Revisiting the Nosferatu satire ‘Shadow of the Vampire’
Theories are a quintessential part of film fan culture. Film buffs spend countless hours re-watching films to pick out any sequences or shots that can become part of a hidden meaning or reality one would not notice upon first viewing.
Whether it be a significant character secretly being a figment of imagination, or a director’s filmography being one consecutive story taking place in one universe, fan theories provide a whole new perspective on a film and a source of entertainment. Some theories begin as one proposed interpretation made upon a film’s release, only to be built on and expanded by others for years.
Films from any era or genre are open to theories; ones from earlier cinema periods are laced with an aura of mystery and thrill. Any ambiguity present in a film’s plot or the filming process welcomes theories to try to fill in the blanks and elevate attention.
One historical piece of film that exemplifies this is Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau’s unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker’s horror novel Dracula, published in 1897. The film is about an estate agent who has to protect his wife from his employer, Count Orlok (Max Schreck), who is secretly a vampire.
So what’s the theory surrounding this German masterpiece?
It involves the star credit, Schreck (fun fact: ‘Schreck’ derives from the German word for fright or terror), who some believed to be a little too good at playing a blood-sucking vamp. The actor’s ‘true’ form was questioned in Shadow of the Vampire, a stop motion comedy starring John Malkovich and Willem Defoe. The film’s plot entertains the theory that Schreck was a real vampire who fed on the blood of the cast and crew as payment for starring in the movie.
The proof the film offers is shown through the mysterious behaviour of Schreck (Defoe) during the filming of Nosferatu. He can only be seen in makeup, must only be filmed at night, and never breaks character. Soon, the evidence becomes more compelling and unnerving, as bottled blood is found among Schreck’s possessions.
There is soon the shocking reveal that Schreck isn’t just portraying a vampire in a piece of fiction. He is actually a vampire.
The film depicts members of the cast and crew being killed off by Schreck to satisfy his taste for blood. The director (Malkovich) is only concerned with creating the most authentic vampire film of all time, even though Nosferatu didn’t have much competition to be compared to in terms of media about vampires. Shadow of the Vampire explores the trope of the obsessed and committed artist through this hyper-characterisation of Murnau.
Even though Shadow of the Vampire has fallen back to the point of being forgotten, it’s still a fun film to revisit if your niche is film set theories that echo the events of the actual movie. Its content mirrors several fan theories in the horror genre. These include the idea that the set of The Exorcist was actually possessed and cursed by a demon, and the, soon proved theory that the skeletons from the graveyard in Poltergeist were real.
