Nicholas Hoult attends the "Nosferatu" UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square.

Nosferatu, the upcoming fourth film from director Robert Eggers, has been getting glowing reviews in advance of its release later this month. The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney called the film "its own mesmeric creation, a superlative match of director and material" in his review. But the film has also drawn some criticism from an unexpected source -- not film critics or vampire enthusiasts, but instead the animal rights group PETA.

PETA announced plans to protest the film's Los Angeles screening this weekend with a giant inflatable rat. At issue is what they consider to be Nosferatu's harmful portrayal of rats.

"A human is no more likely to be harmed or killed by a rat in real life than by a vampire, and false portrayals of these animals as harbingers of death deny viewers the chance to see them as the intelligent, social, and affectionate individuals they are," said Lauren Thomasson, PETA's Director of Animals in Film and Television, in a statement.

To an extent, PETA has a point: their announcement of the protest specifically criticizes the claim that rats spread the bubonic plague in medieval times. Depending on who you ask, this is either technically incorrect or wildly incorrect: the disease in question was transmitted by fleas, and there's evidence that suggests that fleas found human hosts more efficient than rats.

At the same time, I'm not sure anyone is going to see Nosferatu expecting to watch a nature documentary. Still, taking issue with onscreen depictions of animals is one of the things that PETA does regularly. And their wider point -- that rats can in fact be kept as pets and are generally pretty friendly -- is accurate. One wonders what they make of New York City's current administration and its salvos against a certain type of rodent.