Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the original inspiration for NOSFERATU. If you haven’t read it before, I highly recommend. Answer from spacechamp88 on reddit.com
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/roberteggers › (spoilers) did people that enjoy nosferatu read the book?
r/roberteggers on Reddit: (Spoilers) Did people that enjoy Nosferatu read the book?
December 30, 2024 -

I was extremely hyped for this movie. I LOVED the lighthouse, and Dracula is one of my favorite novels, and I even watched the old nosferatu movie. However I was very dissapointed today, because I feel that the plot and story in the book were exponentially better than in the movie. I`m so dissapointed that so many things were cut out. Like half of the hunt for the Count, the gradual realization that he crawls out of the window at night and is definetely not human, the trying to keep Ellen safe, etc. The Count in the book was so incredibly witty and evil, he would have never died while getting laid. And arguebly the best character in the whole damn book, Van Helsing, wasn`t even mentioned! I visited the real Dracula`s castle, and there wasn`t even any water for Thomas to fall into.

And you know what the worst part is? Count Orlok was played so well, the visuals were incredible, the acting was good. The plot just ruined it and made Count Orlok seem just weak, and really naive for someone that has lived for hundreds of years and is highly educated and intelligent.

Edit: alright so William Dafoe was Van Helsing, but the character was so underwhelming that I didn't even tell.

🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/blankies › can anyone explain me nosferatu in relationship to dracula?
r/blankies on Reddit: Can anyone explain me Nosferatu in relationship to Dracula?
June 22, 2024 -

I never seen any version. From what I understand the original is just a riff on the Dracula book that used another name due to rights issues. But then, why remake Nosferatu instead of just doing another Dracula adaptation? Rights are public domain and the name recognition is much superior. What am I not getting? What makes Herzog or Eggers’ versions a “Nosferatu” story instead of a Dracula one?

Top answer
1 of 10
58
I haven’t seen anything of Eggers’ Nosferatu yet, because I want to go in blind, but i can think of a few reasons to use the Nosferatu name rather than Dracula: Count Orlok (the Dracula expy) has such an iconic, distinctive design that filmmakers want to use it, rather than the more traditionally suave Dracula. Orlok is more of the vampire as atavistic animal than aristocratic foreigner Murnau’s film was already remade by Werner Herzog with Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani in 1978, and that was pretty good. Very moody and ‘gothic’. So maybe Eggers’s film is a reply to that as well as to the original Nosferatu the movie has its own ‘fandom within a fandom’, due to its status as one of the OG horror movies. There’s a whole (hilarious) movie about the making of it, Shadow Of The Vamprie, with John Malkovich and Willem Defoe as Max Shrek
2 of 10
26
Nosferatu (1922) was the first feature-length adaptation of Dracula but was unauthorized and found in court to have infringed Stoker’s copyright. The vampire was named Count Orlok instead of Dracula but the film largely follows the plot of the novel and is more faithful than many subsequent official adaptations. Nosferatu (1922) leaned into the horror and created an iconic design for the main antagonist that differs greatly from the novel. Also, victims die rather than become vampires and references plague. The 1979 Herzog film was the first official Dracula movie to reuse the title Nosferatu and officially credit both the 1922 movie and Bram’s novel. Unlike the 1922 movie, the main vampire is called Dracula instead of Orlok but reproduces the design of the 1922 vampire. I believe the 2024 film called Nosferatu is reverting the main antagonist’s name back to Orlock and riffing on the same character design from the 1922 and 1979 films. And as we are in a post-Covid world, the plague aspect of the Nosferatu movies are once again very very relevant.
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/roberteggers › bram stoker's dracula(1992) × nosferatu (2024)
r/roberteggers on Reddit: Bram Stoker's Dracula(1992) × Nosferatu (2024)
June 24, 2024 - I like to see the movie first then read the book...I get to enjoy both because if you read the book first the movie is always a disappointment. I read Bram Stoker's Dracula after watching the 1992 movie, and the novel ruined the movie for me. Too much deviation and added love interest. I hope this one is enjoyable. ... Unfortunately, you probably won't like the new film much either then. Somewhat ironically, the 1992 Dracula was very much an amalgamation of the changed story elements from the 1922/1979 Nosferatu films and the original book elements.
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/roberteggers › occult books referenced and utilized in nosferatu
r/roberteggers on Reddit: Occult books referenced and utilized in Nosferatu
December 28, 2024 -

At one point it is mentioned Dafoe's character was obsessed with the works of Paracelsus, Agrippa (and possibly a third I didn't catch.)

