NOSFERATU Director Robert Eggers Teases a New Take on Count Orlok That Will Haunt Your Nightmares
For horror movie fans, few films are as iconic as Nosferatu, director F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic that introduced the world to one of cinema’s first vampires: the eerie, plague-like Count Orlok.
Director Robert Eggers is now taking a crack at creating a remake that will resurrect the creature in a way that promises to disturb and delight horror fans.
After a recent screening of Eggers’ remake in Los Angeles, Guillermo del Toro joined the director on stage, to talk about the twisted new take on Count Orlok.
Eggers’ version of Orlok isn’t going to be your typical neck-biting vampire. Instead, Eggers changes things up with a feeding method that feels nightmarishly primal.
Unlike Dracula or even Max Schreck’s original Orlok, who famously went for the jugular, Eggers’ vampire targets the abdomen. Eggers explained: “[Count Orlok is] going through the navel rather than the heart.”
This adds a dark twist to the feeding ritual. And it doesn’t stop there. This vampire even feeds from the chest as he somehow navigates past the breastbone to get at his victim’s heart blood.
Eggers continued: “Also, obviously, the vampire is drinking from people’s breasts, which is not easy with a breast bone, but because of, like, ‘old hag,’ a lot of the older lore has the vampire—if they are feeding at all and not just smothering you—feeding from your heart blood.”
The concept isn’t just gore for gore’s sake. Eggers connects this feeding style with European folklore and other supernatural myths, particularly creatures linked with sleep paralysis and chest-crushing nightmares. This sounds like things could get very gruesome.
Eggers and del Toro provided other glimpses into what makes this version of Orlok tick. Bill Skarsgård’s Count Orlok is described as “an obscenely reanimated corpse,” a vision of decay not unlike the repulsive revenants in 1970s Italian horror.
In a particularly interesting detail, Eggers revealed that Orlok’s face is “red, it’s like fire lit … with blood pooling under his flesh.” That will make for an interesting visual as Orlok’s features are flushed with pooled blood, as though his own thirst for it keeps him barely contained within his pallid skin.
While Focus Features has withheld revealing Skarsgård’s Orlok, horror fans have started to piece together a terrifying mental image. The references point to something nightmarish.
With Eggers’ keen eye for period detail and psychological horror, this Nosferatu remake is shaping up to be an awesome reimagining of the classic film.
Nosferatu tells the dark and twisted tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Lily-Rose Depp) in 19th-century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.
When previously talking about the movie, Eggers said: “It’s a scary film. It’s a horror movie. It’s a Gothic horror movie. And I do think that there hasn’t been an old-school Gothic movie that’s actually scary in a while. And I think that the majority of audiences will find this one to be the case.”
The movie also stars Emma Corrin (Deadpool 3), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2) and Ralph Ineson (The Witch).
The movie will be released in theaters on December 25, 2024.