NOSFERATU: 4 things you need to know before watching Robert Eggers' remake
- Arq. Santiago Vejar
- Apr 3
- 3 min read
AUTHOR: Santiago Vejar
Architect specialized in Urban Planning and O.T. Writer, founder of ARQritic and Taller de Vivienda Evolutiva.
Robert Eggers belongs to a new generation of filmmakers in which we find personalities like Ari Aster or Jordan Peele who have given us feature films and short films full of their own vision that have been well received by critics and audiences alike. Now in 2024, Eggers keeps expectations high with his latest project, Nosferatu, a remake of the 1922 horror classic, what do you need to know before watching it?
YOUR DIRECTOR
Born in New York in 1983 Robert Eggers was raised in a non-traditional family, moved in 1990 to New Hampshire, returning to New York 11 years later in 2001, experiencing his early life in New York, then training in a more modest city and then returning to the big city is certainly a contrast that, at least for Eggers, served as an inspiration. He worked directing theater for a few years until his big screen debut years later.
In 2015 Eggers would present to the world his Opera Prima, The Witch starring a young and also debutant, Ana Taylor-Joy. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and the production company A-24 took it to the international screen in 2016, with a collection of 10 times the production budget and good critical reception, Eggers aroused interest in the public eye. in 2019 he released The Lighthouse with Willem Dafoe and Robbert Pattinson, it is a film with experimental dyes, filmed entirely in black and white in 35 mm format with a 1:1 aspect ratio. In 2022 he presented his third feature film The Northman and now in 2024 we are a few months away from seeing his latest project: Nosferatu, a remake of the 1922 horror classic.
NOSFERATU WAS THE FIRST DRACULA BROUGHT TO THE CINEMA
In 1922, with the public still immersed in silent cinema, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau presented what would become a classic of horror and German expressionist cinema, the controversy of plagiarism of Bram Stoker's work for which it became known added to others within which is the rumor that Max Schreck (Count Orlok) was really a vampire turned Nosferatu, eine symphonie des grauens (Nosferatu, a symphony of terror) into a cult work.
ITS INFLUENCE ON CULTURE
For architects this work does not go unnoticed, German expressionism is one of the first cinematographic avant-garde that emerged in the first stage of the twentieth century, remember that cinema, in its neonatal stage was essentially recorded theater, so the decoration and scenery in its entirety took center stage, just refer to the work Metropolis by Fritz Lang (1927), and note the importance that architecture has, being a character on the screen. This is not for more, because Fritz was the son of the architect Anton Lang, director of the public works of Vienna, so we do not omit that in his formation he was influenced by this discipline. But the importance of German expressionism did not stop there, the Mexican designer of German origin Mathias Goeritz was influenced by this avant-garde and we can see it in his sculpture and architectural work.
PREPARE YOUR AGENDA
Nosferatu is a gothic horror classic that has had two adaptations, Nosferatu, Phantom der nacht of 1979 directed by Werner Herzog and Nosferatu of 2024 directed by Eggers, released next December 25.
If you are an architect and film lover you should not only know the 1922 work, but you should also be interested in identifying the importance that the decoration, the scenography, the visual narrative, the game of lighting / darkness and the dramatic perception of space among other qualities that try to be rescued from German expressionism, -from which the original work was conceived- are adapted to the current cinematographic language, without leaving aside, of course, the vision of the director, in this case that of Eggers who despite his short filmography has never disappointed us as viewers.