There is a book of the Solomonari but that name of that books escapes me, and I assume that was made for the movie.

Anything else catch your eye? Any interviews where Eggers mentions other inspiration? I know he is pretty well-versed in the occult.

I love that Nosferatu sticks to the vampire origin we find in Stoker's work. The Count was black magician who studied at Scholomance

Find elsewhere
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/roberteggers › i'm obsessed with nosferatu. it's crawling like a serpent in my body. need some movie/book recommendations to satiate my affliction.
r/roberteggers on Reddit: I'm obsessed with Nosferatu. It's crawling like a serpent in my body. Need some movie/book recommendations to satiate my affliction.
October 2, 2024 -

What are some good movies and books you'd recommend that are tonally similar to Nosferatu? Would love some dope vampire story recommendations, but down for some non-vampire stories, as well.

EDIT: Thank you for all of the awesome suggestions, and keep em flowing like blood down Orlok's gullet! I'm so bummed Bloodborne isn't on Steam and that I don't have a Playstation, because that game looks incredible.

🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/booksthatfeellikethis › nosferatu/gothic - any type of book!
r/BooksThatFeelLikeThis on Reddit: nosferatu/gothic - any type of book!
May 3, 2024 - For more than a decade /R/HORROR ... to books & games. ... A subreddit dedicated to Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu (English title: Irina The Vampire Cosmonaut) by Keisuke Makino (Story) and Karei (Art)....
Top answer
1 of 1
3
Thomas Hutter is sent to Transylvania by his employer, estate agent Herr Knock, to visit a new client named Count Orlok who plans to buy a house across from Hutter's own home. While embarking on his journey, Hutter stops at an inn where the locals become frightened by the mere mention of Orlok's name. Hutter rides on a coach to a castle, where he is welcomed by Count Orlok. When Hutter is eating dinner and accidentally cuts his thumb, Orlok tries to suck the blood out, but his repulsed guest pulls his hand away. Hutter wakes up the morning after to find fresh punctures on his neck, which he attributes to mosquitoes. That night, Orlok signs the documents to purchase the house and notices a photo of Hutter's wife, Ellen, remarking that she has a "lovely neck." Reading a book about vampires that he took from the local inn, Hutter starts to suspect that Orlok is a vampire. He cowers in his room as midnight approaches, with no way to bar the door. The door opens by itself and Orlok enters, and Hutter hides under the bed covers and falls unconscious. Meanwhile, his wife awakens from her sleep, and in a trance walks onto her balcony's railing, which gets his friend Harding's attention. When the doctor arrives, she shouts Hutter's name, apparently able to see Orlok in his castle threatening her unconscious husband. The next day, Hutter explores the castle, only to retreat back into his room after he finds the coffin in which Orlok is resting dormant in the crypt. Hours later, Orlok piles up coffins on a coach and climbs into the last one before the coach departs, and Hutter rushes home after learning this. The coffins are taken aboard a schooner, where the sailors discover rats in the coffins. All of the ship's crew later die and Orlok takes control. When the ship arrives in Wisborg, Orlok leaves unobserved, carrying one of his coffins, and moves into the house he purchased. Many deaths in the town follow after Orlok's arrival, which the town's doctors blame on an unspecified plague caused by the rats from the ship. Ellen reads the book Hutter found, which claims that a vampire can be defeated if a pure-hearted woman distracts the vampire with her beauty and offers him her blood of her own free will. She decides to sacrifice herself. She opens her window to invite Orlok in and pretends to fall ill, so that she can send Hutter to fetch Professor Bulwer, a physician. After he leaves, Orlok enters and drinks her blood, but starts as the sun rises, causing Orlok to vanish in a puff of smoke by the sunlight. Ellen lives just long enough to be embraced by her grief-stricken husband. The last scene shows Count Orlok's destroyed castle in the Carpathian Mountains, symbolizing the end of his bloody reign of terror.
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/suggestmeabook › worth reading dracula if i disliked nosferatu? (2024)
r/suggestmeabook on Reddit: Worth reading Dracula if I Disliked Nosferatu? (2024)
January 11, 2025 -

Lately, I’ve been gravitating away from horror movies and finding more satisfaction in books(mainly non fiction still). It’s not that I don’t enjoy the genre anymore, but the films just aren’t hitting the same. Take Nosferatu (2024), for example—what a letdown. There’s no message, no interesting character arcs, and nothing to really think about once it’s over. Even Saw, for all its brutality, at least left you with some messed-up moral questions to unpack.

