Visually, I thought it was great. Everything else? Ehhh. I didn’t like the ending. Didn’t like how the Count reminded me of a methed out hulk hogan. Willam Dafoe was the highlight. Eggers really got carried away with the sexual nature of the story to where I got tired of it. Finished the movie a bit disappointed as I was really hyped for it. 2.5/5
Carried away? If Nos is meant to represent pure evil, and lust is meant to be the closest a purely evil entity can get to feeling/expressing love, you gotta have a few horny moments.
I’m not saying there shouldn’t be lustful intentions of this story. I know it’s a critical aspect of Dracula which this movie is based on. But after the 10th time of Lily Depp moaning and thrusting in her bed I was like “Ok, we get it”. I would not be surprised if her doing that was a legit 30% of her screen time.
Thought this ruled. Eggers’ dedication for being as accurate or realistic to the mythology is what I love about his stuff and it worked fantastically here. The first half was creepy as hell. I thought ATJ was fine, replacement level performance basically. If I have any complaints, I’m kinda 50 50 on if I loved the ending or thought it just adequate. Basically Dafoe says it must be the woman’s sacrifice and then that’s just exactly what happens. Satisfying Drac death and an epic last shot but I could be convinced that Ellen deserved more vengeance without it cheapening things. It ultimately being her tragedy was satisfying but there was enough destruction elsewhere I’m not sure it absolutely had to be for the whole thing to work.
A few days ago I was thinking of bringing my Mom to the film this coming weekend, but now reading the above I think I'll see it by myself, haha
I'm mostly in agreement re: the final act and how it plays out. Some things I'm not 100% on, but they don't bug me so much as make me want to chew on those decisions for a while, which is ultimately a good thing. Love when a movie lends to me thinking about it for days/weeks later. I felt similarly about Heretic. I'd like to see this one more time on the big screen if I can.
I started rewatching Jessica Jones cause I'm showing my mom all the Netflix shows before Born Again in March, and I totally forgot how long that JJ/Cage sex scene goes on for. (shrugs)
Honestly did not find this to be that sexually over-the-top at all. Depp has that one scene with Hoult that I think is very effective. There's obviously some moaning throughout, but then a lot of the movements were all pretty run-of-the-mill possession stuff. The sacrifice sequence at the end feels very earned. I don't really think this is like, a level of horny that would offend most normal adults lol
ATJ didn't bother me, a robber Baron with a gay wife would act like that I also love how Nicholas Hoult was dressed like he was in a Dickens story and was just a total dummy, yeah this Romani tribe says to avoid the haunted castle time to wander in I was so worried about Greta they were such a cute cat, I love that Willem just snatched it at the end
It’s an accurate choice: the original Dracula character in Bram Stoker’s novel had a mustache Like with Frankenstein’s monster, it’s only later depictions that created the now-more-popular idea of what the character is “supposed” to look like
This was fantastic. I particularly loved how they made Orlok seem like he himself was cursed, between his rotting body and struggle to breathe I watched the original silent film Nosferatu with some friends a couple weeks ago and it largely falls very flat just by virtue of how outdated so much of it is. This one really made everything come to life, particularly everything at Orlok’s castle and the panic/despair when the plague hits the town And Willem Dafoe is at his most Willem Dafoe-iest. Laughed to myself when he grabbed a very tiny magnifying glass to inspect a body Also laughed when when Knock bites off the bird’s head and the doctor very deadpan said something to the effect of “My good friend, now why would you do that” lol