Don’t expect to see any fan fiction about Bill Skaarsgard’s Count Orlok in Nosferatu (although someone will definitely write some), because director Robert Eggers is determined to make vampires scary again. No, it’s not just a cringy political slogan, as Eggers is bringing his signature style of gothic horror to one of the most lauded silent movies of all time. Over the last few decades, pop culture has been overwhelmed with sexy vampires.Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, True Blood, The Lost Boys, What We Do in the Shadows, and even Blade gave the blood-sucking creatures of the night a strange amount of sex appeal.
Robert Eggers is determined to make audiences scared of the nighttime once again and stock up on bulbs of garlic with his Nosferatu remake, and it’s thanks in large part to Skaarsgard’s against the genre portrayal of Count Orlok. Speaking to Total Film, Eggers said, “We’ve gone all the way to Edward Cullen, where vampires are not scary.” The director’s biggest mission for Nosferatu was to “go in the complete opposite direction of that.”
What makes vampires (like other creatures of folklore) unique in storytelling is that people actually used to believe, and still do, that they exist. Eggers hopes that Skaarsgard’s Count Orlok reminds people of those times (not that any of us were alive in the middle ages). The director continued:
“Vampires were scary enough that people used to dig up corpses and chop them into bits and set them on fire.
I think we deserve a scary, smelly corpse again.
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Bill Skaarsgard Still Thinks Count Orlok is “Sexy”… Kind Of
Eggers’ Nosferatu, a modern retelling of the original 1922 German expressionist film of the same name, explores the growing obsession between Count Orlok and Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp), as the titular vampire leaves untold destruction in his wake. Alongside the pair, the movie also stars Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Nicholas Hoult, Ralph Ineson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Simon McBurney, and Stacey Thunes.
Despite Eggers’ aim, Skaarsgard understands how odd the internet is, and knows that some people will still be attracted to Count Orlok. Despite believing the vampire is “very sexualized,” he hopes that audiences feel “disgusted” by their attraction to the creature. He explained:
“But it is very sexualized. It’s playing with a sexual fetish about the power of the monster and what that appeal has to you. Hopefully, you’ll get a little bit attracted by it and disgusted by your attraction at the same time.”
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How Nosferatu Forged Its Own Legacy Separate From Dracula
Although they’re both vampires and were based on the same story, Dracula and Nosferatu share some key differences,
Fans hope that Nosferatu will continue Eggers phenomenal filmography. The director has accumulated a dedicated cult following after his previous hits, The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman. While “normies” will be sitting around the fire, having devoured a roast dinner during the holiday season, Eggers’ army of gothic fans will be swarming cinemas, as Nosferatu opens in theaters on Christmas Day (December 25, 2024).
Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name from director F. W. Murnau. Robert Eggers is crafting his own version of the story for the reboot as writer and director, with Bill Skarsgård stepping into the shoes of Count Orlok. Nosferatu tells the tale of a young woman who falls victim to a vampire utterly infatuated with her.
- Release Date
- December 25, 2024
- Runtime
- 132 Minutes