How the Original Nosferatu Changed Vampire Horror Forever

As a connoisseur of the dark and the macabre, I can’t help but marvel at the profound impact that one film has had on the very essence of our beloved vampires – the enigmatic and chilling specter of Count Orlok from F.W. Murnau’s 1922 masterpiece, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.

What characteristics come to mind when you consider vampires? Typically, they consume blood, live without a soul, possess extraordinary abilities, and can be defeated by sunlight, among other traits. However, the concept of vampires and sunlight being adversaries isn’t an ancient one in fiction; it has only been a standard within the last century or so. In fact, the belief that sunlight harms vampires is relatively new — we can credit Bram Stoker’s novel Nosferatu for popularizing this idea.

First released in 1922, the German silent film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” was actually an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula.” As film historian Rolf Giesen explains, director F.W. Murnau and producer Albin Grau communicated with the German translator of Dracula, but failed to acquire rights from Florence Stoker, Bram’s widow. Instead of a direct adaptation, Murnau and Grau opted for modifications. Many of these alterations were minor, such as renaming characters like Count Dracula to Count Orlok and Mina to Ellen, and Van Helsing to a skeptic named Dr. Bulwer. However, they also made significant changes, including one about Count Orlok’s vulnerabilities. Unlike Dracula, who could move freely in daylight with diminished powers, exposure to sunlight would be lethal for Count Orlok.

In the world of vampire folklore, the introduction of “Nosferatu” marked a significant shift. Before this film, most fictional vampire tales adhered more to Stoker’s archetype, where vampires had their weaknesses (as Dracula was ultimately defeated by hunters in the book), but they were also much harder to eliminate. The concept of something as ordinary as sunlight causing harm not only added a new limitation, making vampires a threat to humanity only during the night, but also, to some extent, gave humans an advantage when dealing with these creatures. Although this change (alongside other alterations made in “Nosferatu”) nearly led to the movie being lost to history due to legal troubles, its lasting impact is undeniable. Some even argue that this daylight adversary has become as iconic to vampires as Dracula himself.

The notion that sunlight harms vampires has come full circle, even finding its place in a modern adaptation of Dracula. In 2020, the BBC unveiled a three-part series titled Dracula, penned by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, both from Doctor Who. This adaptation of Stoker’s novel loosely incorporates the idea that sunlight is lethal to vampires. However, in the final episode, it is revealed that daylight poses no real danger to Dracula; instead, he convinced himself that legends about vampires and daylight were true as a means to hide from society. This twist cleverly blends traditional Dracula lore with the contemporary understanding of vampires, as established by Nosferatu.

Nosferatu left an indelible mark on the world of vampire narratives, going beyond his daylight-aversion. Count Orlok’s portrayal has served as the blueprint for numerous subsequent vampire characters in various media. For instance, Petyr (from the 2019 movie) and The Baron (in the television series) from “What We Do in the Shadows”, The Master on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, Kurt Barlow in “Salem’s Lot” (1979), and most explicitly, the Nosferatu clan in “Vampire: The Masquerade” video game. This influence has created a lasting legacy, significantly shaping our perception of vampires to this day.

Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu lands in theaters on December 25th.

2024-12-22 17:39

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