult and beyond.
01:48It's interested in looking at how all of the different facets of society intersect,
01:53and can begin to turn in on themselves when put under immense pressure.
01:57Eggers is less interested in the wider implications of the story,
02:01and instead has chosen to zoom in on the psychological horror that befalls the main characters.
02:06At the center of the film is protagonist Ellen's connection with the evil vampire Count Orlok himself.
02:12Standing before me was death, but I'm a savvy.
02:19While their bond is psychic, happening across continents,
02:22there's clearly a carnal aspect to it as well.
02:25So what is this really all about?
02:28Every version of Nosferatu, and Dracula, has a throughline of psychosexual elements.
02:34How overt they can be about it has of course been updated with the times.
02:37Vampires in general have long been connected thematically to the idea of sexuality.
02:42They only come out at night, attack in a rather sensual manner.
02:46But the key narrative thread, particularly when it comes to female characters,
02:51is the way that the vampires are used as a metaphor for societal fears of women being overtaken by desire.
02:57Someone, something that reaches out from beyond the grave and fills me with horrible impulses.
03:05In the same way that there's a thought that becoming sexual will make a young woman impure,
03:10vampires make that thread literal.
03:12Once she's bitten, she's changed forever.
03:15There's no going back to the innocent she was before.
03:19She has, as you might put it, grown up.
03:22Tasted the more sophisticated, more exotic fruits of life.
03:27Oh my god.
03:28God is hardly involved.
03:30And now that she's been bitten, she's marked as a different kind of woman.
03:35Someone to be feared or hunted.
03:37If you want to live to see another day, you'll be out of town by nightfall.
03:40You've been exposed to them.
03:42One way or another, somebody's going to take you out.
03:45All versions of Nosferatu have carried this theme in regards to Ellen's connection with Orlok to some degree.
03:50However, instead of just being objects of desire or damsels in distress,
03:55these women have been allowed agency.
03:57They're not only actively involved in the plot,
04:00but also the one to come to the solution to the problem and set it in motion.
04:05And so it makes sense that Eggers chose to zero in on Ellen's emotional turmoil in his retelling.
04:10Far from sensual, here, her sexual experiences careen into the horrific,
04:15in line more with possessions and exorcisms than more common images of eroticism.
04:20She is psychologically pulled apart by the opposing pulls of wanting something or someone
04:26that you know you shouldn't, and not even really knowing why.
04:29Ellen had unsuspectingly connected with Orlok years earlier when, in a moment of loneliness,
04:35she called out for companionship and shook him awake from his eternity of darkness.
04:40Ever since, she's been plagued by visions of him,
04:43leading her to convulsions and contortions that not even she can control.
04:47Orlok's horrific nature is made even more tactile in this version.
04:51Orlok has always been a creature of the undead,
04:54but here he is very obviously something that should no longer be.
04:59His connection to life and the living long gone,
05:02tethered now only by what's left of his repulsive, crumbling body.
05:07There's no question of if Orlok is evil, that's made quite clear.
05:11The film instead seems to be pondering,
05:14what does it mean to still be drawn in by this power even when you know that it's evil?
05:19To be well aware of the danger represented,
05:22but still be unable to will yourself away.
05:25Ellen's connection to Orlok and her fight against it is contrasted against Nock,
05:29who has given himself over to Orlok completely,
05:32and has been driven fully mad by it.
05:35Another, less tangible horror that Ellen experiences is that of not being believed.
05:39She really has to fight to get so many around her to understand the true nature of her fit.
05:44There's an interesting comparison here to be made with another of Eggers' heroines,
05:48Thomasin from The Witch.
05:50Thomasin comes from a poor family who is shunned from their community,
05:54and she is blamed for everything bad that happens,
05:57even though she has nothing to do with it.
05:59I am no witch, father.
06:00What did I but say in my house?
06:02Will you not hear me?
06:03I'm breathing, come fast.
06:04Why have you turned against me?
06:06Ellen is well off,
06:07and so no matter how wild she acts or how much she tries to explain her connection to evil,
06:12everyone just assumes there must be some other explanation,
06:16and seek a cure instead of punishment.
