I stepped out of the doors of the Regal Times Square yesterday, feeling giddy as a schoolkid. In my hands were a custom popcorn bucket and an Orlock Funko-Pop. I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Eggers Nosferatu and Christmas Morning was a delight. It was Film Euphoria. It was as if Halloween had one last gift to give, one final end of film zinger, and give it did.

At my early morning showing for Robert Eggers Nosferatu, we had at least one fellow who fell asleep and snored through the bulk of the film. Not loud enough to be disruptive, but it almost mimicked the strange purring sounds of the film’s antagonist. Granted, I understand. My showing was around 10a.m. on Christmas Morning and perhaps they partied hard the night before. Anything’s possible. Still, part of me likes to think that a person walking into a Robert Eggers film may have some expectations. With only three films under his belt – The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman, regular audiences know that he has a taste for the macabre (perhaps even the unhinged), usually employs a slow burn when it comes to pacing and works with a great deal of light and shadow. If either of his previous films worked for you, Nosferatu‘s a near perfect fit for his style. If you’re not a fan of Eggers work, nor a fan of the previous renditions of Nosferatu, there’s little here that will make you change your mind (save for just a little more gore, perhaps). It’s a little hard to spoil a story that’s more than a century old, but Eggers makes enough changes to keep the film from being the exact note for note story as before. Is it scary? Yes. Is there blood? Sure, but none of it is in the ‘jumpscare every other second’ variety. If that’s what you’re looking or hoping for, none of the Nosferatu’s (including this one) will deliver that and you will be quite disappointed. This is a prime cut of wagyu beef, not your everyday sirloin.

As most know, Nosferatu was essentially stolen from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The original – Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror was a silent film released back in 1922 by F. W. Murnau. Although the story was written and changed to fit German audiences, elements were still very close to Stoker’s and the Stoker Family tried to get rid of it. Copies were burned, but like that Jumanji box, it managed to slither through the years, gaining popularity to the point of Canonization. If Film History is your thing, I highly recommend watching the 1922 film, if you haven’t already. It amazes me how most of what they did was accomplished (my favorite scene being Orlok prepping his coffins for his trip). At the time of this writing, the movie is currently available on Amazon Prime. For me, I love the 1979 update by Werner Herzog, Nosferatu The Vampyre. There are a few minor changes in the plot, but it’s just as powerful.

Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult, Mad Max: Fury Road) is married to his lovely wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp, The King) in the town of Wisborg. Ellen suffers from fits of melancholia, which cause her to either spurt morbid tales or put her in convulsive fits. He’s looking for a way to improve his financial station with his bride while keeping her problems hushed, and has found a great opportunity from his boss, Herr Knock (Simon Burney, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation). It appears a wealthy old man wishes to move to Wisborg and purchase an estate there. The only stipulation is that he is infirm and cannot make the journey. Thomas is charged with traveling to the Carpathian mountains, where he is to visit Count Orlock at his home with the deeds and contracts. During his trip, Thomas is warned of the dangers ahead, but proceeds full on, meeting the Count and his strange ways. Upon learning of Ellen and her beauty, the Count sets off a chain of events that will put all of Wisborg at risk. Can the Count be stopped in time?

There’s so much love in this production, it seems. It certainly has the atmosphere down. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, who worked on all of Eggers previous films, weaves some magic with light that in some scenes rival Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others. Lanterns and candles are blinding, while at the same time, you might find yourself squinting to see the figure in the shadows. I had a few “look around the screen” moments while watching it. There’s absolutely nothing to complain about from a visual standpoint, it’s just beautiful. It’s also quite dark in nature. We’re dealing with vampires, possession and the occult, which Eggers takes in a few extremes (particularly through Skarsgard, Depp and Burney). Ancient tomes? Check. Romani banishing the darkness with Garlic? Check. Consecrating the soil? Done. The sound design in the film is nice, particularly with the breathing and talking for Orlok, which felt like it travelled through the audience. Blood squelches, screams are crisp. There’s little more I can say there, really. I was entertained and transported.

The cast is wonderful. The only thing I’ve ever watched Lily-Rose Deep do was Yoga Hosers, and she’s come a long way from that. Ellen is a tortured character, and Deep rides this through – fits, convulsions and all – to a point where you may wonder if she was really okay on set. We follow Nicholas Hoult’s Thomas as he moves from quiet reservation to curious disbelief and then ultimately, just full on terrified. Even the smaller roles work. Simon Burney’s character becomes repulsive. Emma Corrin, who had a fun turn earlier this year in Deadpool & Wolverine has good moments, along with Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter). Then there’s Dafoe. It never hurts to have Willem Dafoe in your lineup. This is his third film with Eggers and he’s come something of a lucky charm as Prof. Ebenhart von Franz. As the Van Helsing of the story, Dafoe is a treat to watch on screen, especially when paired with Ralph Ineson from The Witch. I could watch the two of them as detectives solving Gothic/Victorian X-Files in their own series or movies.

As Orlock, Bill Skarsgard (John Wick 4) really melts into the role, giving the character a low near constant purr and a voice that enunciates every word. Perhaps it was just me, but I did have a bit of a problem figuring out what Orlock was saying at some points. It improved as the story went on, though. Orlock’s look does veer from the traditional, through. That’s a jolt in itself. While he looks more like the Draugr in Skyrim or in Eggers own The Northman, I found myself thinking of “Taserface” in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. If you can get past that feeling, it still works. It’s a creepy character and Skarsgard does it justice, I felt.

Clocking in at about 2 hours and 12 minutes, it’s considered the longest Nosferatu film. I found this odd because were a number of sequences the original and remake had that Eggers missed (like the loading of the coffins). The film is cut pretty well, for what it’s worth, though I’m not sure what they could have removed to trim scenes down.

If the film has any faults, any problems, there was one. The one weird misstep in all of this is a sex scene that seemed just a little out of place. I understand why it happened, and how it was supposed to fuel the story, but it comes on so fast and fierce that I sat there in the audience whispering…”Wait…what’s happening…Whoa…now? Here? Why?” Mind you, this is coming from someone who watched Shame more than once when it was first released. That, if anything, might freak a few people out if they’re not ready for it. Either that, or I’m becoming prudish in my old age.

Overall, I loved Nosferatu. If it weren’t so expensive to get out to a theatre, I’d make another run at it. As a remake, it easily stands toe to toe with John Carpenter’s The Thing and Chuck Russell’s The Blob as one you can sit on the shelf next to those who came before it. It’s a worthy adaptation, with moments of sheer dread and some that may push a boundary or two.