Will the Release of Nosferatu Prove That Vampires Are Eternal?

Can another vampire flick live up to the hype?

Viewers can't seem to get enough of these blood-sucking monsters.

Since Bram Stoker put pen to paper way back in 1897, the world has been obsessed with the vampire concept. Whether monstrous, charming, or sparkly, the public can't get enough of these creatures of the night. However, vampires have a sorted history throughout their rise in film.

We all know that Nosferatu is the original vampire flick and served as the creation of the horror genre in film. However, the film stole much of its plot from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Upon learning about this, Stoker’s estate sued the production company and won their plagiarism lawsuit. The court ruled that the film would be pulled and all copies of it burned.

However, a few copies of the original Nosferatu survived and made their way to America. While the concepts of vampires had largely survived in folk legend, this film introduced audiences to a new, physical version of the thing that haunts the dark graveyards. The film did incredibly well, and the vampire genre was born.

One interesting thing to note here is that Stoker was partially inspired to write this story after reading about a vampire scare in America. Following a tuberculosis outbreak, citizens in New England became convinced they were under attack from spiritual vampires. The cure for this is to grind the organs of the corpse and create a tonic for the ailed person to drink.

Enter freely and of your own free will - Dracula

Following the creation of Nosferatu, studious recognized the demand for this new genre and began pumping out hoards of vampire films. This led to the creation of classic Hammer films. For those who are unaware, the Hammer films comprise the classic horror films that continue to populate the genre today. Without these films, we likely wouldn’t be as familiar with characters such as Dracula, The Wolf Man, or Frankenstein’s Monster.

However, vampire film operates a little differently than other horror genres. Until recently, the creatures were often depicted as foreign men who came to the West to prey on women. These men are often attractive and intelligent, using their charms to seduce the women who they meet. You can probably guess why this messaging can be problematic.

Luckily that messaging changed in the early 2000s. The Twilight films showed us that vampires can change and adapt just as well as any other genre. Instead of the foreign man coming to seduce Western women, we see a 104 year old vampire seducing a teenage girl. The Twilight franchise became an overnight sensation and changed the game once again.

After twenty years of romanticizing vampires, we seem to be returning to our roots. Robert Eggers, a man known for creating slow burn historical horror, is bringing us a revamped version of Nosferatu soon. Whether this film will be able to live up to the hype is yet to be seen but if anyone can do this iconic title justice, it is Robert Eggers.

Horror often reflects the anxieties of its audiences. Whether xenophobia, gay panic, or economic stressors, you can clearly tell what people of a time were concerned about by watching the horror films from that time period. Hopefully, the Nosferatu reboot will rip apart and lay bare the terrors lying at the heart of modern audiences for all to see.