06:18But in both stories, we see how the societies in which these young women exist
06:23attempt to contain them,
06:24and become confused and upset when they don't stay restrained within those mold.
06:29Ellen agreed to the initial pact with Orlok when she was young and naive,
06:33and had no idea what she was signing herself up for,
06:36and feels like, as a result of this,
06:38she's had her innocence stripped away.
06:40She feels not just compelled by, but controlled by Orlok and his power.
06:44No matter how hard she tries to build a different life,
06:47he's always there at the edge of the darkness,
06:49waiting to pull her back in.
06:51In the end, as in the original,
06:53Ellen comes to realize that only she has the power to stop Orlok,
06:56and the plague he brings,
06:58and she'll have to sacrifice herself to do it.
07:01This does seem to fall in line with the trope of women needing to be punished for being sexual,
07:05but it's deeper than that.
07:06She does want to save everyone else,
07:08but she also wants to free herself from the mental plague of Orlok.
07:12She understands that,
07:13in the same way that he must be defeated to stop his reign of terror on the town,
07:17taking him out is the only way she'll ever be free from his grass,
07:21even if that means she goes down with him.
07:24After being tormented under his spell for so long,
07:27she uses their connection to her advantage,
07:29and calls him to her one last time.
07:32He feeds on her, sealing their connection and their fate,
07:35but is so consumed by it that he doesn't realize until it's too late
07:38that this was part of a trap she set for him.
07:41The sunlight beams in through the windows and finally vanquishes him for good.
07:46While many love the new film,
07:48some have noted that it felt a bit empty
07:50because it decided to leave behind so much of the commentary inherent in the original stories,
07:55to instead focus more on just this one aspect instead.
07:58As Liz Shannon Miller wrote for Consequence,
08:00there are a few minor twists on the material.
08:03If nothing else, Max Schreck's Count Orlok didn't hang dong the way Bill Skarsgård's does.
08:07But areas where a modern touch would make a lot of sense,
08:10such as the patriarchal treatment of its female characters,
08:14or the impact of plague terrors on a small community,
08:16go unexplored.
08:18And all the major plot beats are the familiar ones,
08:21pleading to a narrative with almost zero suspense to it.
08:23While it's true that many of the original story's themes are incredibly relevant to our current moment,
08:29the destruction wrought by a plague,
08:31the dangers of mob mentalities,
08:33the reality that so many issues come from the wealthy attempting to ignore reality
08:36because they don't want to deal with the ramifications, etc.
08:39Zooming in on this one aspect does allow it room to be an interesting
08:43and frightening psychological study of Ellen.
08:46We also get to feel like we have a bit of a deeper understanding of Orlok himself,
08:49and how utterly depressed and dead he really is.
08:54And so, when, in the end, he realizes that the sun is coming,
08:57he doesn't even try to flee,
08:59but instead stares right out into it as it airfries him to a crisp,
09:03because he realizes that even getting the object of his desire
09:07didn't really sate his thirst or end his pain,
09:10and that nothing ever really would.
09:13Nosferatu is faithful to the original story and the beats of the plot and the characters,
09:17but does cut off on its own path to focus on the bits Eggers is most interested in.
09:22But that's what adaptations are for.
09:24If you want to watch the original,
09:25you can watch it for free anytime you'd like since it's public domain.
09:29This modern version is aimed more at capturing the horror of the original
09:32in a way that resonates with modern audiences,
09:34but it also isn't afraid to have its meditative moments.
09:37Like all of Eggers' films,
09:39the visuals are simultaneously murky and expressive,
09:42pulling you into the depths of their darkness.
09:45The movie does a great job of creating a tightly suffocating atmosphere
09:48with the set design and costuming,
09:50which then makes Orlok and the experiences with him
09:53feel more electric and free-flowing in contrast.
09:56And Nosferatu is full of great performances,
09:59so don't be afraid to give it a watch, if you dare.
10:01I have seen things in this world
10:04that would have made Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother's womb.
10:08That's the take.
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