This article contains spoilers for Nosferatu.
After a long journey that began with teenager Robert Eggers directing and starring in a high school theater production of Nosferatus
the filmmaker explains why he decided to remake the classic silent film instead of adapting its source material. Based on Dracula, the 1897 epistolary novel by Bram Stoker, the original 1922 silent film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror, or simply Nosferatus, follows Count Orlok, an ancient vampire obsessed with a real estate agent's wife. Eggers is the latest director to remake the Nosferatus story, with Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok.
Talking to Screen speechEggers explained why he chose to remake FW Murnau's film Nosferatus rather than adapting Stoker's beloved novel. Although Eggers loves the novel, he admitted that it is too infused with the influence of the Victorian period in which it is set. he prefers Murnau's creative decision to have the female protagonist become the hero as the credits roll. By focusing on the female protagonist, Eggers believed there was a much more compelling story to be told, one that he felt worked better for him than Stoker's novel. Read their comments in full below:
I mean, as much as I love the novel, it's a little full of Victoriana. I think something about Murnau's adaptation is just a simple fairy tale. In fact, I think that simple fairy tale at the heart of Stoker's novel is what has made it so adaptable and versatile and kept people so inspired over the past century.
Something I loved about Murnau's film is that it ends with the female lead being the heroine. I thought it would potentially be more moving if the entire film was told through her eyes, because it had the potential to be more emotionally and psychologically complex than an adventure story about a real estate agent. As scary as it is a horror film, and it is, there are even scares, it is a gothic romance and it is a love story and a story of obsession.
Through her eyes, I think we can actually get more into that mode without it turning into the tragic antihero story of a vampire in love, which I'm also less interested in.
What this means for Robert Eggers' Nosferatu
There's a reason why Nosferatus Became influential
There is a lot of history between Stoker's classic novel and Murnau's silent film. The latter began as an unofficial adaptation of the former and ended up facing legal action that resulted in most copies of the film being destroyed. Thanks to several surviving copies, Nosferatus evolved into an influential piece for the horror genre and cinema as a wholeand even secured first place in a 2024 ranking of Dracula Screen Rant adaptations.
Eggers' preference for Nosferatus on Dracula and his expected deep dive into research resulted in a narrative that turned out to be more emotionally and psychologically complex than Stoker's novel. Stripping away the socio-political observations of the Victorian era and banking on the dark fairy tale that resides in the bones of Stoker's family Dracula, Eggers' Nosferatus was authorized to deliver a potentially definitive vision of Nosferatu, even Dracula, for modern audiences from the start with this decision.
Our Take on Robert Eggers Choosing Nosferatu Over Dracula
My favorite adaptation of the iconic vampire was Francis Ford Coppola's extravagant take on the source material. Bram Stoker's Dracula, a luxurious amalgam of melodrama and gothic romance. Now, this adaptation is tied for first or second place. With Eggers' version, vampires are terrifying again. While it's nice to have such a wide variety of vampires, it's even better to be reminded of the kind of horror they represented and see what Stoker may have originally intended for the character, who was lost over the years Dracula It has been adapted more than thirty times for film.
By removing much of the focus on Victoriana, Nosferatus it feels more like a dark fairytale filled with folklore that makes it equal parts scary and seductive.
By focusing on Nosferatu's unconquerable desire for Ellen and the ramifications it ends up bringing, Eggers tells an animalistic and violent love story that doesn't feel complicated, but complex and delicate when it comes to his character's emotions and psyche, which he extends to all the characters. . By removing much of the focus on Victoriana, Nosferatus it feels more like a dark fairytale filled with folklore that makes it equal parts scary and seductive. With the big change of giving Ellen the opportunity to be her own heroine, like Murnau's 1922 silent film Eggers' Nosferatus it ends as something that is, while tragic, satisfyingly empowering.