Nosferatu (2024)

Count Orlok has a walrus mustache in this version, and somehow it’s the least unsettling thing about him. Bill Skarsgård buries himself under makeup and a voice so deep it rattles the couch cushions. Robert Eggers shoots everything in cold moonlight blue and candle gold, so every frame looks like an old painting that doesn’t want you there. Lily-Rose Depp goes all in as Ellen, and her visions and fits are so physical and loud that they’re exhausting, which is the point and also a lot. Nicholas Hoult plays the most trusting husband in Germany, and Willem Dafoe has a ball as an odd professor who actually believes her. The middle drags. At 132 minutes, there are too many slow scenes of rats, fever and men arguing in parlors. It leans on dread more than gore. It made $182 million worldwide on a reported $50M. An 8.2 because it’s gorgeous and genuinely creepy, even when the middle crawls. $992 says you leave the hallway light on tonight and claim it’s for the cat.

What works: Every frame is gorgeous and cold, Bill Skarsgård’s Orlok is genuinely frightening, and Willem Dafoe is a joy as the one man who believes Ellen.

What doesn’t: The middle hour drags through repetitive scenes of sickness and arguing, and Ellen’s intense fits get exhausting long before the finale.

Who it’s for: Patient horror fans who love gothic atmosphere, old-world costumes and dread that builds slowly instead of jumping out at you.