MovieChat Forums > Nosferatu (2024) Discussion > The overwhelming praise is really confus...

The overwhelming praise is really confusing

posted 16 days ago by MyPhoneAccount (285)
24 replies | jump to latest

I didn’t hate it, but the overwhelming praise, I just don’t get it.

People are praising the cinematography but I thought it was really boring and repetitive. Take a drink everytime the camera slowly pans to the left to reveal a door, or something framed perfectly symmetrical in the center of the shot. The first time Eggers uses it, cool. The 20th? People make fun of the “slow moving camera” era of modern horror, but this is the worst offender I’ve ever seen.

Nicolas Hoult and especially Lily Rose Depp overracted like hell in this movie, and Depp’s monologues were so over the top and laughable. Her monologue on the beach about “feeling something” was like something out of a bad Disney play, like I nearly expected her to burst into song. Skarsgard and Dafoe were good but they aren’t really doing anything new. Seems like Skarsgard is always in makeup and Dafoe is always doing longwinded thespian monologues.

I also didn’t find anything scary or startling in the film. It has great atmosphere and gets pretty creepy at times, but I saw every jump scare coming from a mile away. The more “shocking” imagery, like Depp with bleeding eyes, felt like something from a Rob Zombie musical video. The hardest stuff to watch was all the puking, which, yeah, it’s puke. Easy grossout gag.

I just think Eggers is a bit of a one trick pony. All of his movies are feeling the exact same. And how many times does he need to write characters who have sex with mythological creatures? Sounds like some hidden fetishes.

[–] sONOMArEturns (1276) 16 days ago

this movie was what it would be like if wes Anderson made a serious horror film.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8822) 13 days ago

I wouldn't call him a one-trick pony. While he certainly has a style that is distinctive and all his own, much like Quentin Tarantino, plot-wise there is variety in his films. I still haven't seen The Lighthouse, but I can say that The Northman and The Witch are quite different movies.

I haven't outright loved ANY of his films and, as a Christian, I have theological problems with his work. But I believe that his movies are always interesting and different from what anyone else is doing and I recognize him as a master craftsman who knows how to create mood and atmosphere with his production design and cinematography.

On your last point, I agree that that is weird. He also seems to like to lean into feminist perspectives, which I don't love. The Witch is basically a feminist anthem, or at least that is how I perceived it. There are shades of that sensibility in Nosferatu as well.

[–] spacecomedy (2051) 8 days ago

Rod Dreher has an interesting review that discusses the theology of the film. Worth a read if you have time.
https://roddreher.substack.com/p/nosferatu-sex-death-bloodsucking

[–] Jones70 (6649) 13 days ago

You listed all the reasons I love it, cinematography, atmosphere, creepiness. Those 3 were so good that it made me really love it. Wasn't big on Eggers first 2 movies but The Northman and this one I thought were outstanding.

[–] MyPhoneAccount (285) 10 days ago

Yeah but cinematography, atmosphere, and creepiness don’t make for a scary movie. Yes, some scenes looked atmospheric and creepy, but a lot of it looked like one of those 2000’s metal music videos for bands like Marilyn Manson or Rob Zombie. And again, the camera movement and shot composition go so tiring and repetitive that I’d actually say I was NOT a fan of the cinematography.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula is also a highly stylized version of the same story, but I find that cinematography far more interesting and less repetitive.

[–] WhereIsRent (1089) 13 days ago

I’m fan of Eggers’ films and even I thought this is getting praised too much.

My main problem with the film is that the title villain becomes increasingly less interesting with each appearance to the point where I was bored of him. That’s a huge mistake in my opinion and kind of ruins the film for me.

[–] christomacin (4697) 12 days ago

It's particularly bad considering he wasn't in the movie all that much.

[–] chumbawampa (820) 11 days ago

It's another shameless Hollywood remake.

Why remake Nosferatu?? It's like remaking Citizen Kane. There's no point. Why remake something considered a masterpiece? It's like re-painting the mona-lisa with photoshop.

It's for modern audiences that have such severe ADHD, they can't watch the original because it's in black and white (oh no!) and a silent film. So they have to remake it in 8k HD, and amp up the gore x100. That way they can sell it on Netflix or Amazon and make money.

[–] MyPhoneAccount (285) 10 days ago

The story of Nosferatu is so similar to Dracula that it just felt like an excuse to do another Dracula adaptation without actually remaking Dracula. Part of me wonders if it was actually pitched that way, like “hm, we wanna do Dracula, but everyone’s seen it too many times. I know, just remake the ripoff of Dracula!” And I love the original, btw.

[–] OuterSpace (134) 10 days ago

It was a passion project Eggers had been trying to make over the course of the last 10 years. The existence of this is mainly due to him, not a studio looking to remake the movie and then he getting attached to it.

Not the first remake of Nosferatu either though I'm not really a fan of the Herzog/Kinski version. Definitely prefer the original 1922 version to that version.

And this movie is way too ponderous and slow for your aforementioned ADHD audience. Only people into "art house" type films will be seeing this a second time.

[–] millsey72 (10663) 10 days ago

How can you prefer a movie with no sound made in 1922 than the 1979 remake?

[–] christomacin (4697) 10 days ago

How can you be such a consistently worthless and shallow poster? Will you ever surprise us and NOT troll for a change, or is that too tall an order?

[–] millsey72 (10663) 10 days ago

That doesn't answer my question

[–] christomacin (4697) 10 days ago

I'll take that as a "No".

[–] OuterSpace (134) 10 days ago

Because despite the pacing issues all silent films face due to constantly stopping to display the intertitles, I still find the 1922 version to be more entertaining and visually interesting. With historical context there's added interest as well. Plus despite said pacing, it also has the benefit of brevity.

[–] chumbawampa (820) 9 days ago

The 1922 version does not have "no sound". It has a full orchestral score which accompanies the film, composed by Hans Erdmann. Just as ALL silent films of the day had musical soundtracks. So obviously you don't know much about the history of film.

[–] millsey72 (10663) 9 days ago

Thanks for clarifying. That sounds even worse

[–] chumbawampa (820) 8 days ago

How can you prefer the original Star Wars trilogy to the new Star Wars trilogy???

Have you not seen that the new one has better CGI??! And the Millenium Falcon does WAY more flips and spins in the new one!!!

[–] millsey72 (10663) 8 days ago

I don't. The Last Jedi is my favorite of all the movies. Loved seeing Kylo get all frustrated fighting a projection of Luke

[–] chumbawampa (820) 7 days ago

"The Last Jedi is my favorite of all the movies."
That wasn't a movie. It was the film equivalent of diarehha.

What are you, 12 years old?

What are your other favorite movies? Batman and Robin, Waterworld, Avatar and Frozen?

[–] millsey72 (10663) 7 days ago

Jaws 4

[–] chumbawampa (820) 6 days ago

Exactly.

[–] ElSofoqueReturns (726) 9 days ago

Very boring film that went on for too long.

[–] SickSpazmoid (851) 2 days ago

Well said. It was very good until Thomas (what an useless dude) signed those documents and after that the movie became repetitive (hysterical sweating people), with cheap jump scares and characters were dropping and coming back in a lame way, not to mention the miscasting of Defoe. It would have been better if they divided it into chapters and spent more time on the ship and so on.

For the record, I think that Lighthouse sux and Nosferatu convinced me that the director is a hipster hack. On the positive side, seems that the kids in the theatre were enjoying it - some infusion of culture into their TikTok lives.