5 Easter Eggs You May Have Missed in Nosferatu

In case you missed it, Robert Eggers is the horror genre's golden child, because in his films like Nosferatu, there is no need for senseless gore, gratitous visibility, or campy pools of whatever (yes, The Evil Dead comes to mind).

And, in what has to be the most fitting piece of entertainment irony, a man named "Eggers" isn't too shabby with placing easter eggs in his remarkable Gothic tale hearkening back to 1922 and renewing the visceral creeps of Count Orlok.

Quick note on "Orlok." Yes, he is "Dracula." However, Bram Stoker understood he wrote a macabre novel so alluring that entertainment would eventually want to do something with it. He was right when F.W. Murnaw created the original Nosferatu. Stoker wanted money for the use of "Dracula," so Murnaw used everything from the powerful book--except the Vampyre's name.

And that's why Max Schreck played Count Orlok and not some Transylvanian eternal lothario named Dracula.

Where were the Easter Eggs in Nosferatu? Here goes...The Clues and the Spoilers.

5. Van Helsing = Von Franz

By now, horror fans understand that Willem Dafoe is Robert Eggers' good-luck charm, much like John Ratzenberger ("Cliff" from Cheers) is to Pixar Studios. His role in Nosferatu couldn't be any more important. In Eggers' film, his prolific character is Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz.

Watch him all you want. There's no denying that he is the modern Van Helsing. Although Abraham Van Helsing was not in the 1922 version, that was only to escape copyright infringement. The idea of Professor Bulwer is the same as Von Franz.

4. What's So Funny?

The entire film bodes upon the dreary horror captured in Count Orlok's face. In the 1922 Nosferatu, his face is the stuff of nightmares. People had no clue how to handle that non-blinking nocturnal guy. (Fun Fact: Max Schreck blinks only once during the entire film.) But this was a silent film. His eyes did all the talking necessary.

Today, we are surrounded with a cacophony of creep factors, so something had to stick with us. Yes, Bill Skarsgård is haunting as Orlok, but that laugh!? Whoa. That is an entirely sardonic sensation altogether. Consider them equals because both will rock us to sleep. That is, if we can even nod off.

3. Playing in the Shadows

Throughout Eggers' Nosferatu, we notice the Vampyre's powers live in the shadows. He can reach things--and people--and grab anything under his hypnotic spell. He stretches over entire cities and teleports to where his shadow reached first. That is 100% from Murnaw's Nosferatu.

Orlok looms in menacing darkness and is able to bend time to his own affect--all in the shadows. First in 1922, and now in 2024.

2. Yeah, Science!

In 1922, the idea of communicating science in a silent film didn't resonate much with filmmakers. Much less, it waned appeal with film goers too. However, Murnaw didn't shy from how the idea of Van Helsing's mercurial knowledge of chemicals made him understand the Vampyre all the more. So, when we meet Von Franz in 2024, we hear everything that Murnaw was showing us. A brilliant touch of storytelling and nod to the original.

1. Act Five

Typically, a movie is broken down into three distinct "acts" or parts of the story. It's homiletical, much like a message in church. The message on the screen is the introduction, which leads into the three points, and then the rally for people to fully understand the truth of what transpired.

The three-act structure in the majority of films is made for story structure; to help screenwriters create something for directors to plan and shoot.

The 1922 version of Nosferatu was a German expressionistic film. Storytelling is all it had. Well, that and Count Orlok's beady eyeballs. Analyzing the film, you will find five acts that stray from clear narration into the complexities of the characters and two different climaxes. If you pay close attention to Eggers' version, you will see all five acts.

That is an expertly laid Cadbury Easter Egg for certain.