Oh My Horror 2025 | 46/52 | Vampires
Jofa Film Studios, Berlin — 1921
F.W. Murnau, a German filmmaker, is compelled to adapt Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but Stoker’s estate denies him permission. So, to circumvent controversy, he changes the Count’s name to Count Orlock and calls his film Nosferatu, possibly after the Romanian word Nesuferitul, meaning “the insufferable one.” The film becomes an international classic and remains one of the greatest vampire films of all time.
We join Murnau mid-shoot, where he keeps quiet his plans for the vampire role, instead firmly insisting everyone travel with him to Czechoslovakia. It is actor Gustav von Wangenheim who tells the crew of the actor Max Schreck, who studied under Stanoslovsky, practicing an anachronistic version of Method acting, wherein he is always in character, always in makeup and costume. Most importantly, they will only film Schreck at night.
On the journey to Czechoslovakia, the cast and crew pick up slight hints here and there — a vial of blood in the picnic basket, cameraman Wolfgan Muller is having delirious fits, and Murnau has taken down all the crosses in the inn (much to the innkeeper’s chagrin). The crew meets Orlock at the same time as the viewer, creating awe and confusion. Albin Grau questions Murnau about Schreck’s origins, and Murnau blithely suggests that he discovered Schreck in the castle in which they are filming.
Is Schreck an actor? Or is he really a vampire? If he is a vampire, what will this mean for the fate of the cast and crew?
The film borrows many conventions from the silent film era, including intertitles to give background. The film includes a few shots from the original. It also recreates the filming of scenes from the movie with the cast, sometimes transitioning from the 90s film style to a grainy black-and-white aesthetic. Otherwise, the film follows most of the conventions of late-90s cinema.
The score is wholly unremarkable — moody, effective, but nondiscript from any score of the era.
At one point, Nic Cage was slated to play Orlock. His production studio, Saturn Films, produced the movie. He later ceded the role to Willem Dafoe. While Cage’s conceptualization of Orlock can be inferred from his roles in Vampires Kiss and, more recently, Renfield, it remains one of Hollywood’s great “What Ifs?”
I understand that Cage was friends with Malkovich and wanted him for the role, but he is the film’s weakest link. His German accent is hammy and inconsistent, especially when in conversation with Udo Kier as Albin Grau. Ironically, I think his performance would have made more sense with Cage as Orlock.
The climax of the film is worth the price of admission.