'TIS THE NOSFERATU SEASON
“If we are to tame darkness then we must first face that it exist” - Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz, Nosferatu (2024)
NPZ #2 — DECEMBER 2024 — PAGE 15
Nosferatu may not be that relevant to metal, but as Metallica are fans of the iconic vampyre film, I’m counting it on a technicality. Surprise, I’m a film major, and was assigned to watch the original Nosferatu (1922, F. W. Murnau) for the first time. I didn’t know much about it, but remembered James Hetfield had a Nosferatu shirt (pictured right), and Kirk Hammett, ever known for his love of horror, turned one the poster into a guitar (left).
I love German Expressionism as an art period, and I quite enjoyed the original Nosferatu. Something about the silent film charm, but also the memorable imagery and artisticness of the use of shadows cemented it as an easy favorite classic.
I also watched the popular remake, Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre from 1979. While fine, I kind of felt the loss of the original Expressionist roots, as it was a more straight telling and used the names from the Dracula book.
When hearing of the 2024 remake, I was hesitant at first, but high hopes in the director, Robert Eggers, who has a strong track record (The Lighthouse (2019) that I need to see). I also saw Lars Ulrich post a promotion of the film on his instagram story Dec 3rd: “Nosferatu is everything you want it to be plus way more.” I went in with high expectations.
I won’t spoil the movie, but I gotta say, expectations DEFINITELY exceeded. Fantastic acting, costume, cinematography, faithful homages to the original, and even better yet, some moments that exceeded the original film in terms of art expressionism. It was also freaky, erotic, nasty, emotional, insane, etc., etc. And that is exactly what I had hoped for, because if anything, expressionism in art is about expressing some shit below the surface of the piece.
From our assigned reading, William F. Burn’s “From the Shadows: Nosferatu and the German Expressionist Aesthetic”: “At its heart, Nosferatu is many things. It is a visual example of the melding of expressionist art influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche’s existentialism. It is an allegory about humanity’s fear of death (Catania 233). It is also a metaphor for a Germany stuck between two realities. Orlok is the past…he must change. Ultimately, this change brings about his demise, but not before the innocent is sacrificed.” pg. 65
In our current day of rising fascistic governments, pessimism and doomerism, and even a whole epidemic, I couldn’t help but feel that history is repeating itself in the remaking of this film. While I can’t say for sure the 2024 adaptation was as direct as the original about post-WWI Germany politics, there were moments that could be read in that way. Like how the servile worshipper is blind to the carelessness with which Count Orlok/Nosferatu regards him, despite his unwavering loyalty to this powerful being. Or the disregard of women’s conditions and fears of impending danger, cast aside as simple hysteria or paranoia until it’s too late. Regardless, the movie was definitely a satisfactory remake that made this fan more than happy.
Photos:
NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORRORS (1922)
KIRK HAMMETT'S KH-NOSFERATU ESP GUITAR
IT'S ALIVE TOUR: WITH KIRK HAMETT, COLUMBIA MUSEUM OF ART (YOUTUBE)
NOSFERATU GUITAR AT KIRK VON HAMMETT'S FEAR FEST 2015 FT. COREY TAYLOR
MULLET-ERA JAMES HETFIELD WITH NOSFERATU SHIRT
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, METALLICA (YOUTUBE)
LARS ULRICH INSTAGRAM STORY PROMO/REVIEW FOR THE 2024 NOSFERATU REMAKE, 12/3
