Nosferatu: The Vampire Movie That Almost Vanished

When Florence Stoker discovered someone had stolen her late husband’s vampire story, she set out to destroy every copy of the film—but like the undead monster at its heart, ‘Nosferatu’ refused to stay buried.

A well-known horror novel titled “Dracula” was written in 1897 by an Irish writer named Bram Stoker. The novel was about Count Dracula, a vampire in a Transylvanian castle who wanted to move to England. As for Dracula, he was an aristocratic and seductive vampire, albeit with a sinister underbelly. The book went on to become very successful, and people enjoyed its terrifying tale.

A few years later, it was 1921, something interesting happened in the country of Germany. A film company named Prana Film wanted to create their own vampire film. The producer, Albin Grau, was inspired to create it after hearing stories about the undead while serving in the First World War. They named the film “Nosferatu,” believing it was the Romanian word for vampire (which it wasn’t, in fact).

But there was a small problem: They didn’t seek permission to use Bram Stoker’s story. Bram had died in 1912, and his widow Florence held the rights to “Dracula.” The filmmakers tweaked some details from the original story, and figured that would be enough to make their movie different. Rather than Count Dracula, they made a vampire named Count Orlok. Instead of setting the story in England, they located it in a German town, Wisborg.

The biggest shift was what their vampire looked like and how they acted. Count Orlok was not a handsome fellow like the Count Dracula; he was actually pretty scary to look at. He had a hairless head, pointy ears, long spiked fingernails, and a wiry, hunched frame. “It made him look like a scary rat, not a human. His actor, Max Schreck, played him so well that some people joked he could have been a real vampire! (His surname, incidentally, translated as “terror” in German.)

When the film was released in 1922, Florence Stoker was furious. Though they had altered some details, she knew the film was basing itself on her husband’s book. She sued and won: A judge ordered that all copies of “Nosferatu” be destroyed.

But something unexpected happened. While many of those films were destroyed in Germany, some had already made it to the United States. In America, anyone could use the “Dracula” story without getting permission, so the movie lived. Individuals circulated these copies clandestinely, and “Nosferatu” emerged as what is known as a cult classic — a movie that develops a devoted following over the years.

Count Orlok was different from Dracula in many intriguing ways. Whereas Dracula could walk during the day (he was strongest at night, however), sunlight would destroy Count Orlok completely. Dracula had no reflection, but Count Orlok had a fearsome shadow. Count Orlok’s movie demise was also different. Rather than being killed by vampire hunters like Dracula, Count Orlok perished when a woman named Ellen manipulated him into remaining until the morning sun.

Despite Florence Stoker’s best efforts to kill “Nosferatu,” the film and its creepy vampire lived on. Today, Count Orlok is one of the most iconic monsters in movie horror. Many other movies have been inspired by this film, including one remake released in late 2024. Much like a true vampire, it appears Count Orlok’s tale is immortal.

Interestingly, in the case of “Nosferatu,” trying to rip someone off resulted in a work that is entirely its own masterpiece. Although the filmmakers had no right to use Bram Stoker’s tale, what they reinvented as their own version of the vampire story doesn’t just end up holding its own alongside the literary original, but in time also became a classic in its own right, with some even claiming it’s better than Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of the Prince of the Night.