Oscars 2025: Nosferatu Wows Critics in Early Screenings

Robert Eggars’ Nosferatu has been seen and is early high praise from some notable names, like the great Kenneth Turan who tweets:

And Steven Weintraub:

Anne Thompson praises the film but limits its Oscar prospects to the crafts:

While Oscar acting nominations are unlikely in this competitive year for a genre film (the reason why “The Substance” may settle for Original Screenplay), expect nominations for at least three of Eggers’ long-time collaborators: ASC- and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (“The Lighthouse”) and never-nominated Craig Lathrop (Production Design) and Linda Muir (Costume Design). Hair and Makeup is another strong possibility. If the critics rave and the film does well at the box office, it could go further still.

The question of genre acceptance is key. “Nosferatu” is a horror film, even if it’s smart and period and elevated. Horror precedents for Oscar nominations beyond the crafts include just six Best Picture nominees: William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist,” Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense,” Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” Only Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs” took home the prize.

Here is why I think that is wrong.

1. It’s an extraordinarily weak year for “Oscar movies.” We could do with just five. But we have ten slots to fill, why not get imaginitive?
2. The 3,000 or so newer, younger, bouncier Academy members are not stuck in the past and will get creative with their votes.
3. Three of the best films this year, or certainly those most likely to stand the test of time, are horror films: The Substance, Heretic and now, Nosferatur.

We have to be nimble minded and see what can be, unburdened by what has been.

The key is this: how many Academy members will pick Nosferatu as the number one film of the year? I’m guessing, considering the slate on offer, quite a few. I think it has a real shot at a Best Picture nomination BECAUSE it’s such a weak year.

Moreover, we’re missing our bravura directors and Eggers, along with Fargeat, might fill two slots. Guillermo Del Toro likes and will help pus both movies. People trust him. They love his enthusiasm and they will lilkely watch the movie at least. That’s the hardest part with Academy voters: getting them to watch the movie.

Because Lily-Rose Depp is the latest “it” girl, that makes it less of an uphill push. And wait until they see Margarate Qualley in The Substance.

These horror films gives me SOME HOPE for the future of cinema, they really do. It’s time to turn the page away from the “good people doing good things” era that has ruled the Oscars for so long.

If Anne Thompson is right, and Focus Features is playing the long game to boost box office, then it should be considered a formidable Oscar movie — what defines an Oscar movie is simply that it’s good or one of the best of the year.

Here are Anne’s predictions for Best Picture:

Anora
Emilia Perez
Dune: Part Two
The Brutalist
Blitz
Conclave
A Real Pain
Nickel Boys
September 5
All We Imagine as Light

I think I have more or less the same ten, but not sure if I have Blitz. Either way, that doesn’t look as sexy to me as a lineup like this:

Anora
Emilia Perez
Dune Part Two
The Brutalist
Conclave
A Real Pain
The Substance
Nosferatu
Nickel Boys
Inside Out 2 (Gladiator II)

Anne only predicts movies she’s seen already but she doesn’t have Gladiator II on her list, and she has seen it already. So make of that what you will. I personally don’t think we can assess or should assess some of these films until they open and make money because that HAS to factor in if the Oscars, and Hollywood, have any hope of survival beyond being sent to pasture on streaming.

I would like to add that our Gate Crashers predictor The Film Bee has been bullish on Nosferatu and called it early.