Five Films That Inspired Robert Eggers' Approach to Nosferatu

Robert Eggers' Nosferatu, now in theaters, is the latest in a long line of films following the same cultural influences. A re-imagining of the 1922 film of the same, which Eggers first saw when he was 9 years old, it's inspired by Eastern European folklore, centuries of vampire storytelling, and of course, decades of vampire cinema, all wrapped up in the director's dark world.

Though Eggers brings a vast depth and breadth of cinematic and artistic knowledge to bear on Nosferatu, which makes pinning down every single influence on the film very difficult, there are a few the director has shouted out in interviews that bear discussing, including some unexpected inspirations that helped Eggers understand what not to do. Now that the film is out in the world, let's take a closer look at five key influences.

Nosferatu (1922) 

Though Eggers has said he deliberately avoided pulling influence from Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of Nosferatu, the filmmaker was, of course, deeply affected by F.W. Murnau's original silent classic. It's a film that's been with Eggers for most of his life, and there are numerous moments in his remake that deliberately reflect some of Murnau's creative choices. Among the most recognizable: Count Orlok's (Bill Skarsgard) ability to affect the surrounding world with just his shadow, the seaside cemetery shots, and the moment when Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) discovers Count Orlok's sarcophagus for the first time, throwing it open to reveal the monster within. These moments and more are all very direct pulls from Murnau's world, with Eggers' own modern updates.

Dracula (1931)

Murnau's Nosferatu is, very famously, an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, and was followed nine years later by an authorized film version produced by Universal Pictures. Directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role, Dracula is certainly more elegant and less monstrous than Nosferatu, though there is one shot in Eggers' film that owes a direct debt to Browning. According to Eggers, the scene in which Hutter's carriage approaches Orlok's castle was directly inspired by Dracula's opening shot, in which a group of travelers ride a carriage through Transylvania's Borgo Pass.

 "I really wanted to do my version of that," Eggers told Wired.

The Innocents (1961)

Vampire films are an obvious influence on Nosferatu, but Eggers also turned to one of the greatest haunted house movies ever made as a key touchstone for his version of the story. Eggers has named Jack Clayton's The Innocents, an adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, as a major influence on Nosferatu, and it's easy to see why. The story of a governess (Deborah Kerr) who starts to suspect the home where she's charged with two young children is haunted, The Innocents is a story that centers the psychological experiences of a woman amid a society who's unwilling or unable to give her the help and care she needs. That, plus a gripping Gothic atmosphere, was clearly an influence on Nosferatu and its refocused story that's built around the experiences of Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp). 

Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)

Yes, Mel Brooks' 1995 spoof of vampire films, starring Leslie Nielsen in the title role, did play a key part in shaping Nosferatu. In an interview with IndieWire, Eggers noted that he used the film to help him refine his own script, because Brooks' version was so good at pointing out the things about vampires that never quite clicked.

"There are a lot of scenes that were deliberately rewritten after watching the Mel Brooks movie, and considering, ‘Wow, that totally doesn’t make sense,'" Eggers explained.

Possession (1981)

Eggers wasn't the only one who did his Nosferatu homework. For her performance as Ellen Hutter, Lily-Rose Depp turned to another Nosferatu veteran for direct inspiration. Speaking to IndieWire, Depp confirmed that Isabelle Adjani, who played the equivalent of the Ellen character (called Lucy) in Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre (now streaming on Peacock), was a major touchstone for her, but not necessarily because of her work in the vampire film. Depp actually credits a different Adjani performance, in Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 horror film Possession, with inspiring Ellen Hutter's possessed demeanor throughout the film.

Nosferatu is now in theaters. Get tickets at Fandango.