The first thing that comes to mind whenever the term “Vampire"comes up is Dracula. The lord of the night from the 1807 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker invented the original mythos of this blood-sucking creature and has since been evolved and expanded upon to become one of the mosticonic monsters in all media. It has inspired everything from direct adaptations tosuperheroes, and even teen romance novels. But there’s one other vampire nearly as old as Dracula itself that has a very strange origin story.Nosferatu is regarded as one of the most seminal horror films of the silent era, if not all-time. The original German film came out in 1922 but a remake bydirector Robert Eggersis set to come out over 100 years later in December 2024, leading many to question how Nosferatu is related to Dracula, or if there is even a connection there at all. The answer isn’t as cut and dry as you might think, and may give you a newfound appreciation for the original before you see the remake at the end of the year. Here’s the full story of Nosferatu and Dracula.
There will be light spoilers for the plot of the original 1922 Nosferatu and Dracula.
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The origins of 1922’s Nosferatu
Stronger ties to Dracula than you might expect
To begin, let’s look at how the original Nosferatu came to be. This silent film was a German production directed by F.W. Murnau with the full title of Nosferatu - Eine Symphonie des Drauens, or Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. The plot revolves around an estate agent named Thomas Hutter visiting a new client, Count Orlok, who wishes to buy property in his town. After a very strange visit, including discovering twin puncture marks on his neck, Hutter notices Orlok very enamored with a photo of his wife. Orlok eventually makes his way to town where he terrorizes the citizens, especially Hutter’s wife, until the heroes discover a way to defeat the vampire.
The court ordered that all copies of the film were to be destroyed, but thankfully some prints managed to survive
Now, anyone who has seen or read Dracula will spot the rather blatant parallels. It goes beyond simple similarities but is an outright copy. This is no mistake. Nosferatu was indeed meant to be an unofficial adaptation of Stoker’s novel, only swapping out the character names, such as Jonathan Harker with Thomas Hutter, and, of course, Count Dracula with Count Orlok. The name Nosferatu was chosen for its loose translation as “the insufferable one” or “the offensive one.”
There was speculation that the name changes were made in an attempt to avoid infringing on copyright laws. However, historians dispute this and suggest the name changes were done to make the film more appealing to German audiences. Regardless of the reasons, Stoker’s heirs sued the production and won. The court ordered that all copies of the film were to be destroyed, but thankfully some prints managed to survive and the film has been preserved to this day.
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A remake over 100 years later
Bridging the gap between Nosferatu and Dracula
Because the original film was a near identical match for the plot of Dracula, we have to wonder if Eggers' remake will stay true to the original, and thus essentially be a name-swapped version of Dracula. This could be possible since Dracula has entered the public domain and anyone is free to adapt the work, even using the official names, without fear of legal repercussions.
The brief plot synopsis and trailer for Nosferatu give little insight on how faithful this remake will be, but I suspect that Eggers will take this opportunity to make more changes to the story instead of sticking to a nearly beat-for-beat retelling of the original story. His style of filmmaking is far more experimental and cerebral than that simple tale. The major beats of a vampire invading a community are likely to remain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if most, if not all, the details along the way are altered to create a new sense of dread and fear.
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