Why do I call myself Count Orlok, you ask?
“Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror” Image Entertainment’s Special Edition DVD.
For those wondering why I have chosen the pseudonym Count Orlok ’22, the reason behind this is simple: Count Orlok was the titular vampire character in the 1922 silent German horror film Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens, which is my favorite film. The ’22 is a reference to the year the film was released as well as to my age at the time of creating this alias.
“Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror” Kino On Video’s Restored Authorized Edition DVD.
Now back to the film. Nosferatu was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker‘s 1897 novel Dracula. The film’s director, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau uses the archetype of the blood-sucking vampire as a metaphor for the horrors of war and fascism. As the parasitic vampire, Orlok invades the small village of Wisborg, Germany, where he spreads a plague of death and destruction. This plague was a symbolic reference to the totalitarianism that was rising in Germany at the time the film was being made.
Murnau, himself served as a pilot in WWI, but then after witnessing the senseless killing he condemned war and unnecessary death. Murnau left Germany just as the Nazi Party was beginning to rise in power. He went to America and there he shot a masterpiece (Sunrise – A Song of Two Humans), but after his next two projects were interfered with by studio executives, Murnau decided that the commercial interests of Hollywood conflicted with his own artistic aesthetics. Leaving America behind, he would next travel to Tahiti where he would direct his last motion picture (Tabu – A Tale of the South Seas). Shortly before the film’s premiere in 1931, Murnau would die in a tragic automobile accident.
“Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens” Kino International’s Ultimate DVD Edition.
By assuming this alias I am both paying tribute to a classic film and its brilliant director, as well as expressing my abhorrence for war and violence in all of its manifestations.
Parasites are we as we live at the expense of others…
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Preliminary poster by Albin Grau (circa 1921-1922)
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“Nosferatu” poster by Albin Grau (1922)
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“Nosferatu” one sheet poster by Albin Grau (1922)
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Original production design, conceptual, and promotional artwork by Albin Grau.
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“Nosferatu” theatrical program book cover illustration by Albin Grau (1922)
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Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (photo circa 1924)
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Graf Orlok und Herr Hutter
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Orlok emerges from below deck.
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Orlok stalks the ship.
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Orlok grasping…
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Der Schatten des Graf Orlok
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The shadow of Count Orlok ascending the stairs.
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Orlok und Ellen
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Parasites are we as we live at the expense of others…
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“Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror” DVD by Image Entertainment
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“Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror” Restored Authorized Edition DVD by Kino On Video
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“Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens” The Ultimate DVD Edition by Kino International