'Nosferatu' Rotten Tomatoes Score Means This Vampire Reboot Might Not Suck

Although nobody asked for it, a remake of a remake is coming this Christmas Day, 2024. The movie is Nosferatu, directed by Robert Eggers, the same guy who brought terrifying arthouse films like The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019). This new take on the vampire classic was originally going to be Eggers’s follow-up to The Witch, but it’s just now, finally, seeing the light of day after having been in a vampire casket limbo for a while. And, it sounds like, based on just-released early reviews, this vampire reboot doesn’t suck.

Currently, on Rotten Tomatoes, Nosferatu holds a score of 94 percent, which comes from 101 early reviews. That’s a pretty big sample size of reviews and a good indication that the movie might actually be quite good. Kyle Anderson of Nerdist noted that the movie is “Not merely a remake or reimagining but a wholly singular interpretation of a book and film baked into the very fabric of popular culture.”

The book, of course, is Dracula, though the original 1922 film was called Nosferatu because it was an authorized adaptation of the original 1897 Bram Stoker novel. (In 1922, that novel would have still been about as new as Harry Potter is to us now!) After the 1922 version, Werner Herzog famously remade the movie in 1979 with Klaus Kinski in the lead role. While you can argue that all versions of Dracula are also versions of Nosferatu (and vice versa) the new Eggers version does represent a daring attempt to do what Herzog did 45 years ago.

The new film stars Bill Skarsgård as Orlok, the vampire role originated by Max Schreck in 1922. Willem Dafoe is also in the film as Von Franz, while Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter. If you’re looking for something to utterly terrify you this Christmas, Nosferatu seems perfect. And maybe, one of the low-key best movies of the year.