Nosferatu and Lily-Rose Depp put a terrible cap on the biggest horror movie trend of 2024

This article contains some Spoilers For “Nosferatu”.

For the most part, the trend that emerges during any given year of cinema doesn’t have anything truly competitive about it. Sure, there may be the years of “Dante’s Peak”, “Volcano”, “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon”, where very similar projects are developed to compete with each other, but most of the trends that occur are less about a deliberate duel and more an indication of where… Head of culture. Remember 2017, when John Denver’s song appeared in no less than five separate films? Although there is no single comprehensive explanation for why something like this happens, it is interesting and perhaps illuminating to identify the trend and see what it speaks of, if anything, in the contemporary real world.

When determining direction in art, especially cinema, it is important to remember that films are produced on a time delay – 2024 films were, for the most part, filmed in 2023, conceived even earlier, and so on. In addition, although the news reaches us as accurately as possible, the impact of life-changing events also occurs slowly. To use a pertinent example, although we received news in 2022 that Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that allowed women autonomy over their bodies over unwanted pregnancies, was overturned, the ramifications of this regressive decision are only now beginning to be felt in Everywhere. Hence the trend of horror films in 2024 dealing with unnatural (and largely unwanted) pregnancies, female oppression, female rage, etc.

Maybe it’s because of this real-life shock combined with the growing hype on social media (Including news of a high-profile remake) that 1981 film Possession He has only grown in stature and awareness in the past few years. Andrzej Żuławski’s surreal and theatrical film about the destruction of a marriage (if not a country and/or the world) contains one of the most iconic depictions of complex female rage and mental imbalance by actress Isabelle Adjani. Her performance also inspired a trend among 2024 horror films, which culminated in Lily-Rose Depp’s stunning role in the horror film. “Nosferatu” by Robert Eggers.

Adjani’s role in “Possession” is as multifaceted as the film itself. For one thing, it’s a dual role, with Adjani playing complicated ex-wife Anna and potential new woman Helen. Anna, on the other hand, deals with a combination of mental illness, emotional trauma, stress, and other factors that cause her to give birth to something in the subway, an organism that eventually matures into something else. This “birth” scene is the most talked about moment in the entire film, and has not only been turned into a meme, but has now been honored by numerous horror films this year alone.

The Nunsploitation one-two punch “immaculate” and “first sign” Earlier this year, corrupt cults were engaged within organized religion (if not society as a whole) to force women to carry unwanted (not to mention evil capital) children to term. As such, both films feature a horrific birth scene, and in the case of “First Omen,” a supernaturally surprising pregnancy. Both heroines, Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) and Margaret (Neil Tiger Free), have to deal with their bodies being used and altered against their will. In other words, they become possessed, even if we are talking about a child and not a spirit or demon.

Directors Michael Mohan and Arkasha Stevenson wanted to make their tribute to Żuławski explicit; Free registered Saying that she and Stevenson used the word “possession” as a reference, and Mohan stated He showed Adjani’s subway scene to Sweeney before they shot the climactic moments of their film. The fact that both films use Adjani and Żuławski as a benchmark, coupled with their outstanding performances (each indelible in their own way) and The many similarities between “Al-Tahir” and “The First Omen” Under other circumstances, it might be seen as a strange moment of parallel thinking. It’s Lily-Rose Depp’s performance in Nosferatu that helps make the examination of female hysteria more common.

“Nosferatu” deals with different themes than “The Immaculate” and “The First Omen,” but some similarities emerge. There’s no evil child in Nosferatu, but that doesn’t mean pregnancy-related concerns aren’t present in the film. Anna Harding (Emma Corrin), friend of Ellen Hutter (Depp) and doting wife of Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), is happily pregnant with the couple’s third child. So, when Ellen’s evil tormentor/predator/lover Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) turns his gaze in her direction, there’s something even more violating about the parasitic Orlok draining both mother and unborn child.

However, it is through the relationship between Orlok and Ellen that the film’s homage to “Possession” and the theatrical take on 2024 horror emerges. In trying to deal with Orlok’s ravages and his arrival in Germany, Ellen confesses to her husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) that she has a sordid history with the vampire. She told Thomas she had dreams – or were they actual encounters? – Involving Orlock from a young age, and that these encounters are of a very physical nature. The scene shows how powerful Orlock is over Ellen while also displaying Ellen’s inner darkness, a quality that tempts her husband, who ends the moment by trying to replace Orlok sexually in Ellen’s thoughts.

The scene shows Depp illustrating Ellen’s suffering emotionally and physically, and is a culmination of her character’s struggle with conflicting thoughts and feelings that comes across as a kind of illness to those who don’t know it. Through the performances of Elaine and Deb, the film seems to comment on the outdated concept of hysteria, which was previously thought to be a disease limited to women who do not behave as society wants (in relation to patriarchy). Like a lot of horror-related social commentary, the film has its cake and eats it too: Elaine is already experiencing the terror of an evil entity invading her mind, yet she’s also dealing with desires and needs within her that she won’t want to fulfill. Admit it publicly, at least at first.

The quality Mohan wanted to convey to Sweeney when he showed her “possession” while performing “Immaculate” was that, as he put it, “there’s no going over the top.” While it’s only coincidental that three horror films released in 2024 seem to directly pay tribute to Adjani and Żuławski’s filmography, the trend is more subtly revolving around that principle than any kind of homage. More than just these three films, we’ve had a number of horror films released this year that feature female leads who display a notable lack of restraint or decency, which is exactly what these stories, these characters, and this genre demand. As Mohan points out, such wild performances “give the audience a sense of catharsis” that we all clearly need in such turbulent and painful times.

Such theatrical performances are not and should not be outside the realm of horror. It is this ability to strike at our deepest fears, to arouse our strongest (and perhaps most repressed) emotions, and to express our lowest rage that makes this kind of cinema one of the most powerful, and I believe, one of the most necessary. . In a climate where the film takes place in the fictional land of Oz It is visually softened by its director to try and look like a “real place”, We need films that boldly avoid the constraints of realism in order to de-stress and access the messy, gross, weird, uncomfortable, and terrifying things we deal with on a daily basis.

Another exciting aspect of this trend is the extent to which it raises the profile of women in horror, a genre already marked by a plethora of legendary slut-shaming performances. Although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn’t traditionally tend to nominate genre films very often, the skill, craft and bravery on display in this year’s horror films is undeniable, and may make Oscar recognition irresistible. Whether or not these women are honored with awards, their work will continue, and the precedent they’ve set this year alone means we’re likely to get some very exciting material in the future. For example, who knows who might end up being cast to star in Robert Pattinson and Parker Finn’s “Possession” remake, but boy, do they have their work cut out for them?

“Nosferatu” is now showing in theaters.