destruction was n’t the end for poor Lucy Westenra . A character in Bram Stoker ’s 1897 novel , " Dracula , " she fell victim to the book ’s aristocratic villain . While stealing herbloodnight after nighttime , Count Dracula of Transylvania slowly drained the sprightliness out of Lucy .
But that was only the rootage . For the young woman ’s grampus also metamorphose her into an undeadvampirelike himself .
A brief reign of holy terror ensue at the burying ground . Then Lucy ’s living fiancée , Arthur , and his companion — including the lamia - savvy Dr. Abraham Van Helsing — see her awake near her tomb . She was finally destroyed for good after trying to quiet Arthur into a lover ’s embrace .
Had Arthur take her " osculate , " Dr. Van Helsing explained , the mourning suitor would have " become nosferatu , as they call it in Eastern Europe . "
" The nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once , " Van Helsing later said ( in the proficient Doctor of the Church ’s break English).“He is only stronger ; and being inviolable , have yet more power to wreak evil . "
In " Dracula , " Stoker treats " nosferatu " as a equivalent word for " vampire . " myriad horror writers involve his jumper lead over the next 123 years ; even " Treehouse of Terror IV , " a 1993 episode of " The Wallis Warfield Simpson , " used the two terms interchangeably .
Like Van Helsing , Stoker believed " nosferatu " was an unquestionable give-and-take of Eastern European origin . But the evidence tells another story . " Nosferatu " is probably a mistranslation of some Roumanian or Greek condition scholars have yet to pin down .
Whatever its origins were , repugnance media give way " nosferatu " a unexampled meaning . And it became ready - made title fodder for some of the scariest vampire narration ever to rise up from the shadows .
Travelling Terror
trip writerEmily Gerardwas mouth vampire well before " Dracula " become to print . Born in Scotland in 1849 , she emerged as a novelist andliterary critic . Yet chronicle mostly remembers her nonfiction works on European folklore . Gerard ’s 1885 essay , " Transylvanian Superstitions " curb the next enactment :
" More decidedly evil , however , is the vampire , or nosferatu , in whom every Roumenian[sic]peasant believes as firm as he does in heaven or hell . "
The job is , " nosferatu " was n’t a actual discussion . Not in Romanian and not in any knownEastern European language or dialect . Gerard might have bollix up the Rumanian word " nesuferit , " which have in mind " unbearable . " It ’s also possible that she misunderstand ( and misspelled ) " necuratul , " a Rumanian term for " demon . " Or peradventure Gerard was thinking of the Grecian word " nosorophos , " specify as a " plague - postman . "
A 19th - centurytravel opus , " Torturing Spirits in Romanian Popular Belief , " assign to Heinrich von Wlislocki , do a standardised fault . The textmentionsthe " Nosferat , " whom the author calls the " most dangerous excruciate spirit of Romanian folklore . " That does n’t prove he was ever discover to this concept out in the champaign . Wlislocki may have borrowed the Holy Writ " Nosferat " from Gerard ’s writings .
Bram Stoker on the face of it did . Most horror historiographer credit Gerard ’s essay and her 1888 book " The Land Beyond the Forest : fact , Figures and Fancies from Transylvania " with introducing Stoker to the term " nosferatu . "
But " nosferatu " only makes two appearances in the " Dracula " novel . It did n’t really go mainstream until one of Germany ’s strange question delineation party came along .
Nightmares and Copyrights
Prana Filmjust could n’t assist itself . Founded by Albin Grau and Enrico Dieckmann , this young , German - based studio apartment was draw to all things occult and supernatural . Early in the 1920s , Prana resolved to put " Dracula " on the silver cover . What come after was a rightful classic of the horror writing style — and a sound disaster .
Jonathan Bailey is a author and horror devotee . He ’s written about the amazingly long account of right of first publication issues in monster cinema on his website , " Plagiarism Today . "
" Prana Film wanted to do an expressionist retelling of the story of Dracula . That was very much the design from day one , " Bailey says in an email . " However , the estate of Bram Stoker ( meaning his widow Florence Stoker ) did n’t want to sell them the right hand . Rather than abandon the estimate , they changed the name and a few other element … to make it an ' original ' work . "
Bailey research the revisions in a2011 web clause . telephone most of them " trivial " would be generous . The lamia in Prana ’s script is still an blue blood with a spooky castle who travels across the sea and raises hell in a raw city . But here , he goes by " Count Orlok " rather than " Count Dracula . "
To cover its tracks further , Prana Film discarded the volume ’s title . Their chosen replacement ? " Nosferatu , a Symphony of Horror . " Today , it ’s also known as just plain " Nosferatu . "
Germany had already signed onto aninternational agreementprotecting the copyright of " literary and artistic employment . " By keeping Bram Stoker ’s basic plot of ground more or less intact , the squad at Prana was running afoul of the law — whether they realized it or not .
" Film was a VERY Modern medium at the time , especially commercially , " note Bailey .
" Whenever a new technology comes along for creativeness , right of first publication is normally one of the last things to get serious view … Even if filmmakers understood the basics of right of first publication police force , they in all probability did n’t grasp the nuances of it . After all , they ’re filmmaker , not lawyers . This is something that remains very true today , " Bailey tells us .
From “Nosferatu” to “NOS4A2”
On March 4 , 1922 , Prana Film ’s " Nosferatu"premieredat the Berlin Zoological Gardens ( of all places ) . Starring Max Schreck as the earnestly creepy-crawly Count Orlok , it was acclaimed by audiences and most critics .
Most critic , that is , except Florence Stoker .
seek as she might — andman , did she try — Florence Stoker could n’t bump off " Nosferatu . " An American print survived the death campaign . Prana Film ’s masterpiece now reside in the public domain ; it ’s gotten unnumbered DVD rereleases and is complimentary to watch on platformslike YouTube .
" Nosferatu " may have really helped the enfranchisement it rend off . In 1924 , Stoker ’s widow woman authorized a newstage play adaptationof " Dracula . " The leading man in the Broadway yield was a young Magyar named Bela Lugosi .
He ’d reprise the office for Universal Pictures ' classic ( and effectual ) 1931 " Dracula " motion picture . Simultaneously , Universal made aSpanish - linguistic process versionon the same sets with different worker . Count Dracula ’s been a Hollywood darling ever since .
As for that frequent Prana flick , it got a high - profile remaking in the manakin of Werner Herzog ’s " Nosferatu the Vampyre " ( 1979 ) . Then came the 2013 novel " NOS4A2 " by Joe Hill , the pen name of Stephen King ’s son , Joseph . A serialized TV version persist on AMC for two season in 2019 and 2020 .
So there you have it . " Nosferatu " is a word of unknown origin that appear in a innovative horror novel , got implicated in some legal drama , changed moving-picture show story and inspired a apt wordplay from a member of the King family . Emily Gerard had no idea what she ’d started .
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