While The Shangri-Las might have been the OGs when it came to perfecting the notion of “he’s good bad, but he’s not evil,” Lana Del Rey has made it something of her signature. Maybe even her…calling card. Indeed, starting with her first official release, Born to Die, in 2012, Del Rey made it clear that “bad men” were her thing. This in addition to old men…which Nosferatu also qualifies as. So while Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose James) might be a woman of the 1800s, there’s no denying that, deep within the recesses of her dark heart, she’s keenly aware of Del Rey’s oeuvre. Hell, she could have written most of the lyrics herself. Starting with, “Every time I close my eyes/It’s like a dark paradise.”
That it is in Wisborg, Germany, where Ellen spends her days wishing for someone—or rather, something—to quell her deep-seated, seemingly inescapable loneliness. So it is that she mimics the nature of “little Lanita” as a youth, who ended up falling in with those who were similarly “lookin’ for a taste of real life.” A bit of affection, too. Alas, the only “taste” being had is by Nosferatu (Bill Skarsgård), who will inevitably feast on Ellen’s blood by the final act. And yet, Ellen doesn’t seem to care all that much. In fact, she forewarns her dear and good husband, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), that she had a dream she married Death, and that when she turned around, there were only corpses at the wedding. But the truth, she tells him, is that she didn’t mind—because she was so happy to be marrying this dark presence. Nosferatu. The man that Ellen might sing about as follows: “My old man is a bad man/But I can’t deny, the way he holds my hand/And he grabs me, he has me by my heart.” To be sure, there is a scene of Nosferatu quite literally grabbing Ellen by her heart with his iconic “shadow hand.”
Del Rey, no stranger to surrendering to the darkness—particularly a tall dark stranger, preferably with tattoos and a motorcycle-riding aesthetic—could have also easily come up with the movie’s tagline, “Surrender to the darkness.” This in and of itself sounds as though it had been pulled from a Del Rey song (granted, Madonna’s the one who also channels that vibe when she moans, “Surrender to the pleasure” on 2015’s “Best Night”). Like Del Rey’s aforementioned teachers, The Shangri-Las, The Crystals, too, shared a similar “pain is pleasure” vibe when it came to embracing “bad boys” (read: raging psychopaths). In fact, Del Rey repurposed their most controversial song title/lyric for one of her own on 2014’s “Ultraviolence”: “He hit me and it felt like a kiss.”
That seems to be how it feels for Ellen to be pursued so relentlessly, threateningly and, yes, erotically by Nosferatu. And while a “normal” girl would shudder at the thought of ever “giving herself” to a creature so foul and vile, Ellen is the type who can surely get on board with Del Rey cooing at such a man, “Keep me forever, tell me you own me” and “I need you, I breathe you, I’d never leave you/They would rue the day I was alone without you.”
Being that Del Rey’s songwriting has frequently upheld a certain “Toxic Relationship, But Romanticize It 101” quality, it’s no wonder everything about Ellen screams, “LDR stan.” One can even imagine her telling Nosferatu after enough visits to her window, “Because I’m crazy, baby/I need you to come here and save me/I’m your little scarlet, starlet/Singin’ in the garden/Kiss me on my open mouth.” In truth, that’s essentially what she does tell him from the very beginning of the movie when she summons the darkness—nay, his darkness—right into her boudoir. And even when he’s violently choking her in the garden, it’s easy to hear, somewhere in the background of it all, the soft voice of Del Rey shrugging off the violence with, “Boy, you’re so crazy, baby/I love you forever, not maybe/You are my one true love.”
While “Off to the Races” is the most lyrically rich for applying to the themes and dynamics of Nosferatu, “Ultraviolence” isn’t without its merit, too. Particularly the lines, “You’re my cult leader/I love you forever, I love you forever” (always all this talk of “forever” with Del Rey, as though she truly were a vampire herself) and “I will do anything for you, babe/Blessed is this union.” However unholy or damning to others it might be.
This notion of being attracted to the proverbial “bad man” is a running motif throughout Del Rey’s ever-burgeoning discography. Take, for example, 2019’s “Happiness Is A Butterfly,” on which she shrugs, “If he’s a serial killer, then what’s the worst/That could happen to a girl who’s already hurt?/I’m already hurt/If he’s as bad as they say, then I guess I’m cursed/Looking into his eyes, I think he’s already hurt/He’s already hurt.” This “oh he’s just really misunderstood” approach to the psychology of an asshole (or, in Nosferatu’s case, the most unspeakable evil there can be in a male form [sorry, Trump]) is in keeping with what Ellen does in order to justify her attraction to an entity so utterly diabolique. Besides, he was there for her in her time of need when no one else—not even her own parents—was (making her the perfect “specimen” for such “grooming”).
Thus, if you happen to picture Ellen being the one to declare, “I don’t care what they say about me, what they say about me/Because I know that it’s L-O-V-E/You make me happy, you make me happy/And I never listen to anyone” (this from Born to Die’s “Lolita”) in lieu of Lana, well, it would be understandable. Along with her telling Nosferatu, “You soul is haunting me and telling me/That everything is fine, but I wish I was dead/Dead like you.” And, of course, her wish is granted by her “bad man” of a lover. Or her “one true love,” much to Thomas’ dismay.
Tragically, such is the ongoing appeal of, to use understatement, cads. Even though one would have thought that kind of fetishization and romanticization of said breed might cease after Amy Winehouse. Unfortunately, the Nosferatu trope always reanimates. ‘Tis the very nature of being a vampire. And a no-good boyfriend.
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