The runtime of the upcoming Nosferatu remake has been revealed and I hope you don’t have a tendency to go to the bathroom often during a screening as this is the longest adaptation of Nosferatu to date.
No stranger to long movies, Director Robert Eggers has turned this upcoming vampire flick starring Bill Skarsgård into a rather drawn-out spectacle indeed but it may just deserve each and every single one of those 2 hours and 12 minutes!
Set for a Christmas Day release this film has beaten previous versions of Nosferatu such as the original F.W. Murnan version which clocks in at 1 hour and 21 minutes.
Werner Herzog, in 1979 created his very own Dracula story which clocked in at 1 hour and 45 minutes pushing that 90-minute mark beyond is always risky, especially with horror films as fans want it short, sweet, bloody and great!
Getting everything packed into a short runtime is the usual copy-and-paste formula for your standard horror movie. It’s nice to see the mould broken now and again but it has to be done right.
A film like this will certainly have to earn its long duration and audience scores across many of Robert Eggers’ movies suggest that this will be no different in terms of critic and fan reception.
Movies seem to be getting longer and longer recently as one standard trip to the cinema can set you back two hours and beyond nowadays on many movies but nothing will come quite close to the 3 hours and 12-minute screening of Avatar: The Way of Water but that film was so beautifully done that time flew by.
Maybe this particular Dracula movie will fly by (no pun intended) but if it grips you and sinks its teeth in (okay, pun intended) then I don’t see that runtime being an issue whatsoever.
The synopsis for Nosferatu reads as follows:
An ancient Transylvanian vampire stalks a haunted young woman in 19th-century Germany.
I found this quite hilarious given its runtime. I’ve seen 10-minute short films with longer synopsis than that!
IT Chapter 2 came in with a runtime of 2 hours and 49 minutes and it wasn’t even a scratch on the first movie. It DRAGGED on in so many places as scenes were padded out just to stretch out that runtime and for me, the entire film collapsed like a house of cards in terms of my interest level and engagement.
The first film came in at a shorter 2 hours and 15 minutes but kept it much tidier from start to finish with strong hooks and investment in the characters on screen. Whilst at times even this movie had a few lulls and extra padded-out scenes for the most part, it did a good job.
Here’s hoping Nosferatu can do the same!
