#nosferatu spoilers

[see-arcane]

You know the one good thing about being a pessimist?

It feels great to be proven wrong.

Bravo, Bobby Egg.

I was so happily surprised by this. This film went through a fantastic puberty between the leaked script and the screen. The main points to note:

-No, Ellen is not hot for Count Orlok. She and Thomas are 110% in love. There are even certain Harker-flavored quotes thrown in to prove as much. (Details under the cut.)

-Count Orlok is a terrifying bastard and a half. Significantly more imposing than classic Orlok’s spindly rigor mortis-stiff figure and only wearing a sliver of Dracula’s performative charm. He is a Devil-Death archetype playing a monster who operates in deceit and contracts to wring out what he wants. That and a lot of corpses.

-This film is so beautiful. No gothic touch is skipped.

In sum, I more than like this film. I love it. It isn’t perfect, because no film can be, but damn. I am so proud of this nightmare you made, Bobby Egg.

SPOILERS FOR Nosferatu (2024) BELOW

-Getting some cons out of the way. There are points where a few of the actors lean maybe a bit too heavy on the ham-and-cheese in their deliveries (I’ll not blame the kids, they’re very young, but yeesh. That’s some cartoon acting.)

Yes, the g-slur is still used; though while I wish it hadn’t appeared in Eggers’ script at all, it does make sense within the context of the setting, i.e. Thomas and the Innkeeper probably only having the one word they know, same as in Dracula. And yes, naked teenage girl-on-a-horse does happen for the vampire hunt scene. Whee.

-Now, an early pro: Eggers nixed the ‘hot teen girl tries to pickpocket Thomas’ bit, and the ‘land of phantoms and thieves’ line never happens. All that happens after Thomas wakes in the inn—post witnessing the vampire slaying in the local graveyard, mud on his shoes to prove it was real—is he discovers himself utterly alone. No people, no horse. Cue the long walk.

-Ellen doing the ‘Come to me,’ bit early on is her in adolescence. It’s revealed that her Weird Girl elements have been turned up to 11, tragic lonely past included (replete with dad threatening to send her to a madhouse), and her prayer was just for company. The psychic ping was picked up by Orlok, who took advantage, turning an isolated and desperate barely-more-than-a-kid’s wish into a ‘covenant.’

-Thomas was met not long after this, cue them being genuinely in love <3

-Knock Does Not Jerk Off On Screen. If he does, his back is to us, and Little Knock is covered with some occult tablet or suchlike while he’s doing his ritual business. Also he kills a guy in his cell. Using his teeth.

-Castle time! Thomas is greeted by a driverless carriage at a crossroads and seems to be hypnotized into stepping in. A lot of things Thomas does once in Orlok’s territory seem to very clearly have psychic puppet strings attached. That and some increasing terror on Thomas’ part. There is no warm Dracula-style welcome from Orlok when he arrives, but a terse and strange leading to the dinner table where paperwork is demanded.

- We get a glimpse of this version of the Count’s ego. Thomas calls him sir. Orlok demands Thomas address him as my lord. And then we get the bread cutting scene. Thomas’ thumb bleeds. Orlok get far too interested. His voice, a very guttural and rasping bass, turns into something closer to an animal trilling and growling. Thomas is paralyzed beside the fire; cut away as Orlok closes in.

-Ellen and Anna Harding have a bit of a Mina and Lucy deal going on at the beach. It’s sweet <3 (Prepare for pain </3)

 - Orlok starts getting tricky. He 1) borrows (steals) Ellen’s locket from Thomas and 2) Tricks Thomas into signing a contract to ‘sell’ Ellen/break their marriage via a strange contract in a language Thomas can’t read, with Orlok using the prop of some gold to imply that this is merely a document in ~his native language~ to complete the property sale. Thomas signs, less for the gold than to be gone from the castle and back to Ellen…only for Orlok to insist Thomas is not well. He must stay the night.

- No mind games here. Just Thomas pleading to leave and Orlok’s parting word being that he will stay, and that he will obey his orders.

