![The Wayland Police Department have issued a warning on the rise of scammers during the holiday season. “Hang up [the phone]. if you get a text and you do not know who it's from, just delete it. Don't click on any links, nothing,” Wayland police chief Edward Burman said. “Every single one of them is a scam.”](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/img_0954_720-e1734676255647.jpg)
![WHS’s Connect Program ran its annual holiday gift drive to fulfill the wishlist of children enrolled in the Dorchester based non-profit daycare organization, the Yawkey Center. This drive brought the town together and impacted both the students in Connect, as well as the greater Wayland community. “You could see how helpful the town was and how our community came together and wanted to help out a community that wasn't our own [and] kids who were less fortunate than we were,” senior and Connect Program member Jordynn Lee said.](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/screenshot_2024-12-20_at_12.21.24___pm_720-e1734734228474.png)
“Nosferatu,” released on Dec. 25, 2024, shocked audiences throughout the world. This film is an adaptation of the 1922 silent film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror,” which was produced by F. W. Murnau.
The film begins in the fictional city of Wisbourg, Germany, following a young newlywed couple, Ellen, who is played by Lily Rose Depp, and her husband Thomas, played by Nicholas Hoult. Thomas is a young and ambitious gentleman, who is determined to make a life for him and his wife. He is on the brink of closing a massive real estate deal, which his boss promises will promote him. The catch is that Thomas will have to travel to Transylvania to sign the papers with the client, Count Orlok, who is played by Bill Skarsgard, to ultimately close the deal.
Little does Thomas know, Orlok is a vampire who has been haunting Ellen’s dreams since she was a girl. When Thomas arrives at Orlok’s castle, he immediately becomes extremely uncomfortable, and the feeling of adrenaline and the unnerving sense of dread Thomas experiences can be felt through the screen. Thomas is persuaded into signing papers that he cannot understand. “It is the language of our forefathers,” Orlok told Thomas. Devastatingly, the contract that Thomas signed waived his rights as Ellen’s husband and “entitled” her to Count Orlok.
This film, for the most part, strays away from jumpscares as it mostly relies on creating a more subtle uncomfortable feeling that lingers while viewing. The haunting score, musically arranged by Robin Carolan, the dim lighting, the set and costume design fully immerses the audience into the film.
The film does a fantastic job keeping viewers on the edges of their seats. During the movie, there are several instances of Thomas’s ignorance being extremely costly. This is a pattern throughout Robert Egger’s films. There is usually a misunderstanding that frustrates the viewers to the point of anger directed towards the character. This film not only uses visual horror but also psychological torment.
Viewers quickly realize that Ellen was knowledgeable of the evil present, and she was actually the one who really summoned Orlok’s entity in the first place. As a lonely young girl with the burden of being able to connect to the spiritual world, she called out for anyone to accompany her. These pleas awakened the vampire count in his grave, and he became a manifestation of her deepest desires, tied to her nightmares for years. When she marries Thomas, Ellen is able to stifle her sinful thoughts and manage to fit into 19th century societal rules until Orlok comes to her in physical form, forcing her to choose between acceptance or denial of her true darkness.
While the film isn’t eerie and heavy with suspense, the action is ghastly and violent. From the opening scene depicting Ellen’s disturbing visions of Orlok to Thomas’ journey to Transylvania, the storytelling includes a sickening amount of gory, gruesome images. The Count, being a vampire, tends to suck the blood from his victims, but what we found most horrific was his aggressive sexual behavior with not only Ellen, but even forced upon Thomas. Given that “Nosferatu” is based on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (1897) that features a tamer, more charming vampire, scenes of this fashion create a truly monstrous nature unlike any Dracula has achieved before. Whether we are only hearing Nosferatu’s drawling Romanian accent or his decaying face is fully exposed, he is always radiating utter terror.
Eggers is widely regarded as one of the most talented directors in the horror genre currently. In large part, this is due to his unique approach he takes in his movies, even though he’s only produced four. Eggers tends to stray away from jumpscares, utilize tension and weaponize stress to bring out a strong response from his audience. The images of explicit death and lust might not be for everyone, nevertheless, we did enjoy this movie for its strong plot line, eerie, trance-inducing atmosphere and presence of uncontrollable darkness.
