Nosferatu’s strongest directorial choice is almost invisible

Since we know Eggers can direct conventionally dramatic action, the lack of action in “Nosferatu” is an obvious creative choice. One of the best examples of Eggers’ refusal to work comes early in the film, when Thomas Hutter tries to escape from Count Orlok’s castle. Other directors might have shot this scene quickly and intensely, perhaps alternating between close-ups and a fast, traveling camera. This certainly would have made the scene exciting, and would have put the audience right in Thomas’ shoes. Instead, Eggers films this desperate man and his desperate actions from a distance, filming him in wide shots as his ominous imprisonment dominates him. When he moves quickly, the camera tends to move slowly with him, capturing the rhythm of the movement but making him feel helpless and pitiful. We are not in Thomas’ place. We don’t feel his adrenaline rush. We are an isolated observer, watching from afar who is completely and utterly helpless in the face of something that makes every determined human action seem utterly useless.

Every human action in “Nosferatu” seems… small. Only the powerful Orlok is allowed to dominate the frame, and the film only uses fast cutting or other tools typical of action cinema when he emerges from the shadows to prey on a victim. The vampire is depicted in the visual language associated with power, while each human character might as well be an ant crawling through the dirt. We watch them wander, looking so weak and so alone.

Wide shots, static shots, and graceful but icy camera movements continue throughout the entire film. It’s supposed to be exciting when the Men on a Mission reunite for the final journey to Orlok’s lair, but Eggers doesn’t allow it. After all, their quest is a wild goose chase, and the vampire’s defeat comes elsewhere, via a character who realizes that the only way to defeat him is to surrender completely. To surrender to inaction.

A lot of horror movies are about defeat, and how weak we are in the face of things that want to hurt us. But “Nosferatu” is the rare film that makes us feel it in our bones.

I talked about this (and the rest of my favorite films of 2024) in the latest episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below:

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