-Orlok has already chomped Thomas on the tiddy as of last night. Next night, after Thomas almost lands a blow on him in the coffin—Orlok sleeps with his Orcock out in the box, by the way, alongside several rats—Orlok wills Thomas to unlock the door he shut between them. Cue Thomas being tranced onto the bed, pounced on, and basically dry-humped by Orlok as he drinks Thomas all but dry. Thomas is left that way, only to be woken by Orlok’s wolves—he has those too!—and go clambering out the window, dropping to the river below.

-Orlok makes Ellen’s life hell. Holy fuck. The 1838 quality ‘medicine’ definitely doesn’t help—corsets for correcting posture, draining blood because there’s too much in there, binding to the bedposts to stop sleepwalking, general drugging etc etc—but FUCK. Lily-Rose Depp did a great and terrible job of reproducing shaking fits and some of the faces and sounds she made had me thinking I might choke on my own tongue. And for all the sexually provocative poses/noises that happen, every time she comes out of it it’s clear that she hates this. It’s on par with psychic rape.

-The only times we see Ellen respond positively~ to Orlok’s dream-advances is when she’s telling Thomas about the ‘marrying Death’ dream where everyone died and she was deliriously happy and then the infamous trailer line about Thomas not being able to satisfy her as Orlok can~~~

Well guess what.

Guess fucking what.

That was Orlok leaning on her brain. The same way he did to Thomas when, eventually, after the nuns rescue him and pray the plague/vampirism out and he makes it home while half-dead, he lays in bed with Ellen and gets a panic attack combined with Orlok’s image being grafted over Ellen’s face…

…a reverse of the illusion Orlok gave him in the castle, with Thomas imagining it was Ellen on top of him instead. The effect terrifies Thomas all over again and he unwittingly tosses Ellen away, I can't breathe, get off of me, get off!

-Orlok does his murder snacking. Knock, who escaped, offers to find and kill Thomas to please the Count, literally on his hands and knees. Orlok calls him a dog and backhands him, insisting Ellen must be given, not stolen.

-Orlok has already visited Ellen by this time. He presses her to keep her deal with him. She tells him, flat out, I abhor you. In response, Orlok grabs her and chucks her like a ragdoll in a rage. He fumes, telling her he will give her three nights to pledge herself to him, and in the meantime he will start killing. (RIP to Anna and her little girls, the latter of whom ORLOK KILLS IN FRONT OF HER, EATING THEIR THROATS OUT AS SHE ENTERS THEIR ROOM.)

-Before all that, he spins bullshit about Thomas ~selling her to him for mere gold~. A technical truth that Ellen, mid-Orlok spell, spits back at Thomas amid a rage, along with details that are likewise based in only a granule of reality; but which Orlok did not mention in their scene together. Things like Thomas being weak and childish, that he ‘fell into Orlok’s arms like a fainting woman.’ Interesting choice of spin there, Orlok. But whatever.

This all culminates in what is either reality or a dream or a blend of both as Thomas makes sudden desperate love to her, Ellen weirdly heady about it, telling him yes yes yes they will show Orlok their love. Cue her snapping back to full cognizance (awake? dreaming?) as her eyes and mouth spurt blood in a vision. She collapses in fear and tears as Thomas holds her. AND THEN:

-Ellen. Drops. The I am unclean line. She wants Thomas away from her, she is not worthy, she puts him in danger.

-Thomas goes full Jonathan and clings to her. Nonsense. I love you. I love you. I love you.

-V i n d i c a t i o n

-Anyway.

-Dafoe-Von Franz-Van Helsing is a kooky science occultist. Finds a book that Knock had which fills the role of highlighting Orlok as Solomonari (hey, Scholomance shout out!) and Knock as a would-be beneficiary. Also includes the ‘maiden offers her body and blood to the monster to kill it via sunrise’ bit.

-While he reads this, he does NOT actually spell any of these details out to Ellen when they have their secret mini talk about tricking Thomas into hunting for the coffin with him and Sievers. He gives her a big ~you're the only one who can save us magic maiden martyr~ pep talk, but that's it. Meanwhile, Ellen was already preparing to offer herself to save Thomas and whoever’s left in Wisborg. Not the same kind of agency as the original, but still better than I was expecting.

-Harding, Thomas’ rich friend whose wife and children got drinked to death, dies of plague in the family tomb. They burn the bodies.

-In the ruin Orlok bought, cue the iron stake slamming down as they open the coffin..! But whoops. Knock’s in the box, not Orlok. Von Franz says Ellen offering herself is the only way~ Thomas doesn’t waste time throttling him, just makes a run for their home.

