Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu was certainly one of final 12 months’s most visually placing horror motion pictures, with its haunting ambiance and eerie, moonlit cinematic aesthetic–which has a shocking Batman Returns connection. However reaching that gothic magnificence wasn’t straightforward. Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, who has labored with Eggers on The Lighthouse, The Witch, and The Northman, lately opened up concerning the painstaking means of filming the critically well-received vampire flick. And let’s simply say—for those who’ve seen the film like me, you in all probability received’t be stunned by what scenes gave the crew essentially the most bother.
Blaschke detailed the challenges of crafting Nosferatu’s distinct visible fashion throughout an interview with THR. Eggers aimed to set this adaptation other than F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent basic by infusing it with a novel sense of romance, a far cry from the cruel expressionism of its predecessor. Nevertheless, even past the movie’s stylized lighting, some sequences proved to be logistical nightmares.
One explicit standout was the breathtaking crossroads scene, the place a carriage arrives to gather Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) for his fateful journey to fulfill Rely Orlok (Invoice Skarsgård). Blaschke admitted, as beautiful because it appears to be like on display, the scene was something however straightforward to drag off:
That was a ache within the ass. Additionally, the quite a few candle scenes — you’re making an attempt to mild the candles and so they’re burning out as shortly as you’re lighting them and you’ve got all these 80-year-old nuns and also you’re making an attempt to not have wax fall on them or have candles fall on them and set them on hearth.
Making an attempt to maintain candles burning constantly for takes whereas making certain the security of aged extras? Not precisely the simplest activity, and that wasn’t the one problem.
Blaschke admitted that almost day-after-day of filming got here with new hurdles, including:
There have been loads of challenges; you can ask me on any given day, and I’ll offer you a special reply.
One significantly tough second concerned orchestrating a fancy scene through which Nicholas Hoult’s character, Thomas, stumbles upon Rely Orlok in his sarcophagus. The setup required excellent timing, exact lighting, and a shifting mirror that demanded months of planning to execute appropriately.
Regardless of these manufacturing hurdles, Blaschke’s meticulous work paid off in a significant manner. Nosferatu grew to become one of many greatest horror motion pictures of 2024 and racked up a number of 2025 Oscar nominations, together with Finest Cinematography, in addition to recognition for Hair and Make-up, Costume Design, and Manufacturing Design.
The movie’s dedication to basic horror aesthetics—utilizing period-accurate lighting methods, deep shadows, and sensible results—units it other than trendy style fare, additional solidifying it as a standout entry in Eggers’ filmography and a worthy addition to vampire cinema.
It’s not simply horror followers and The Academy who’re impressed both. Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese lately shared his ideas on Nosferatu, and let’s simply say he was blown away. The Goodfellas director couldn’t cease praising Eggers’ imaginative and prescient, saying, “Something he does, this man [Eggers], is superb.” Coming from certainly one of cinema’s best storytellers, that’s some severely excessive reward.
In the event you missed Nosferatu in theaters, now’s your likelihood to expertise its hauntingly meticulous craftsmanship from the consolation of house. The movie is now obtainable to stream with a Peacock subscription, so put together to be transported to Eggers’ chilling imaginative and prescient of Transylvania.