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PaperclipPerfector  22d ago (text post)   2680 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 27, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I mostly liked Nosferatu, Robert Egger's new remake of the 1922 German silent film, but I think I had the wrong expectations for it which hampered my enjoyment. As I'm not very familiar with the original, I expected Orlok to be more subtle, charming, seductive. But instead the movie uses every filmmaking trick in the book to make you realize Orlok is the most evil man alive before you even see his depravity on display. Plotwise it's very generic and lacks true dramatic tension, even when the visuals are incredibly gripping. But it's worth watching for the cinematography alone. On the big screen, nearly every shot is very cinematic and the movie just has an intense, psychic, propulsive energy to it. The first film in years I'm considering a second theater viewing of.

Thematically, it seems to argue that women have the undue burden of taming the darkness in men, but are also very attracted to this darkness. There's also a hint of exploring the limits of modern science to diagnose our spiritual maladies, though most of these ideas are underexplored in service of delivering a captivating creature feature. Still, manages to deliver this great quote from Willem Dafoe's mystic character, Franz: "In heathen times, you might have been a priestess of Isis. Yet in this strange and modern world, your purpose is of greater worth. You are our salvation."

But instead the movie uses every filmmaking trick in the book to make you realize Orlok is the most evil man alive before you even see his depravity on display.

This sounds about on par with the original, which pretty much invented the conception of vampires as monstrous hideous bloodsuckers (as opposed to the more urbane, charming Béla Lugosi type).

Yeah I've since familiarized myself with the original more. But a major deviation this remake made is (not a spoiler because it's in the first scene) Ellen and Orlock have been in contact since she was a teenager, through a telepathic link of some sort, which started when she prays for "a guardian angel, a spirit of comfort" and he's been haunting her dreams ever since.

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