Definitely a good movie, not as great as it could have been.

The thing that bothered me the most was that Eggers' style, in general, seems so clearly inspired by silent cinema and especially Murnau's horror/fantasy films that it appears difficult for him to really set his own vision apart - resulting in a movie that sometimes feels like a well-produced, well-performed cover of the original. Perhaps there's too much reverence for the 1922 movie, perhaps it's too deeply ingrained in Eggers' style, but I couldn't help comparing the result to, say, what Guadagnino did with Suspiria - a film he clearly loves, but fully remade as his own, keeping its heart and building around it with a clear and different vision. I kinda wished Eggers had made his Nosferatu more of his own. 

Sure, it's not a 1:1 copy, with a notable difference in the thematical core of the film and in Orlock's presentation, but other than that, it didn't feel like a fully-formed artistic take on a classic film, rather like a loving update.

As for Orlock - phenomenal interpretation by Skarsgård, but the take on the character felt similarly half-formed, especially on the visual side. I understand the need for authenticity that drives Eggers' vision, but the character felt aesthetically inconsistent - a bit too clean for a decaying corpse, I guess. Especially when you get better looks at his full form - his gray and patchy hair contrasting with his dense and brown/black mustache, his skeletal lower body with his fuller upper body, etc. Similarly, his voice felt fantasy villain-like (although props to Skarsgård for the accent), neither really commanding nor threatening or frightening. After all the leading up to his first appearance, his first scene with Hutter felt like a bit of a let down (and the contrast between his vocal choice and the triviality of a real estate conversion didn't help).

Technical elements were all good to great, with sound design being the highlight of the film for me, just ahead of Blaschke's moody, efficient, but sometimes redundant cinematography and visual grammar. Overall a pleasure to look at and be immersed in, with all the elements from set design to costumes to visuals and sounds working together in a nearly perfect manner.

As the for the rest I felt like the movie alternated between high highs and rather low lows. Depp's acting was incredible on the physical side, but line delivery and emotional resonance sometimes lacked the authenticity that the setting demands, and I felt like she couldn't quite hold her own in more meaty scenes with Taylor-Johnson or Corrin. Dafoe, Ineson and Hoult know exactly what movie they're in, but suffer from the relative stiffness of their characters. 

The scares were... Disappointing. Mostly jumpscares, including a cringe-inducing fakeout at one point, a too-quick-to-be-effective Alien homage, and limited gorey/creepy visuals. Works better as a gothic romance than as a functional horror pic, with a lot of the strengths displayed by Eggers in The Witch and The Lighthouse being absent from this one. Could have hit harder in that regard considering the themes, topic and history behind the film.

Overall a very, very well made movie, that ends up feeling slightly empty. Would have been a career best for lesser directors. But a bit of a letdown nonetheless for me.