I liked this plenty. I wish I loved it. The technical elements are phenomenal as usual for Eggers; period recreation from city streets and interiors to the dialect is predictably dialed in as hell. All the natural lighting from billions of candles and being shot on film give it that well-earned scuzzy grain that fits the vibe, I remember being especially struck by this when Thomas enters the inn. Also some truly gorgeous scenes sprinkled about: the carriage picking Thomas up, the shadow coming over the city, so on. I think it really comes down to tone for me. If you look at The Northman you have a relatively straightforward, stonefaced, serious action revenge epic but Eggers sprinkles in some of that deliciously trippy imagery around Viking folklore and the afterlife to keep you off balance. The Lighthouse is incredibly dark but it’s also incredibly funny. This sort of one note, and at the same time, kinda all over the place. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been touched on here but it does feel like everyone is acting in different movies; one second it's total darkness, in another it's something approaching a melodrama. Credit to Lily Rose Depp though, that's wild physicality to be able to pull off these scenes without an extra help.. I wish Skarsgard as Orlok worked more for me…not bad, I guess just hype’s a bitch. It's still good. I gotta think on it more.
If you’re on the fence about checking this one out, you should know that the final reveal of the movie is that Nosferatu was actually two twin brothers who pulled off the supernatural effects using pulleys and misdirection.
This movie looked expensive but they should've thrown a few extra bucks to Depp's wig budget cause siiiiis
I really loved this. The cinematography and sound design are incredible, and I liked the decision to portray Orlok as a literal walking corpse. Willem Dafoe and Lily-Rose Depp in particular are standouts for me with their respective performances.
How did Orlok even find out about the manor in Germany to buy? Did he find it in the Transylvania Times classifieds? And was it his desire to break the curse the whole time? What was the deal with the 3-day time thing?
Yes! I'm glad he wasn't in any promo materials save for his shadowy hand, too. Not giving you a good look at him until that final scene was a great call.
His familiar said they were corresponding, his familiar was the head of the real estate firm whom initially set up the meeting.