Fog rolls across a nineteenth-century German town, and something older than faith is already waiting at the window. Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu does not reinvent the vampire so much as drag him back into the damp, candlelit world where the myth first took hold — a place of plague, obsession and bodies that will not stay buried.
Eggers treats the vampire myth as a plague of desire, not a jump-scare machine.
Movie at a Glance
- UK streaming: Netflix UK from Saturday 7 November 2026
- US release: Theatrical from 25 December 2024 (Focus Features); digital/streaming from January 2025
- Writer and director: Robert Eggers
- Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe
- Studio / distributor: Focus Features; Universal Pictures International
- Certificate: 15 (UK)
- Runtime: 132 minutes
- Genre: Gothic horror
- Language: English
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of Eggers’ slow-burn period horror (The Witch, The Lighthouse), gothic atmosphere, and remakes that respect the original’s dread rather than chase cheap shocks.
- Maybe skip if: You want a brisk, joke-heavy vampire night or dislike lingering period drama between the scares.
- Mood and pace: Cold, sensual and deliberately paced — more plague diary than rollercoaster.
- Cinema or streaming? Streaming is a strong fit now: the film’s shadow play and sound design still land at home, especially after dark.
- Spoiler level: Spoiler-free: we describe the set-up and craft only.
A Plague With a Pulse
Eggers’ remake of F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent landmark keeps the bones of the story intact: a haunted young woman, a husband drawn into a distant bargain, and Count Orlok’s predatory arrival that turns a town into a charnel house. What matters here is how the film makes that familiarity feel newly contagious. The production design, costumes and near-monochrome palette push the viewer into a world where every corridor smells of damp stone and every nightfall feels like a deadline.
Lily-Rose Depp carries the film’s emotional weather as Ellen Hutter — fragile on the surface, ferocious underneath — while Nicholas Hoult’s Thomas supplies the ordinary man’s panic as events outpace his understanding. Bill Skarsgård’s Orlok is kept largely as presence and pressure rather than a showpiece monster, which suits a remake that wants dread to accumulate rather than announce itself. For more gothic and folk-horror context on the site, see our Halloween horror films definitive guide.
Craft Over Cheap Shocks
Where Nosferatu is strongest is in craft: Jarin Blaschke’s cinematography, the oppressive sound design, and a score that seems to scrape rather than soothe. Eggers stages the supernatural with the same period seriousness he brought to The Witch, so the horror feels like an extension of superstition and desire rather than a modern effects reel. The film’s reputation for being as seductive as it is repulsive is earned in the framing of Orlok’s hold over Ellen — psychological and bodily, never merely decorative.
It is not a crowd-pleasing scare machine. Viewers hunting constant jump scares may find the middle stretch chilly and deliberate. That trade-off is intentional: the film wants immersion and unease, not a highlight reel. If you are building a night of horror at home, our What to Watch Tonight (6 November 2026) round-up sits alongside this week’s other picks.
Where the Bite Softens
The film’s fidelity to mood sometimes costs momentum. A few supporting turns tip into theatrical excess, and anyone arriving solely for a reinvention of Orlok as cinema’s most terrifying face may find Skarsgård’s creature more grotesque than indelibly iconic next to Murnau’s shadow. The running time asks for patience. Still, when the plague imagery and the central obsession lock together, the film delivers the kind of slow, sticky horror that stays with you after the credits.
Where to Watch
Nosferatu arrives on Netflix UK on Saturday 7 November 2026 — a major gothic title landing outside this week’s cinema slate. For theatrical alternatives opening now, see the Weekly Cinema Pack for 6 November 2026. Settle in with a good screen and the lights low.
Spoiler-Free Verdict
Nosferatu is a commanding, cold-blooded gothic remake: ravishingly made, performance-led, and more interested in plague-era dread than easy frights. Slightly overlong and not for jump-scare hunters, but a major streaming event for horror fans.
- Performances: 8.5/10
- Direction: 8.5/10
- Screenplay: 7.5/10
- Score: 8.5/10
- Cinematography: 9/10
- Entertainment Value: 7.5/10
- Overall score: 8/10
Star rating: 4/5
Verdict badge: Worth Seeing
One-line verdict: A seductive, plague-soaked remake that belongs on a dark night’s watchlist.
Watch the Official Trailer
Succumb to the darkness in the official trailer from Focus Features.
Will you stream Nosferatu this weekend, or is the original silent film still your plague of choice? Tell us — spoiler-free — after you watch.