Nosferatu

What’s it about?

A dark gothic story of a tormented young woman and the terrifying vampire fixated on her, unleashing unimaginable horror in their path.

The facts

• Directed by Robert Eggers (The Northman, The Lighthouse, The Witch)
• Stars Lily Rose-Depp (The King), Bill Skarsgård (It), Nicolas Hoult (The Great), Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), Emma Corrin (The Crown)
• English language
• Runtime: 132 minutes
• Inspired by the 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony pf Horror and Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula

Why did it get this rating?

This film was classified by Te Mana Whakaatu, Classification Office. You can find out more about classification process and ratings here.

Violence and content that may disturb

There are some moments of violence and disturbing content that could upset viewers. The strongest moments include:

• A character bites a pigeon’s head off, and blood gushes from its neck.
• A needle is pushed through a character’s wrist while they are possessed – minimal blood is shown but it may be hard to watch for people who don’t like needles.
• There are a lot of rats, some of which eat at people’s bodies, both dead and alive.
• A character kills people after sucking all blood from their bodies. Some scenes are more disturbing, like when you can see the blood dripping from the character’s mouth.

Horror

This film has elements of horror intended to frighten its audiences. Some of the scarier moments or factors include:

• When we first see Count Orlok, the main monster in the film.
• A character being possessed several times.
• Supernatural references about vampires, ghosts, the devil and demons.
• Several jump scares.

Sex scenes 

There are a few sex scenes that may disturb viewers as they are mixed with horror and violence elements, including:

• Two characters have sex while the female is possessed. There is a sudden jump scare when the male sees her with blood gushing from her mouth, however this was just in his imagination.
• It is implied that a man has sex with his dead wife. You see him open her coffin and kiss her, and later there is a shot of him on top of her in a corner, him now dead as well, while her stockings are down.
• Two characters die while having sex. This scene is long and drawn out, with breast nudity and grotesque camera shots of the characters’ blood and wounds.

There is also a brief, non-sexual shot of a penis in the film.

When content stays with you:

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?
• Are scary films good for anything? (blog)