The choice of Nosferatu's most powerful director is almost invisible

Since we know Eggers can and has directed traditionally exciting action, the lack of action in “Nosferatu” is a clear creative choice. One of the best examples of Egger's rejection of action comes early in the film when Thomas the Hatter tries to escape from Count Orlock's castle. Other directors may have shot this sequence with speed and intensity, perhaps alternating close-ups with a fast-moving camera. It would certainly have made the scene exciting and put the audience right in Thomas's shoes. Eggers instead films this desperate man and his desperate actions from a distance, framing him in wide shots dominated by his foreboding prison. When he moves quickly, the camera tends to pan slowly with him, capturing the rhythm of the action but making him feel helpless and pathetic. We are not in Thomas's shoes. We don't feel his adrenaline rush. We are an isolated observer watching from afar as he is completely powerless in the face of something that makes every determined human action feel utterly pointless.

Every human action in “Nosferatu” seems … small. Only the almighty Orlok is allowed to dominate the frame, and the film uses only fast cuts or other typical action cinema tools as he emerges from the shadows to hunt his prey. The vampire is filmed with a visual language of power, while every human character might as well be an ant crawling through the dirt. We watch them wander and they look so weak and so alone.

Wide shots, static shots, and graceful but glacial camera movements continue throughout the film. It should be exciting when the “men on a mission” gather for one last trip to Orlok's lair, but Egger doesn't let it be. Ultimately, their quest is a wild goose chase, and the vampire's defeat comes elsewhere through a hero who realizes that the only way to defeat him is to surrender completely. To indulge in inaction.

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

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

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