I’m still not sure how I feel about Robert Eggers.
For the sake of transparency, I haven’t seen it The Lighthousewhich means I missed out on a third of his filming. I don’t really have anything against it The Lighthouseit’s not like my kind of movie. I need a little more for my movies than farting and masturbating. That’s what everyone tells me about The Lighthouseanyway.
But for his next movie, I’m split. I really enjoyed it The VVitch. I thought it was brilliantly acted and very tense. There was great atmosphere, and the heaviness of the story grew and grew over its delicious running time. I really think it was a horrible effort from the 2010s.
Or, I saw The Northmanand I thought it was okay, at best. It felt too long and inconclusive as a story. I know it’s just a precursor to Hamlet, and that’s great. But it was nothing that I was wow’ed at any time. It wasn’t bad or anything as far as I was concerned, but it was just kind of there with its weird nonsense story.
Despite all this, I’ve been excited for a long time for Eggers’ arrival Nosferatu repeat. It’s got a great trailer, and it allows Eggers to focus on what I think he does best: lower-tier, ground-based horror, and not big bomb action. And probably not joking about and fantasizing about mermaids. But again, who knows? I might love that movie if I see it, ha!
I love Eggers as a horror guy, however, the point is, so take one of the classic vampire story? Give it to me!
But you know what else I didn’t see besides The Lighthouse? The original Nosferatu! After watching a hundred year old movie recently, why not go even older, you know? It’s one of the oldest, most iconic horror flicks of all time, and it’s about time I checked it out.
Nosferatu is… well, have you seen almost any telling of a story Dracula? That’s it. I’m surprised they released a Universal horror version in the early days of the movie Dracula within ten years of this coming out. There are differences, sure, but they’re basically the same story.
And that story is about a young man named Hutter being sent to Transylvania to seal a real estate deal with the vampiric count Orlock. Hutter leaves behind his bride, Ellen, who pines for her husband while he is away.
Orlock escapes from Hutter and captures him in his castle, but does not kill him. Then he makes his way from Transylvania to… I want to say Germany… to claim the property he bought from Hutter.
As he arrives, it is believed that his arrival is spreading a plague due to all the dead bodies in his wake! And Hutter tries to beat him back home so he can save his bride from Orlock’s machinations.
+ So the version of it Nosferatu It seems that I did not have access to the original version, as the orchestral backing for the original version has been lost in time. However, there has been a reissue with a newly adapted orchestral score, and that’s what I looked at, and that’s what I want to talk about here.
The score I heard while watching Nosferatu it was amazing! It matches the events of the movie perfectly, and every instrument, every beat, every note was perfectly inspired by what was happening on screen. He added to every detail, and it was amazing to match it with the film.
I’ve certainly seen movies with top-shelf scores before, but I’m not sure I’ve seen anywhere where the score was as important or powerful as it was here.
+ Another aspect of the version of Nosferatu what I saw that apparently wasn’t part of the original was the use of colored filters over scenes to show the differences between morning, day and night. While the original was ostensibly just black-and-white, the iteration I watched used these filters to convey to the viewer the time of day, as well as the extent of the danger. there.
I found this to be extremely effective! A very clever addition to the film that, instead of completely coloring it, allows it to retain its original integrity and guide the viewer and create an emotional resonance with it.
– At straight hair more than 90 minutes, Nosferatu it’s not too long by any stretch, but it falters a bit in the third and fourth act when we get the whole subplot of Hutter’s natives thinking a plague has come and chasing Orlock’s minion about town.
The rest of the story doesn’t feel really necessary, and it wastes time while we wait to see the final confrontation between Orlock, Hutter, and Ellen.
– Here’s a similar version I recently gave when watching the original for the first time Candyman: just the titular character isn’t enough! In the case of both Candyman and Nosferatuthe villain at the heart of the film is so exciting and striking, i couldn’t help but want more from him!
And I get it… despite the name of the film, this is Hutter’s story of getting home and saving his wife from danger – also, if I may add: I admire this 1922 story for giving the female character agency in her own destiny, because she saves the day herself!–and not Orlock’s day. But I could use a little more of it. Max Schreck played Orlock so wonderfully, I couldn’t help but wish he had more screen time.
#Blast #Nosferatu #Review #PLAIN