i'm not sure how great this movie could be since it's a remake of the ultimate classic and grandfather of horror movies; but it isn't great. eggers again has a mastery of atmosphere and visuals, but what surprised me was i think he whiffed on the most important visual--orlock. while the shadow scenes still look much like the original and the claw-hand reach is effective...when you see him in his full form, he looks a bit silly. i kept thinking von kaiser from "mike tyson's punch out". i'll admit i totally forgot it was bill skarsgard playing him, so it wouldn't be like ("oh, that's pennywise from 'it'"). it kind of took me out of the picture for a while, as other parts of the film built to probably the most effective part: the arrival of orlock into the city and the plague that follows. it was the strongest part of the story.

we still get the love story which feels forced, and used only to serve as the plot. orlock's motivations are never really that clear or explained. why he would have a physical need for a woman besides the blood sucking, he just justifies as an "appetite" but that could be satisfied by anyone.

the actors are all completely committed. the most entertaining performance came from simon mcburney who plays herr knock (basically igor). he's like a cross between griphook and smeagol. dafoe is great as always, and has become a staple in eggers' filmography.

i can't say i wanted more--the movie played out the way it probably should have. i just felt detached for the most part, even with all the efforts to capture not only the original feel but the historical accuracies. i wouldn't say the movie was bad or even as irritatingly pretentious as "the witch" or goofy like "the lighthouse".

i still think "the northman" is his strongest work. this was a nice tribute but apart from some interesting decorating, it just felt flat to me.

it also felt like lily-rose depp was taking the place of ana taylor-joy (eggers just has to keep the hyphenated names for his leading ladies), even though she puts in some great work (at one point her face contorts, and it looks like she does it all herself).

it's also extremely bloody and the bloodsucking bits really get carried away with the sound effects of something being gulped heavily. eggers really likes to push things to the extreme and sometimes it just goes on too long or is obnoxiously over the top.

out of

You can't top the original by substituting Willem Dafoe for an actual vampire. Not once, but twice!

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The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

that thought struck me later; that "shadow of the vampire" jogged my memory...oh yeah, willem dafoe *played* nosferatu. for real.

interesting that e. elias merhige was like the original robert eggers, except he was before his time. "begotten" would've been lapped up like ice cream had it been released in the last 8 years. no one was ready for that. but "shadow of the vampire" was a legit good movie, and merhige never capitalized. i heard he had some bad health issues but he's still alive so...couldn't have been that bad.

Thought it was fine, ok I guess. Could not recommend however.

The color was terrific throughout, and the ability to take you in and out of dream states was really well executed. But I agree with W_Z about feeling detached. Orlock's presence was much greater in the beginning where we didn't really see him. The use of shadow was great, as was the score. And the plague ship that arrived was really unsettling (although some of the bloody scenes started to look a bit like Monty Python).

But I have to disagree with the acting. I though at times (not throughout) it was almost cheesy. Like I was watching a community theatre play.

It was ok, but it does not need to be seen in a theatre

sorry to hear because I was interested in this one.

What were the best horror films of the year that don't require me to jerk off some film student at an art house theater to see?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

well that's what i meant by committed. i don't blame the actors for the performances per se. i think this was eggers' direction--these are talented actors. but nicholas hoult and aaron taylor-johnson came off as simpering ninnies, especially the latter in terms of emoting. the character of harding was i think meant to be this charismatic, charmed man who had everything that thomas (hoult) wanted. but then is reduced to being a shouting oaf by the end. i'm not sure if the actor either wasn't correctly cast or if he just didn't know how to express the dialog but it came off as a bit ridiculous.

also, what is it with eggers and his kid characters? do they always have to be the twins from "the shining"?

Saw it at Music Box today. Felt like there was too much Exorcist DNA in it.

I didn't like Orlok's vocal treatment. It was too big and hammy, when in the original you imagined him sounding sickly and feeble but still terrifying.

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this finally came up for free to me.

I might have had lowered expectations because of the bad reviews and the price, but I enjoyed the film.

I even like the reimagining of Orlok as a cossack demon. I think the original is much too germanic, for understandable reasons. I had no need to see his cgi dong swinging in the breeze when he gets out of the casket the first time, but who am I to argue with art? Unfortunately, his words were often unclear to hear as they overplayed his accent. I also didn't think he needed to be a giant. He was human at one time. His power wasn't in his size.

The look and tone are fantastic in both transylvania and wisburg. It's haunting and I appreciate that they provided rational explanations for everything to keep you guessing. It also resets a theme of the movie as a battle of the age of enlightenment v. the spiritual realm and industrialized city v. farming country.

I didn't particularly care for Depp's acting. I did really like Dafoe, as that could have been a cartoonish role in another actor's hands.

I would give it my recommendation.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

i changed the visual comparison from von kaiser to soda popinski. i wonder how the booming voice translates on the small screen without the amplified theater speaker systems.

i still need to see "the substance"...