Nosferatu: The Only Way is Through

Not exactly an appropriate Christmas movie, as was pointed out by my buddy, Deb. Gothic, dark, cold and slightly claustrophobic, given that everything is lit by firelight and the winters seem to go on forever. Somehow that all seems perfectly fitting for this holiday season.

I didn’t familiarize myself with the differences between the “Nosferatu” story versus the original Bram Stoker’s Dracula story and all of the various versions that have been produced over the past hundred years, so I wasn’t entirely sure how this story would go. I love that this version leans into the folly that just because we’re employing “science” that we have a complete understanding of everything. I guess arrogance is arrogance whether one is using “science” or religion to exercise authority when things go wrong. Also, I also love that one of Willem Dafoe’s last roles was as the consummate scientist who created Bella Baxter in last year’s “Poor Things” Frankenstein movie.

Deb commented that the film had a definite “Exorcist” feel to it, probably because so much of the film centered on the strange illness that the Lily-Rose Depp’s character, Ellen, was suffering from and how much of the movie took place in her bedroom. While the tone of the movie was most decidedly serious and dark, there were numerous perhaps unintentionally humorous moments, thanks to the ignorant comments of the males in charge and their inability to see beyond the way “things are supposed to be.” No one, except Ellen and Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz, could imagine that the only way to defeat this undead evil was to give it what it wanted and sacrifice one’s self.

[Movie viewed on 2024-12-25 at Regal Red Rocks]