The movie was cinematically beautiful. The story wasn’t crazy but I enjoyed the movie and watched it twice. How do y’all feel about it? And is the book better than the movie?
I saw Nosferatu today and loved it! Now I want to read a horror book that has the same vibe as Nosferatu or has vampires. Bonus points if it's on Kindle Unlimited. Thank you!
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In Nosferatu the man reads a small book, does it exist?
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.
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?
So I’ve been to see the film twice… it’s the first movie I’ve had to see again, and if I could, I’d go a third time (and a fourth and a fifth).
Instead, I’m looking for book recommendations that’ll put me back in that world…
Many thanks in advance for helping me get my fix…
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
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.
Pls tell me the story after the anime ends.
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.
First 100 pages had me shook and captivated. I even got to thinking that Dracula might even like Jonathan? Maybe like a pet or something.
Then I also liked the Whitby sections.
But I think my enjoyment of the book is brought down by Dr Sewards. Who I found extremely boring to read through. He was just a really blank slate.
This is made better because Van Helsing is such a FUN character.
I'm also not sure I like the ending, or Quincy Morris, but I think its ok.
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!
Hi guys, I'm interested in playing a rat in a v5 game, and i feel like i want more fluff. noticed there are two nos clan books, one for the original and one for the revised. which is better and more relevant to v5? i remember one of them was considered great.
we are playing pre-inquisition, if it matters.
Pre ordered from GRUV
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?
The standard line is that Dracula's about repressed (homo)sexuality, xenophobia and the Romantic love-hate relationship to science - depending on your interpretation of Van Helsing, you could categorise the novel as science fiction.
Dracula is popular because he's a shapeshifter. Vampires can be undead monsters or tragic antivillains; you can mash him into any narrative mould and get very different, very socially pertinent outcomes. How would Dracula play out if it was set in 1990's Russia, and the Count is an oligarch? What about 2010's Uganda, where he's a warlord?
Egger's Nosferatu was based on the original filmic adaptation by Murnau. The ending was essentially the same.
If you want something closer to the book, check out Coppola's 1992 version of Dracula. Takes some liberties but hits most of the plot points, and is a great movie imho.
As for the perennial interest in vampires, there are myriad reasons like the human obsession with immortality, sexuality, xenophobia and class divisions, etc. Each era reinvents the vampire mythos as a reflection of its value.
As for Dracula specifically, it helps that Stoker's novel is quite good and easily readable even by contemporary audiences. It aged a lot better than other vampire novels, including the ones that came before it (Varney, Carmilla).
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?
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?