Most critics like it, though few without complaint, and the spread is wide. The praise clusters on the look of the thing: the production design, the candlelit compositions and a dread that most agree Eggers keeps up for the full running time. Bill Skarsgård’s Orlok and Lily-Rose Depp’s Ellen are named again and again, Depp above all by IndieWire and /Film, who treat her as the film’s centre. The reservations cluster on pace and purpose: several reviews find the opening slow and the tone humourless, and a handful ask why another faithful adaptation is needed. The dissent is loud and comes from large papers. Variety and the Los Angeles Times call it drained of life, The Times judges the performances a career low, Sight and Sound thinks this Orlok less menacing than the 1922 original, and The New Yorker objects to the sexual politics of its climax. Even the doubters concede the craft; the argument is over whether anything lives inside it.
L
Little White Lies
20 December 2024 · 3/5/5 · Charles Bramesco
100
Eggers realises a lifelong dream with spellbinding results that reduce the vampire myth to its essence of sex and death. It is an immaculate feat of craft in thrall to a malevolent power.
Read the full review →R
RogerEbert.com
24 December 2024 · Matt Zoller Seitz
90*
Eggers’ Nosferatu is a cryptic, beautiful and unsettling experience that transports viewers as if told by the vampire or a victim, with a low rumbling soundtrack, painterly landscapes and a sense of genuine evil that distorts reality. The critic singles out Bill Skarsgård’s repugnant yet mesmerizing performance as the vampire and Lily-Rose Depp’s physical contortions as standout elements in this fusion of Murnau and Stoker influences.
Read the full review →R
Radio Times
4 December 2024
85*
Eggers’s Nosferatu is a thing of beauty that is creepy and compelling, keeping viewers transfixed. It is a triumphant, visually resplendent horror with strong performances from Depp and Hoult.
Read the full review →S
Screen Daily
2 December 2024
85*
Eggers has crafted an absorbing nightmare of gothic horror that teeters on the edge of madness. It is an elegantly woven tapestry of encroaching evil led by a memorable monster performance.
Read the full review →H
The Hollywood Reporter
2 December 2024 · David Rooney
85*
Eggers delivers a superlative, mesmeric Gothic horror nightmare that feels like the culmination of his career. The film is praised for its dense atmosphere, macabre poetry, and the director's commanding vision over the material.
Read the full review →T
Total Film
2 December 2024 · Becky Darke
85*
Skarsgård delivers an unrecognizable, transformative performance as the terrifying Orlok in this gothic horror; Eggers crafts a biting, atmospheric remake faithful to the source's dread and shadow-play.
Read the full review →E
Empire
2 December 2024 · ★★★★ · Jamie Graham
80
Eggers delivers a conviction-filled retelling that rescues the vampire from modern clichés and returns it to folkloric roots with haunting atmosphere and strong turns from Depp and Skarsgård, though the familiar story and pacing may distance some viewers.
Read the full review →I
IndieWire
2 December 2024 · David Ehrlich
80*
Eggers' gorgeous adaptation breathes fresh life into the vampire tale through a revelatory, stunning performance by Lily-Rose Depp as a woman torn by unconscious desire. The psychosexual fairy tale anchors the film in its exploration of darkness and longing.
Read the full review →i
The i Paper
1 January 2025 · Christina Newland
80*
Eggers delivers a retro gothic fairy-tale with meticulous historical detail and a slinking sense of dread that transcends familiar Dracula tropes; performances, especially Depp and Skarsgård, shine in creating physical terror and shadow-play horror.
Read the full review →T
Time Out
20 December 2024 · ★★★★ · Phil de Semlyen
80
Eggers crafts a deeply sinister, slow-burning take that becomes genuinely chilling in its second half. It is a worthy modern addition to the classic horror lineage despite lacking some thematic resonance.
Read the full review →A
The AV Club
2 December 2024 · B · Katie Rife
77
The sumptuous, meticulously realized horror is the movie Eggers has been building toward, though its terminally self-serious tone makes it a solemn death march. Atmosphere alone makes it a triumph, but it strains engagement over its runtime.
Read the full review →E
Evening Standard
8 December 2024 · Nick Howells
70*
The critic praises the latter 90 minutes of skin-crawling dread and majestic visuals and performances but finds the first 40-minute build-up ponderous and overwrought, potentially losing viewers early.