That got me reflecting on why books have been more fulfilling lately. I recently read Frankenstein, and it completely changed how I see the story. The movies always focus on the monster smashing things, but the book dives so much deeper. It’s a thoughtful exploration of creation, responsibility, and what it means to be human. It’s not just a horror story, it’s a tragedy and a philosophical argument wrapped together. It really stayed with me in a way the movies never have.

The same thing happened with Crime and Punishment. Even a single chapter had me questioning morality, guilt, and justice in ways I hadn’t considered before.

Now I’m eyeing Dracula. If Frankenstein turned out to be so much richer than its adaptations, maybe the original vampire story will surprise me too. I’ve only ever known Dracula through films and pop culture, so I’m curious to see what the book has to say.

I would also really appreciate any horror book recommendations. I’m looking for something that sticks with you, not just through scares, but through ideas that linger long after you’re done reading.

🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/booksuggestions › books like nosferatu
r/booksuggestions on Reddit: Books like Nosferatu
December 19, 2023 -

Just saw Nosferatu (2024) and loved it, I don't typically read books in its genres (vampire horror/dark romance/historical) and would appreciate suggestions!

🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/rsbookclub › dracula discussion thread after nosferatu?
r/RSbookclub on Reddit: Dracula discussion thread after nosferatu?
January 2, 2024 -

Anyone have interesting insights on the novel? I really like it and was surprised how readable it was I loved the epistolery writing style.

I was disappointed Nosferatu didn't end with the protagonists just fucking Dracula up outside his castle. It's such an awesome part of the book that is often left out of adaptations.

Did U know Dracula is the literary character that has appeared the most in film. What do U think inspires so many adaptations?

🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/blankies › is nosferatu a deconstruction of dracula?
r/blankies on Reddit: Is Nosferatu a deconstruction of Dracula?
June 9, 2024 -

First, MASSIVE disclaimer that I have not seen any previous iteration of Nosferatu (assuming Shadow of the Vampire doesn’t count), and while I have seen the Coppola version and read the original book, I’m not an expert on Dracula either.

All that said, I just caught the Eggers version and I’m grappling with what a non-character Nosferatu is. He has almost no humanity to him, no dimension, and that’s the actual text of the movie. He describes himself as appetite. He tells the object of his affection that they are not of humanity. He pantomimes human interactions for the sole sake of getting what he wants. It’s entirely and deliberately perfunctory.

He seems to function almost like an Inside Out horror film version of “Libido” anthropomorphized.

It’s not romantic. It’s sexy only in the most brutish of senses, unless Animal Planet + necrophilia is your thing (no judgment).

I’m interpreting this as a rejection of the romanticized Dracula, who embodies youth, undying love, and romantic passion when he meets his beloved. This guy is half-eaten by maggots, strains to sound credibly human, and seems to exist just to explode in orgiastic ecstasy like a salmon driven to spawn and die.

Anyone else have this read on the character, and do you think the director set out to demolish the “suave, tragic lover” trope in vampire stories?

🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/roberteggers › did you know? [nosferatu]
r/roberteggers on Reddit: Did You Know? [Nosferatu]
November 18, 2024 -

The abbess at the Orthodox nunnery where Thomas ends up says Orlok was "a dark enchanter in life -- Solomonari." This means he attended the legendary Scholomance where ten students, who never saw sunlight for their seven years there, learned black magic from the Devil himself. It is incredibly cool and I had never even heard of it before! And I'm a folklore NERDATROID!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholomance

Anyway, I think we can say it's strongly suggested Orlok became a vampire through this black magic and, y'know, covenants with the Devil. Especially because folklore vampires didn't infect other people with vampirism through their bites, and there were instead a hundred different ways someone could become a vampire after death, with black magic way up there.

So, badass af, right? A great combination of Romanian folklore. Good job there, Robert Eggers.

But what you may not know... is that THIS IS O.G. DRACULA'S EXACT BACKSTORY!!

[Dracula] dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay.

Apparently it was a family tradition:

The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due.

Just like in Nosferatu 2024, this is suggested to be in some way how Dracula became a vampire.

WHY have I never heard of or seen a Dracula adaptation use this awesome backstory?? Is it mentioned in some adaptations I may have missed?? Why hasn't anyone made it, or the Scholomance, a significant part of the Dracula story until now??

And now Moustacheratu will be remembered as a Solomonar, and Dracula won't be. And if anyone DOES use it for Dracula, people will be like "ugh, just trying to copy Moustacheratu."

I'm not a huge Dracula person, but it's tragic. Why did they throw such juicy lore away?