Nosferatu (#635)


I was surprised to see as many people in the audience as were there for what I thought was a relatively obscure horror film starring Willem Dafoe. NOSFERATU takes place in Germany in what I would call the Victorian era, the mid to late 1800s. It is about a young woman who is possessed by an evil spirit from a very early age, a spirit known as Nosferatu, identified by scientist Dafoe. Her new husband must go on a business trip to the mountains to sign up a new client for the company he works for—a strange count living in a typical spooky, dark castle. He is abused and imprisoned there but manages to escape and return home to find his wife in dire straits. She is advised by Dafoe that she must succumb sexually to Nosferatu in order to save the world from the plague he has foisted on the country. If this seems too complex to comprehend, I apologize, but that's what I saw and I'm sticking to it. It jumped all over the place, but the actors were good, the scenery and costuming well done and, while gory, it didn't get carried away by it like most horror films. 85% of critics and 75% of audiences gave this film a thumbs up. I guess I did too. I don't recall Dafoe as a good guy before but I'm sure he has been.

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