Read the full review →S
Sight and Sound
17 December 2024 · Kim Newman
60*
Eggers brings fresh eyes and potent dread to the vampire classic but his Orlok lacks the menace of the original. The film is a risky reimagining that adds much new material yet renders the vampire a pathetic figure at the end.
Read the full review →V
Variety
2 December 2024 · Peter Debruge
40*
Visually striking with compositions rivaling Flemish paintings and faithful to the 1922 film, the remake is more accessible yet eerily drained of life. The critic singles out pretentious dialogue, somnolent pacing and weak performances, especially Lily-Rose Depp’s, as weighing down the tragic finale despite the sumptuous production design and cinematography.
Read the full review →Eggers' painstakingly detailed vampire drama is gorgeous but weirdly inert and bloodless, lacking the unsettling energy of his prior work. The film veers toward the bloodless despite intriguing ideas and strong set pieces like Thomas's journey to the castle.
Read the full review →N
The New Yorker
23 December 2024 · Richard Brody
30*
Eggers’ remake expands on the 1922 classic with more backstory and rationalization, making it longer, dialogue-heavy and sluggish while shifting focus to Ellen as the central character. The critic singles out the sickening implication that Ellen must refuck her rapist to save the world, turning foregrounding of the female character into a vampiric victory rather than progress.
Read the full review →L
Los Angeles Times
24 December 2024 · Katie Walsh
20*
Eggers delivers an overly faithful retelling that is straight-faced, interminably dull and hamstrung by reverence for the original, with more explicit violence and sex but no imagination or subtext. The critic singles out the lack of eroticism, scares or timely metaphor, calling it dead on arrival and choked by its own worship of the source.
Read the full review →F
Financial Times
31 December 2024 · ★★★☆☆ · Danny Leigh
An artisanal horror made with care and invention featuring strong Gothic style, but the vampire feels understated and fuzzy in memory compared to the high style around him.
Read the full review →G
The Guardian
2 December 2024 · Peter Bradshaw
The film is a handsomely produced and stylised homage that walks the line between self-conscious and scary, with beautiful images but a vampire that is more studied than insidiously frightening.
Read the full review →T
The Times
27 December 2024 · ★★☆☆☆ · Kevin Maher
A vapid adaptation drenched in spectacle that never justifies its existence, with truly terrible career-low performances from the cast including a parody-like Willem Dafoe.
Read the full review →D
Den of Geek
2 December 2024 · ★★★★★ · David Crow
100
Praises the film as a psychosexual tragedy centered on Ellen and her draw toward death, highlighting its juxtaposition of radiant beauty and putrid decay.
Read the full review →C
Collider
2 December 2024 · 9/10 · Jeff Ewing
90
Eggers delivers a masterful, visually stunning remake that stands as the best horror film of 2024. The critic singles out the oppressive atmosphere, meticulous production design, and strong performances, especially from Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård, for praise.
Read the full review →/
/Film
2 December 2024 · 9/10 · Chris Evangelista
90
The critic praises the film as a genuinely scary gothic horror that feels authentic and atmospheric, singling out Lily-Rose Depp's mesmerizing and ferocious performance as Ellen for particular praise.
Read the full review →D
Deadline
2 December 2024 · Damon Wise
85*
The critic praises Eggers' modern update for centering Ellen's unfathomable capacity for darkness and for its perverse, technically brilliant tango with death. It highlights the superb rendering of the late-19th century setting and the film's baked-in longevity that will keep viewers returning.
Read the full review →D
Digital Spy
2 December 2024 · Ian Sandwell
85*
Calls it the best horror movie of the year for its seductive atmosphere, strong performances especially from Depp and Skarsgård, and emotional depth.
Read the full review →The review commends Eggers for doing justice to the classic material in a grim, gorgeous redo that empowers Orlok as both repulsive monster and sexual force. It singles out the haunting cinematography, Skarsgård's visceral performance, and Depp's monumental turn while noting minor quibbles about the film feeling more like an update than a wholly new take.
Read the full review →N
NME
6 December 2024 · ★★★ · Lou Thomas
60
Notes the stunning visuals and energetic cast but criticizes the film for lacking substance and questions the need for another faithful adaptation.
Read the full review →R
The Ringer
23 December 2024 · Adam Nayman
40*
Eggers's meticulous remake is gorgeously crafted and technically accomplished but ultimately feels inert and lacking in emotional core or genuine scares. The critic singles out the overly studied construction and absence of heart or radical revisionism for complaint.
Read the full review →Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate