Vampire Movies and Nosferatu

So, a bit of a novel here, but this post is a summary of some thoughts I had before I watching Nosferatu:

Some people think that I love Vampire movies. This is not quite right. I do like horror movies under certain conditions, and vampire movies often meet the criteria.
• I like to be scared/thrilled.
• I like to be made to think.
• I like stories that communicate truth.
• I like morality plays.
• I DO NOT like merely shocking horror. Gruesomeness for gruesomeness’ sake. (In the same way that “shock comedy” is not as funny to me. I like clever humor, not uncomfortable humor. Except slapstick. That is silly but funny if done well.)

So, I find vampire stories potentially interesting because they are a good metaphor if done right. Even in the case of some “disappointing”, “bad”, or “wrong” vampire movies, I sometimes find them interesting or helpful in the way that they contribute to the conversation, sometimes by “proving the rule through an exception.” However, there are plenty of vampire films (the majority actually) that are disappointing gargabe.

Also, each era and society that makes vampire movies expose a bit of their own worldview, so that the movie are often commentaries on the condition of the culture that produced them.

The Vampire Metaphor is good in several ways:
• It represents a clear dichotomy between good and evil.
• It is a good warning against evil.
• It often shows the enticing temptations that evil offers and exposes how horrifying and dangerous evil is.
• It exposes the lies of those temptations, be they offers of power, sensuality, or a protection.
• It illustrates the need to believe a truth that society ignores or denies.
• In some of the best cases, it shows a need for community (a community of belief) and the dangers of isolation.

Where the metaphor goes bad can be seen in a lot of ways:
• When the evil is shown to not be really evil at all. (Twilight?)
• When the story dives too deep into trying to understand, justify, or wash away the evil by identifying with the vampires.
• When the story leans into evil and denies good. Too nihilistic and hopeless.

The novel “Dracula” is so good because it touches on so many of the good apsects above. It has been interpreted in dozens of ways, but there is a strong argument for reading it as a classic good vs. evil story. The evil is unambiguous. The end is positive and hopeful.

Nosferatu (1922) changed the story for a lot of reasons. It had to avoid copyright violations (fail!) but also had to condense the story a lot. It also changed much of the core to a slightly different message:
• good vs evil leans into a modern vs ancient dynamic, which is interesting.
• the evil inflicted on the vampire (whether willingly or not, we are not told) has isolated him from humanity and he craves a return to relationships, even though this is futile due to the extent of the evil.
• this is contrasted with the clear love and innocence of the husband and wife in the film
• the hope is not in modernity, nor in any sort of belief in the truth of the vampire that can be fought in community.
• a victim has to sacrifice herself to save the city, and the worthiness of that sacrifice is questionable because modernity is so foolish
• there is also the interesting way that the culture of the Weimar Republic seems to have influenced the story, with elements of antisemitism and authoritarianism popping up, even though many of the creators of the film were jews and many of them fled the Nazi regime rather than embrace it.

Nosferatu 1979 changes things yet again:
• Herzog leaned into the loneliness and isolation of the vampire, and his sadness (maybe even a lame attempt at repentance?)
• he also did a good job of contrasting modernity and its foolish certainty with older, sometimes wiser knowledge
• however, the evil of the vampire is shown as a real danger in the way that it tempts the husband away from the purity and innocence
• both versions of Nosferatu also treat the evil as a form of plague or sickness that is supernatural and dangerous, which is interesting

So, looking at Nosferatu 2024, I had the following thoughts:

I am not too worried about the artistic, aesthetic elements. They will likely be good. Although I am concerned about the look of the vampire. I am afraid they will change it completely so that it is no longer Nosferatu, but just a new vampire.

Will it contribute well or poorly to the metaphor, though? A checklist might help:
o Will the evil be unambiguous?
o Will there be a good to balance out or even overcome the evil?
o Will the evil be exposed as enticing, but horrifying and dangerous, or merely enticing?
o Will it be a morality play with a warning, or merely a nihilistic story?
o Since it is a Nosferatu story, and not a Dracula, I have little hope for a community of belief that can battle the evil. However, I am interested to see what spin they put on Mina’s/Lucy’s/Ellen’s sacrifice.