No More Pleasure in Vampires : How Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, Removes the Romanticised Version of Vampires and Creates a Scary Villain

By Editor in Cheif Lisa Ahern

The brooding, sparkling love interest which our teenage hearts throbbed over is often our initial association with the word “vampire.” The star-crossed lovers, Human and Monster, we have all seen it done repeatedly. However, Robert Eggers’ latest creation, Nosferatu (2024), escapes this romantic imagery that has been created regarding vampires and tries to make these monsters...well monsters again.

In classic gothic style the villainous figure always has a double meaning. The vampire, whether Nosferatu or Dracula, often symbolises the anxieties of the time in which it was adapted. Stoker’s Dracula represented the fear of sexual promiscuity and the spread of sexually transmitted disease. In Coppola’s 1991 adaptation of Dracula, the vampire symbolises the sexual temptations within a monogamous relationship. What does Eggers’ Nosferatu’s vampire figure symbolise?

Already there is an extremely wide range of theories concerning the symbolism and the meaning of this modern take on a classic story. Nosferatu (1922) is the story of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but many details were changed to avoid a lawsuit over copyright, an attempt which failed miserably. The story surrounds the character of Ellen, who is inspired by Stoker’s female characters, Mina and Lucy. The setting has been transported to early 19th century Germany, rather than the late 19th century novel which takes place in busy London. Apart from changes like these the plot is very much the same to the original Dracula. Thomas, Ellen’s husband, travels to Transylvania to try to sell property to the dangerous and mysterious Count Orlok. Following these events, Orlok travels to Wisborg and plagues the town in search of Ellen.

We can see immediately a change at the beginning in Eggers’ version: Ellen is shown calling out for a companion to help evaporate the melancholy that swarms her mind. Orlok hears this call and uses her exposed vulnerability as an advantage for himself. He infiltrates her mind and she begins having fits as he possesses her body. Many people interpret this as evidence that Orlok is an embodiment of Ellen’s sexual guilt. However, an avenue I think we should explore is the fact that Ellen was a very young and vulnerable girl when Orlok first encountered her, and Eggers’ vampire displays many traits of a Sexual Abuser. From this perspective we will see how Eggers crafts a villain, escapes the latest cliché of the glittery star-crossed lover to make a truly terrifying demon.

Within Nosferatu, Orlok is seen more as a demon than a mere vampire, haunting the characters and spreading plague throughout the town using rats. He has also plagued Ellen for years psychologically. Each night she deals with her trauma, seeing him in her dreams. He preys on her as she sleeps. He haunts her marriage and all the relationships she has with her loved ones. As soon as Orlok finds out that Ellen has married and “moved on,” he lashes out an attack on her town. He is the presence that will forever haunt her. In one scene we see Orlok describe himself as an “appetite,” which defines Eggers’ demon perfectly. He spreads his shadowy grip wider and wider. He is never satisfied. This is a predator not a romantic hero!

The idea that Ellen was a victim of Orlok’s abuse as a child continues to be evident within her scenes with Thomas. Towards the climax of the movie, we are shown an intimate interaction between the couple. This is a powerful scene as it allows Ellen to reclaim sexual intimacy after her attacks, to take autonomy in her own body. During this sequence we hear Ellen truly break down to Thomas and she sobs “stay away from me. I am unclean.” She is completely scarred by this abuse and she starts to feel ashamed for what happened to her, even though she herself is the victim, showing once again that her mind is continuously plagued by her past with Orlok. By having sex with her husband, we see her make a declaration, reclaiming her sexuality as her own. It is a difficult scene but really shows Ellen trying to overcome the abusive power Orlok has over her.

When we finally see Ellen and Orlok meet in Germany we see the powers of an abuser come to light. He warns her that she has three nights to submit to her or she will lose the ones she loves. Through this method we see that she is being alienated from her loved ones. Slowly he is removing everyone she loves so that she has no other choice but to take the abuser in her company. This is very common within abusive relationships; the victim often has no one else in their life to turn to, due to this alienation. Eggers creates this scenario in a physical way rather than mentally, by killing off the characters one by one.

But why has Eggers created this narrative surrounding this century old character? Whether his name is Dracula or Orlok, the vampire has always been a predator, preying on blood. But in this post MeToo world, we are seeing other predator’s being recognised in everyday light. Now, we don’t know why Eggers added this layer to his version of Nosferatu, but it is no coincidence that the vampire has represented the contemporary fears and anxieties of past recreations of Dracula. We are living in the contemporary of Eggers’ Nosferatu and with more and more Sexual Abusers being revealed to what they really are—Monsters—it is hard  not to see this movie as a call out for these affairs.

This film exposes the exploitation of the female body, which is nauseating but necessary to point out. There are so many moments that are so upsetting and hard to watch, but through these moments of horror we see reality. Every day people become victims of sexual abuse, just like Ellen. This abuse might not take the form of  a bloodsucking demon, centuries old, but it is still a reality. It is truly horrifying to watch as Orlok manipulates and plagues this girl from a young age.

The villain of Nosferatu is not a romantic figure to lust over. He is a sexual abuser who we must fear. Sexual abuse is a real threat to us and Eggers is highlighting this. In the closing scene of the film we see Nosferatu’s naked body in daylight. The fantastic prosthetics show this rotting and bony body that is naturally not pleasant to look at. He is a demon that is haunting the characters of the story. He is this monster, who should have been dead for thousands of years, who preys on a young vulnerable girl that lost her mother and is in search of something to fill the void. Yes, the characters find a way to defeat this villain but at what cost? Ellen must sacrifice herself to distract Orlok with her blood. Some see this as a liberation for Ellen, but I see it as a sad and lonely end for her. She must sacrifice herself to the abuser. It has no happy ending, and that is the true monstrosity that Nosfertu represents.