The duration of Robert Eggers’ 2024 Nosferatu The remake is revealed, setting a record for the horror franchise. Eggers established himself as a first-class horror director with his acclaimed film The witch (2016). Later he turned to dark fantasy The lighthouse (2019) and retains his sure instinct for depicting psychological disintegration. After venturing into epic historical fiction with The Northman (2022), Eggers is back with his upcoming horror game Nosferatu Remake with Bill Skarsgård as an otherworldly bloodsucker.

Since the film will unleash its gothic horror goodness on Christmas Day, the running time of Eggers’ version Nosferatu has now been revealed (via fandango), And At 2 hours and 12 minutes, it’s longer than the previous two Nosferatu Film with a clear distance.

What this means for Eggers’ Nosferatu

Murnau needed less than 90 minutes

FW Murnau made the original Nosferatua loose adaptation by Bram Stokers Draculawith the monster being renamed for legal reasons. A classic of German expressionist cinema, Murnau’s film is a visually powerful and atmospheric nightmare. However, at 1 hour and 21 minutes long, it’s not a very long nightmare. Given that most silent films have short running times, it’s no surprise that Murnau’s film is less than 90 minutes long.

Following in Murnau’s footsteps, Werner Herzog, the German New Wave filmmaker and current object of Internet obsession, made his own new version in 1979 Dracula Story, Nosferatu the vampire. Starring frequent Herzog collaborator (and sometime enemy) Klaus Kinski, the film is mesmerizingly paced but ultimately doesn’t tax the viewer’s patience too much, clocking in at one hour and 47 minutes. Eggers’ Nosferatu is 25 minutes longer than Herzog’s film and almost an hour longer than Murnau’s.

Eggers’ Nosferatu is not only longer than previous versions of the story, but also longer than many other recent vampire films. A handful of vampire films were released in 2023 and 2024, all of which are under two hours long. These include titles like Abigail (1 hour, 53 minutes), The last voyage of Demeter (1 hour, 59 minutes), Renfield (1 hour, 33 minutes) and Salem’s property (1 hour, 53 minutes). It should also be noted that none of these films were particularly successful, which suggests this A lack of interest in vampire stories could be damaging Nosferatunot its duration.

Egger’s previous films suggest that Nosferatu’s running time won’t be an issue

Critical reaction to Eggers’ filmography explained

Although Eggers is still a relatively niche filmmaker in terms of audience interest and recognition, his name is associated with a particular tone and quality when it comes to filmmaking. One could argue that Eggers didn’t make a bad film. All of his previous works have been positively received by criticswhich suggests this Nosferatu will earn its term.

As can be seen in the table above, The witch, The lighthouseAnd The Northman are all about the same level when it comes to Rotten Tomatoes critics’ ratings. The audience ratings fluctuate more and are noticeably subdued, but they are still fundamentally positive. When it comes to running time, there are some differences in Eggers’ previous films The Northman currently the longest of the bunch at 2 hours and 17 minutes. However, this film’s 90% Rotten Tomatoes rating suggests that this film was not hindered by its long running time.

The Northman
is not only Eggers’ longest film, but also his most expensive, with an estimated budget of $90 million.

Our version of Nosferatus runtime

No good film ever feels too long

Films have become increasingly longer in recent years, with even comic films often lasting well over the two-hour mark. 2 hours and 12 minutes may be a bit long for a horror film, in an age where most horror directors try to keep it under 2 hours, but compared to something like this it’s not an overly long running time IT Chapter 2 (2019), which stretched to an absurd 2 hours and 49 minutes.

Eggers undoubtedly had good reasons to exceed the two-hour mark to tell his version of a vampire story. If he means it Nosferatu is indeed captivating, these 2 hours and 12 minutes will fly by. On the other hand, for a film as disturbing as Nosferatu It seems that less is usually more when it comes to runtime. Requiring viewers to sit still and be afraid for more than two hours is usually a bad idea, as the psychological tension of horror tends to diminish the longer the film runs.

Of course, there are some classic long horror films, in particular The shining one And Rosemary’s babybut in general, when trying to scare an audience, it’s better to take things lightly. However, Eggers is very adept at unsettling himself and his audience Nosferatu looks like another unique and spooky experience.

Source: Fandango