-Too late, of course. Orlok is there (with a very cool homage to the original stalking shadow silhouette routine) and Ellen welcomes him. While they are both naked in bed and it’s implied that they are/or intend to have sex, the bulk of the scene centers on Orlok taking Ellen’s blood from her breast. No clear shot of the Orcock on screen for that bit—Bobby Egg saved that pleasure for the Count flashing Thomas at the castle.

-Orlok’s death throes. Are so. Fucking. Cool. Definitely up there with one of the best vampiric demises I’ve ever seen on film. No spoilers there. You’ve got to see it.

-Heartbreak o’ Clock as Thomas bursts in just as Orlok has died and as Ellen is dying under him. There’s time for them to hold hands. And then she’s gone.

-We close on Von Franz popping up with some poetic soliloquy shit and a bunch of lilacs. The final beat is an overhead shot of Ellen, the Maiden, laying under the now-skeletal Orlok, as Death. Looks almost like a painting. Unlike the implication in the leaked script, she does not look happy/at peace. Simply asleep. The End.

-Other important notes:

1) Orlok has a little combover’s worth of hair on top and mighty and powerful ‘stache. Not Dracula-white, but it is there. Finally.

 2) The guy who plays Dr. Sievers has Alan Rickman’s voice. If he isn’t in opera, he should be.

3) I was too late to get a popcorn coffin box. I shall be in mourning until the New Year.

4) Bobby Egg if you can give me one more gift, let it be a deleted scene of Thomas beating Von Franz over the head with the iron stake, please and thank you <3

[slowburncowboy]

She nos on my feratu till the first cock crows

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

Me and my father, driving home after watching Nosferatu in theaters:

Me: well that was better than expected but by far the worst part of that movie was the awful Jonmina fight and then weird sex the second night.

Dad: it was great! Erotica would have been totally out of place thematically!

Me: Out of place thematically! Besides the fact that both of them and us as an audience deserve to have "some* tenderness amidst the abject suffering, it would have been a perfect thematic parallel. An actual showing of the true love and passion she has with Thomas as in opposition to everything Count Orlok represents. A love that is worth sacrificing her life for. That wouldn't fit thematically you absolute nerd??!!

So my father sent me a trailer for the new Nosferatu, which actually looks well worth watching, only I can already tell it's going to center Mina's dark attraction to Dracula and sideline Jonathan... again. Still planning on watching it but man. My father chose violence and brother, that's why I sleep with a gun

Anyway. What this conversation really made me realize (I mean I already knew this but it made me re-remember it) is that we are such minority of the audience out there for Dracula films. Most people like and want to see a dark romance between Mina and Dracula with Jonathan cuckolded on the side. They look for it when engaging in Dracula media, even. And you know what? More power to them. We're not the Dracula media police. You can like fanon more than canon, if that's what people like, fine. But what it does mean for us is we are never going to get a big mainstream creative project made with the adaptation choices we find interesting. There's just no market for it in comparison to the Mina and Dracula audiences. I wish there was. I would love to sit in a movie theater and really enjoy a good filmed adaptation. But it's not going to happen. We have to do it ourselves, and we have to take care of our own. Last I checked the Holmwood Foundation was at 74.62% of their total goal. That's less than $8,000 to go, less than £6,000. I've updated my pledge and I think if you are financially able to, it's something you should consider doing too. They have 4 days. If we all just doubled the amount of our original pledge surely we could get them there. I just. It's a small thing but I need something to look forward to in 2025; I suspect we all do. No one else is going to get this done for us except us.

[auspiciousleader]

Plague curing pussy

[akilahia]

There aren’t any gifs of Nosferatu out yet but just know that once there are, I will make this exact post

[GIF of Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter being bitten by Bill Skwisgaard as Count Orlok. Hutter is sweating profusely with his shirt halfway undone and quite see through, while making depraved noises as his eyes roll back. Orlok is biting into Hutter’s chest. They are both covered in blood and they slowly begin to rise in the air, in a manner similar to floatation.

Caption will read: Need a lesbian relationship like this.]

