This movie wants to drink our blood.

The last Eggers movie I saw was made by Robert Eggers’ brothers Sam and Max, and called “The Front Room.” I thought it was an exhausting, embarrassing, and disgusting horror film that didn’t even know what it was trying to accomplish. Robert just made a new film version of “Nosferatu,” and he basically tells his brothers how a classic horror movie is made.

The vampire, also named Count Orlok, is now played by Bill Skarsgard, who is disguised by make-up, which almost makes him look like a sinister Jim Carrey with a mustache and bald head. And after I panned him in the awful and unnecessary remake of “The Crow,” here’s a role that I didn’t recognize, but felt he really is committed to playing this vampire. We can barely see his face in his introduction (most of the time he’s in the dark), but it’s all in the accent and performance. And I’m told he received some help from Icelandic opera singer Asgerour Juniusdottir to lower his voice and range, and it took him 6 hours a day to get his make-up set.

Like the original, the story is set in 1838, Germany, and the victim is Ellen Hutter (Lily Rose-Depp), the wife of the real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult). We see her under his powers, as she shows off some strange behaviors, some of them worthy of Eggers’ filmography. We also see her in scenes that look blueish, grey, black, and white, and her making monologues about what she sees and what she acknowledge. And all of them really establishes her fear.

As for her husband, he’s supposed to take a long journey to visit Nosferatu at his castle-Grunewald Manor-to settle his affairs. She begs him not to leave her, but he must travel for work, which is why he must leave her with his friends Frederich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Anna (Emma Corrin). As Thomas makes his journey to the castle, he comes across a band of gypsies, and when he arrives, it’s going to get more than creepy and uncomfortable for him.

The last vampire movie Hoult was in was “Renfield,” when he played Dracula’s servant. Even if the story had its flaws, I still liked that film for its comical and sometimes nostalgic tone. This new version of “Nosferatu” is better in terms of its complicated story construction, the cinematography by Egger’s collaborator Karin Blaschke, and the universally excellent performances from the ensemble.

And speaking of performances, I’ve mentioned how brilliant Skarsgard is as the vampire, but you must also admire the emotional and chilling ambiance placed inside Hoult and Rose-Depp. Willem Dafoe delivers his dialogue as Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, who knows the vampire’s wickedness has come alive and plagued the city. The best line from him in my opinion is “I’ve seen things that would make Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother’s womb.” There’s also Simon McBurney as Herr Knock, another one of the vampire’s slaves, who is institutionalized for obvious reasons. And Ralph Inesson plays Dr. Wilhelm Siever, the man tending to Ellen and soon aiding the professor.

Maybe some elements are a little over my head, but I do acknowledge that the 1922 version and the new one also reflect on our reality. That version was made after the Spanish Flu, and this one was made after the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet, it doesn’t feel so outdated. In fact, it contributes it among our fears, and there’s deeper meaning on all accounts. Eggers makes this vampire movie not only gorgeous and haunting, but also thought-provoking and risky.

To the brothers who made “The Front Room,” this is how you make a horror movie.

In Theaters Christmas Day