‘Nosferatu’ Extended Cut Bites onto Blu-ray with Director Commentary [Review]
The original vampire returned to movie screens in writer and director Robert Eggers’ now Oscar nominated remake Nosferatu, and an extended cut of the film just hit physical media today, loaded with bonus features, including a revealing feature director commentary.
In Nosferatu, estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) travels to Transylvania for a fateful meeting with a prospective client named Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). While away, his new bride Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) is plagued by visions and an increasing sense of dread in anticipation of an encounter with a horrifying force beyond her control.
Bill Skarsgård (It, The Crow) leads the cast as Count Orlok/Nosferatu, along with Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), Nicholas Hoult (Renfield), Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Simon McBurney, and Ralph Ineson (Lord of Misrule). Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Northman) directs from a script he wrote.
The film is a beautifully shot gothic retelling of a story inspired by both the original 1922 silent film Nosferatu and its own unofficial source material, Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula novel. The cinematography, rightfully nominated for the Academy Award, is definitely one of the highlights of the film, as well as the highly immersive score and overall sound design, all set amid an ever expanding nightmare perfectly brought to life with impeccable production design, also nominated for the Oscar.
Representing the horror genre along with fellow nominees The Substance and Alien: Romulus, Nosferatu is nominated for four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Universal Home Entertainment provided HDN with an advance copy of the Blu-ray release, which includes both the theatrical version and the slightly longer Extended Cut of the film. The Blu-ray comes with a Digital code, through which all of the bonus content is accessible.
The slipcase cover (pictured below) features one of the film’s theatrical posters, with the same art on the actual Blu-ray case, and no additional artwork on the inside.
The Extended Cut adds an extra four minutes to the film’s run time, including (spoilers ahead) a new monologue in which Count Orlok talks about gypsy “traditions” that Hutter witnessed the night before arriving at the count’s castle, explaining that it is their “filthy” ritual on the eve of Szent András, when undead creatures walk the earth on what they consider “the darkest witching night, when devil’s magic bids the wolf to speak with tongues of men, and every nightmare treads upon this earth, ascendant from the torturous grave.”
There is also new dialogue by Willem Dafoe’s von Franz discussing his occult beliefs and his diagnosis that Ellen is “possessed of some spirit… perhaps a demon”. Later, there’s much more of von Franz talking about leeches and explaining that Orlok is essentially a vampire, which Eggers says during the commentary is one of many nods to Hammer horror movies, specifically Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing in Hammer’s Dracula movies.
There’s also a new conversation just after the Hutters walk home from the Hardings’ down the death-infested street, back at Harding’s house with von Franz explaining more context of the Orlok mythology.
The Blu-ray’s bonus features include the theatrical trailer, and three deleted scenes – an extended scene of Ellen at her bedroom window as the shadow of Orlok’s hand ominously rises up her body to her face (pictured above), which was featured in the film’s first teaser trailer; a few seconds of Mr. and Mrs. Harding having sex in bed before hearing something outside their room and a shot of Orlok walking purposely down a dark corridor; and an alternate version of the beginning of Orlok’s promised-to-be deadly third night.
There are six behind the scenes featurettes that all together make a highly informative and well rounded documentary on the making of the movie, labeled collectively as Nosferatu: A Modern Masterpiece, including:
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- Breathing Life Into a Dream – 9 minutes; Filmmaker Robert Eggers reveals his lifelong dream to make this movie started in high school when he and a friend directed a stage version of Nosferatu, which quickly led him to know for sure that wanted to be a director.
- Becoming Count Orlok – 6 minutes; Eggers and his practical makeup FX team unveil how they wanted to slowly reveal how deteriorated and truly decayed Orlok’s body really is, while Bill Skarsgård discusses his intimidation to take on the role of Count Orlok, explaining that he was most scared to do the voice.
- Capturing the Mood – 5 minutes; dives into the creation of the film’s immersive gothic atmosphere, detailing that Orlock’s shadows were largely done practically in camera.
- Recreating 1838 – 6 minutes; Production designer Craig Lathrop, who is now an Oscar nominee for his work on this film in the Best Production Design category at the upcoming Academy Awards, explains how every detail, from Orlok’s coin box to his casket, is meticulously researched and inspired by actual medieval items.
- Dressing the Part – 6 minutes; Costume designer Linda Muir, who is now an Oscar nominee in the Best Costume category at this year’s Academy Awards, dives deep into the distinct choices in style, fashion, and function that help color the personalities of each character through their wardrobes.
- The End is Just the Beginning – 7 minutes; While much of the film is done using practical FX, there are certain CGI enhancements, as illustrated by visual effects supervisor Angela Barson, while composer Robin Carolan breaks down his fantastically gothic score. Eggers also reveals that many of the rats were real, as were Orlok’s wolves.
The highlight of the home release is of course the feature length director commentary audio track with Robert Eggers. Read on for some of what we learned from the filmmaker’s commentary.
- The opening studio logos are based on the style of silent films circa the 1920s, when the original Nosferatu was released, including the original actual silent era logo used by Universal Pictures, then known as “Universal Films”.
- All of Lily-Rose Depp’s performance and body movements are her, with no digital enhancement, CGI manipulation, or sped up camera whatsoever.
- Ellen’s cat’s name Greta is a nod to Greta Schröder, who played Ellen in the original 1922 Nosferatu.
- Many scenes were shot in actual Transylvania.
- In Transylvanian folklore, vampires often drink heart blood, which is why Orlok bites his victim’s chests rather than their throats.
- A heptagram (seven-pointed star) is a recurring thematic element.
- The main Nosferatu theme is meant to actually “say” the word “Nos-fer-a-tu”, much in the tradition of many of the scores for classic Hammer gothic horror movies.
- Eggers told the crew often, “This is Merchant Ivory does Hammer horror.”
- Orlok’s mustache, hair, and clothes are all inspired by how a Transylvanian nobleman of his period would have looked, all of whom had mustaches at the time, according to Eggers’ research.
- Many real rats were used, including crawling all over and urinating on Emma Corrin in one scene.
- Eggers says the original real meaning behind steaking a vampire was “to keep the bodies bound to the earth, rather than the steak actually killing them. It would keep them in their graves.”
- “It’s day, and not sun” that kills Orlock, according to Eggers, which is in keeping with the folklore that the vampire must return to its grave before the “first crow of cock,” also referenced as the only way to kill it in the original film.
Nosferatu Extended Cut is available to own on 4K Ultra HD, as well as on Blu-ray and DVD, and also on Digital, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
You can watch our Nosferatu Blu-ray unboxing video below.
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