102 Years Later, Tonight’s TV Remake of One of the Greatest Films Ever!

This film stands as a monumental achievement in cinema that has frightened audiences for generations. It’s one of the pioneering horror films that has set the stage for a now hugely popular genre. Interestingly, this iconic film, rated 4 out of 5, was almost lost to history.

The movie, a modified adaptation of Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula, nearly faced destruction due to a copyright lawsuit in Germany. Producer Albin Grau and director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau experienced significant setbacks as all copies of the film, renamed Nosferatu, were ordered destroyed. Miraculously, a single surviving copy in the United States, which was not subject to these copyright restrictions, saved the film.

Over a century later, Robert Eggers, known for his horror and folklore films like The VVitch, The Northman, and The Lighthouse, has revamped Nosferatu (and Dracula) into a contemporary, gothic, and chilling remake.

The Quintessential Vampire Film

Released in 1922, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Nosferatu is among the earliest horror films, a pioneer of the genre and a masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema. Count Orlock, replacing Dracula, became an iconic figure of cinematic horror. Robert Eggers aimed to recapture this terror in his remake of Nosferatu— the second remake after Werner Herzog’s 1979 version, Nosferatu the Vampyre—bringing the horrific essence of the vampire back to popular culture.

Despite the challenges, the director conducted extensive research into the history and folklore for his version of Nosferatu, demonstrating an enduring fascination with vampires. “What’s fantastic about the vampire in many ways is its adaptability. There’s room for my traditional folkloric vampire, there’s room for Blade, there’s room for Edward Cullen,” he remarked. “The core of it all is the fairy tale inside, the ideas, these inspirations… I don’t see how these themes could ever die; they are eternal… like a vampire.“

And the effort has paid off, as Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, released in theaters at the end of 2024, emerged as a grand horror tale featuring an incredible cast including Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, and Bill Skarsgård, more terrifying than ever as Count Orlock.

If you missed this gothic fable when it debuted in 2024, you are advised to catch up on Nosferatu, the story of an obsession between a tormented young woman and the terrifying vampire who falls for her, spreading horror in his wake, now showing on CANAL+.

The film “Nosferatu” is available on CANAL+.