What Do You Call a Remake of a Remake? - Nosferatu Franchise - Opinion/Essay

Miller Bough
Jul 9, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Oct 5, 2024

Image of Lily-Rose Depp in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu (2024)

I know, I know, It has been quite a while since I have posted any content on this site, and for that, I am truly sorry. However, my absence was not unproductive. While away, I wrote two articles for a local magazine (one of which has already been published; see here - https://terrehauteliving-cnhi.newsmemory.com/) and I have been working hard to make sure I have the inspiration and finances to keep this and the other unpaying hobbies of mine afloat. Still, so much has happened over the last few days, weeks, and months, that I could not remain unopinionated anymore. So, what will we get into first? The disastrous Memorial Day Weekend? The recent success of animated family franchises? The Paramount acquisition? MaXXXine? In time, I may be able to look back at some of these industry events, but today, I need to talk about a shadow that has loomed over me for about a week now. A dark specter of future expectation and purpose that comes in the seemingly innocent form of…a trailer.

About two weeks ago, the trailer for one of my most anticipated films of the winter, Robert Egger’s Nosferatu, dropped. It featured talents like Willem Dafoe, Lily-Rose Depp, and Nicholas Holt dressed in 19th-century garb looking horrified by the dark, gothic shadows that surrounded them. In truth, it delivered everything that I was expecting to receive from this picture. Yet, after watching the trailer for the first time, I found that I was not thinking about the film that I had just seen bits of. Instead, I was thinking about legacy, remakes, and the Nosferatu film that preceded it. Not the German expressionist classic from the 20s mind you, but, instead, the first remake of that film which came out over four decades ago.

Image of Max Schreck as Count Orlok in F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu the Vampyre (or Nosferatu – Phantom der Nacht) was a film by German directing superstar Werner Herzog in 1979. It was a remake in the truest sense of the word, using almost identical plot beats, new actors, and “modern” technology to bring F.W. Murnau’s silent, cinematic treasure back to life. Normally, this would end with the disastrous release of a film that is a pale imitation of a foundational text of the cinematic medium. However, against all odds, Herzog pulled off the impossible and released a film that was not hunted down by a mob of angry critics with torches and pitchforks but was instead embraced by them. This is because Nosferatu the Vampyre did what all remakes and great films in general should aspire to do; build something rich and complex off of a preexisting foundation. Lucky for Herzog, Murnau’s Nosferatu was released during the infancy of film, so despite its entrancing visuals it was lacking in other important cinematic areas (here are my thoughts on the original; https://boxd.it/42zEC5). Where this original lacked in, for example, narrative, Herzog saw the potential to build something more engaging and complex with the technologies of the late 70s and, most importantly, his own artistic voice. This led to a work of horror cinema that escaped from the shadow of its monumental predecessor to become a riveting work of art that examined dread, disease, and mankind's lustful draw to the macabre.

Image of Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani in Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

Right after seeing Nosferatu the Vampyre for the first time over a year ago, it took its place amongst some of the most important films in my life. The performances from Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, and Bruno Ganz were equal parts haunting and emotionally deep, the effects work and visuals were unparalleled (a mirror shot in the film is one of my favorite frames of all time), and the thematic richness imbued in the film's symbols and subtext illustrate the artistic potential in all cinema. That is why, after watching the trailer for Eggers' version, I couldn’t help but feel like concern was beginning to infect my anticipation like a buzz-killing poison.

While Eggers is quite the auteurist horror director (previously making The Witch and The Lighthouse with A24), this trailer didn’t really show me anything too different from the Nosferatu films that came before. Sure it looked overtly scary in a way that neither version had been before, but as far as the glimpses of plot and narrative that I saw in this trailer, none of it felt like it had evolved much from the previous two works. These concerns beg the question, why remake this property when it has already been masterfully done before? My anticipation for this film has not dwindled but with it now comes this apprehension that I will be having these same questions when the credits scroll by on December 25th. If any modern director could bring something new and inspired to both Murnau and Herzog’s Nosferatu films then that would be Eggers, without question. I just need some deeper justification to be buried beneath the surface because good scares and recognizable faces aren’t enough in this small, but mighty, canon of horror titans.