[skysyzygy]

I generally like gothic horror and am very fond of Dracula so when my aunt was like want to watch Nosferatu 2024 I was like oh damn maybe

[Nosferatu spoilers ahead btw]

I am very easily spooked and don’t watch horror movies often but I was like vampire lore comparison opportunity outweighs potentially being too scared to sleep well so I was like Oho perhaps

But then I was like Hrm. r rating with sexual content. lets see

And a VERY shoutout to this person who had roughly the same question I had after trying to google content warnings for a movie that hasn’t come out yet (lmao)

And a very Thank You to this kind person who amongst the more unkind Reddit users had an actual response:

Anyway I’m not gonna see it but a) I’m grateful for these posts and b) look I KNOW the Dracula story is inherently lustful, and there are FASCINATING things to learn from it!! Mina Harker having sexuality outside of her marriage? Just one of many examples that would be interesting to dive into as a reflection of 1890s Victorian culture! So while I don’t think the sex scenes in this movie are unwarranted (I debated watching it anyway because dude I really like Dracula comparisons) I… probably can’t handle this one lol 😔

[theatricalenthusiast]

You know what one of my favorite things about Nosferatu (2024) is? It's that in other horror movies where you have the Rational Skeptic™️ who will eventually fall prey to the very thing they don't belive in can be really frustrating to watch just because this is the Vampire Movie about Vampires. Despite the fact that they would be more than correct in real life, in these kinds of movies where the monster has already been revealed, those characters can get rather annoying very quickly.

Meanwhile, in Nosferatu, Friedrich seriously is the only character that makes any sense with the information he's been given. Like, he tries all the mystical stuff and when that doesn't work and his wife and children are in danger he's like, "This just seems like some kind of communicable illness but thanks for your suggestion that my friend's wife make a pact with the devil in order to rid the world of the plague. I'll take it under consideration, now please leave my home immediately."

[laufeysons]

no offense to lily rose depp but i would not have fought against being claimed by my vampire lover bill skarsgard

[lifesizejosuke]

he really had him drive all the way out there to sign demonic divorce papers

[rachelamberish]

that nosferatu extended allegory for SA really hit different

[see-arcane]

The only adaptations where Mina cries about being unclean is the 1977 tv series and in that one 1. it was hypnosis instead of violent assault 2. Jonathan doesn't hold her while she's crying about him never kissing her again. And the 1992 movie where she's screaming and weeping but Jonathan holds her, but she's lying because she literally asked for it

The Hutters once again being closer to the Harkers than any Dracula on screen adaptation out there.

It's a Nosferatu tradition (positive) (depressing)

[kazz-brekker]

wait actually i just wanna say. i think there can be nuance when discussing ellen and orlok in nosferatu. yes, as shown in the movie, part of her is drawn to him and they do have a connection/attraction even if she wants to suppress it. but also, when she called out to him when she was younger it was from a place of deep vulnerability and fear, and what she wanted was someone to guide and comfort her, not a predator who would try to take over her mind and body while threatening her loved ones. both can be true!

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

The movie was sooo good in terms of Jonathan dripping in terror. Like I was watching him run from door to door like *tee hee* "oooooh *kicking legs in the air like a teen girl on a bed* is someone behaving like 'a rat in a trap'? Oh is someone being attacked and overpowered by a creature of the night? Is my bestest boy shaking in fear holding the shovel? Is my special little someone collapsed near death by a riverbank??

[anoramactir]

patiently waiting for filmblr to gif aaron taylor-johnson opening emma corrin’s coffin and tenderly kissing her corpse so i can reblog it 73 times with increasingly unhinged tags

[zombiemink]

My friend won tickets for an early screening of the Nosferatu remake last week so i had the chance to see it early and i loved it btw! It was pretty much what i expected from a remake by Robert Eggers and i did like his previous movies so...

I will gladly rewatch it again and i especially cannot wait to look at the last shot more in details bc it looked really beautiful. It seriously made me wish that you could pause a theater screen lol

[akilahia]

I’m inventing a fourth thing, not sexual, not romantic, and not friendly.

As a lesbian I need to see men be pathetic to live. There is no attraction to these men, I just need them to suffer for my gratification(not the inappropriate kind)! It’s not even like perverted, it just is so awesome and cool and amazing. I love it when men suffer. It’s the BEST thing that could happen in the world.