‘Nosferatu’ Is a Raw and Immersive Nightmare | by Ben Ulansey | Jan, 2025

Robert Eggers’ modern take on Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ may be the most hauntingly faithful exploration of vampirism to date

Released in the bitter aftermath of the straight-to-streaming fiasco that was Salem’s Lot, Nosferatu has filled a necessary void. For a subject as deeply embedded in our collective consciousness as vampires, it’s often surprised me how few films explore that territory effectively.

While there is no shortage of movies that center around ghosts, ghouls, entities, and spectral objects, rare are those modern depictions of vampires that have risen to truly visceral heights. The stories of garlic and stakes and blood-thirsty presences repelled by the sun have been shrouded by a certain feeling of cheesiness and cliché. Shows and movies like What We Do in the Shadows and Interview with the Vampire have found new angles on the subject. But there’s been an enduring absence of films that offer much justice to the innate fear people harbor of those casket-residing cryptids.

Prior to The Blair Witch Project and Eggers’ own The Witch, the subject of witchcraft seemed to languish in a similar state of dormancy as far as the horror vernacular was concerned. The subject was relegated to a secondary spot beneath themes deemed more…