Nosferatu (2024)

As a young girl, Ellen prays for a companion to ease her loneliness, inadvertently contacting a powerful being known as the Nosferatu and forging a psychic link with it.

In 1838, Ellen is newly married to Thomas Hutter, and they live in Wisburg, Germany. Thomas's employer, Herr Knock, sends him to Transylvania to sell the decrepit Grünewald Manor to the reclusive Count Orlok. Thomas leaves Ellen in the care of his friend Friedrich Harding and Friedrich's pregnant wife, Anna, who have two daughters. Unknown to Thomas, Knock is allied with Orlok.

In a Transylvanian hamlet, the locals shun Thomas when he mentions Castle Orlok. That night, he witnesses a group of Roma exhuming and staking a suspected vampire's corpse, which gushes blood. By morning, the hamlet is deserted, and his horse has disappeared. Thomas continues on foot until a mysterious carriage takes him to Orlok's castle.

During dinner, Thomas is distracted by Orlok's appearance and cuts his hand, agitating the Count. He awakens on the dining room floor the following morning. Orlok finalizes the sale and takes Thomas's locket, which contains a lock of Ellen's hair. Thomas discovers bite marks on his chest and grows increasingly ill and frightened. While attempting to escape, he finds Orlok asleep in a crypt, lying naked and decayed inside a coffin. When the Count awakens and pursues him, Thomas falls into a river and is rescued by Eastern Orthodox nuns. They explain that Orlok became a vampire after making a pact with the Devil. Orlok then sails toward Wisburg in his coffin aboard a ship carrying plague-infested rats.

Meanwhile, Ellen begins experiencing seizures and sleepwalking under Orlok's influence. Her doctor, Wilhelm Sievers, consults his former mentor, Albin Eberhart von Franz, a Swiss scientist ostracized for his occult beliefs. Von Franz confirms that Ellen is under Nosferatu's demonic influence and discovers that sunlight can kill the creature. Knock is institutionalized after killing and eating sheep raw.

Orlok's arrival in Wisburg unleashes a devastating plague. Knock escapes confinement and leads Orlok to Grünewald Manor. Appearing to Ellen in her nightmares, Orlok claims that Thomas has effectively sold her to him in exchange for his commission on the property sale, although Thomas could not understand the documents written in Orlok's language. Orlok demands that Ellen submit to him within three days or he will kill Thomas.

Ellen awakens to find Anna under attack by plague-infested rats. She berates Thomas for allowing Orlok to exploit him, and their subsequent sexual encounter is troubled. In retaliation, Orlok kills Anna and her two daughters. When Friedrich sees Orlok's bite marks on Thomas, he realizes that the couple's warnings were true. Overwhelmed by grief and stricken with the plague, Friedrich dies at his family's graves.

Von Franz's research indicates that Nosferatu can be destroyed only through the willing sacrifice of a fair maiden. Realizing that she alone can stop the plague, Ellen conspires with von Franz to keep Thomas away while she confronts Orlok. Thomas, von Franz, and Sievers travel to Grünewald Manor, where they accidentally kill Knock after discovering him sleeping in Orlok's coffin.

Meanwhile, Ellen summons Orlok and willingly allows him to feed on her, keeping him occupied until sunrise. The sunlight destroys Nosferatu, ending his threat. Thomas returns and holds Ellen's hand as she dies. Von Franz confirms that her sacrifice has freed them from Nosferatu.