Who are the Nosferatu: Kindred of Dracula

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

In the Gothic literature of the 19th century, vampires were first named by a previously unknown word - nosferatu. The meaning of this name is rooted in obscurity. Some argue that the word has a Romanian origin, others that it was simply invented by one of the then founders of the horror genre in literature. Let's try to figure out who the Nosferatu are.

The Nosferatu Appears

The concept of "nosferatu" is inextricably linked with Bram Stoker's "Dracula": the popularity of the novel entered this word into modern English. However, Bram Stoker himself said that he saw this word in the writings of another nineteenth-century writer, Emily Gerard. Emily was married to Miezzysław Lazowski, a Polish officer in the Austro-Hungarian army. In 1883-1885, the officer served in the very heart of Transylvania - the cities of Hermanstadt (modern Sibiu) and Kronstadt (Brashov). Emily at this time was engaged in studying local folklore. She then published her first book on the subject, The Superstitions of Transylvania, in 1885, and another three years later, The Land Beyond the Forest: Facts, Figures, and Fables fromTransylvania.”

But even before Emily's work, several German-language articles were written that mentioned the nosferatu - a horror that terrorizes villages in the mountainous Transylvanian wilderness. The described monster had the habits of a creature that we now know as a vampire: he drank the blood of his victims, attacking exclusively at night, and had the ability to turn the unfortunate into his own kind. In addition, vampires were credited with the ability to seduce innocent young girls, drink their blood and make them their wives. They could only be killed by driving an aspen stake through the heart, or by cutting off the head.

More popular than Dracula: the movie's role in Nosferatu history

Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" was published in 1897 and did not immediately find popularity. Readers accepted it quite successfully, but not deafeningly - to know the worldwide fame of "Dracula" was to come later.

The world learned who the Nosferatu was in 1922, after the release of the German film director Friedrich Murnau's film Nosferatu, Symphony of Terror. Initially, it was supposed to be an exact adaptation of Stoker's novel, but the writer's widow did not give the rights to her husband's work to be redeemed. Therefore, the scriptwriters had to change the names of the characters, the place and time of the action. So among the classic movie monsters appeared Nosferatu, he is also Count Orlok.

It was because of this film that the idea that vampires cannot stand sunlight and should sleep in a coffin during the day was introduced. In the original novel, the sun made the night monsters weaker, but notburned to the ground. Also, thanks to the Murnau ribbon, the classic look of Nosferatu was formed - a bald head, a hooked nose, and hooked fingers. The monster was embodied by the German actor Max Schreck. It was rumored that the lead actor did not even have to do the maximum make-up - Shrek himself was so ugly. When looking at the photo, it becomes clear that this is not true, but this gossip contributed to the creation of a different version of the Nosferatu story in 2000 (read below).

Remakes of the original "Nosferatu"

In 1978, the plot was reinterpreted by another German director - Werner Herzeg in the film "Nosferatu - Ghost of the Night". "Nosferatu" in 1922, Herzog considered a masterpiece and decided to make his own remake in memory of him. The role of Nosferatu in this film was played by German actor Klaus Kinski. The image of a vampire fit well with his role as a psychopath and a murderer.

Another version of the story was Edmund Meridge's 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire. It tells in an original way who the Nosferatu is in the 1922 tape. According to the plot, in fact, there was no Max Shrek, and Nosferatu (William Dafoe) plays a real vampire, gradually starting the hunt for the lead actress Greta Schroeder. The aforementioned gossip about Max Schreck's appearance may have contributed to writing such an original script.

Variants of the origin of the word

There are several versions of the origin of the neologism nosferatu. According to one of them, the source was the Greek word"nosephoros", meaning "carrying diseases".

Also, in Romanian, the word suflu means "breath". A good explanation for who a nosferatu is is that it may be a made-up form of the word "breathless". In addition, there is the Romanian word nesuferit, which means disgusting or disgusting. Remarkably, this word is often used in relation to the devil.