You may not have asked for a new version of this near-perfect silent-film classic.
The overall murder ballad remains the same: Germany, 1838.
Ellen (Lily Rose-Depp), Hutters wife, has bad premonitions about the trip.
Lily-Rose Depp in ‘Nosferatu.‘Aidan Monaghan/FOCUS FEATURES
Hes soon relieved of several pints of plasma and passage for this nobleman with the claw-like hands is booked.
No sooner does this boat arrive in Germany than rats scurry everywhere and instances of plague break out.
Unexplained deaths become the norm.
Meanwhile, Orlok has taken an interest in Ellen.
Does evil come from within us, or beyond?
Depp, on the other hand, is playing less a character than an acrobatic embodiment of female hysteria.
Thankfully, her payoff at the end is huge.
Everyone else pitches things at a level somewhere between creeped out and totally freaked-the-fuck-out.
Everyone except for one actor.
Blessed with playing Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz, a.k.a.
this versions Van Helsing, Dafoe does indeed make a four-course meal of that declaration.
The star is the missing link between their acting styles.
Hes as much a conductor as a costar.
You understand why this wont convert anyone to his cause.
True, hisNosferatucould use a tad more iron.
It is, however, anything but bloodless.
