“I am an appetite. Nothing more. O’er centuries, a loathsome beast, I lay within the darkest pit. ‘Til you did wake me, enchantress, and stir me from my grave.”

This may be my favorite movie. I could write for days about how meticulously unsettling and detailed the film is. It is so vile and abhorrent that I’m near-embarrassed to admit that I love it. But I’m not sure I have much control over how much I enjoy Nosferatu. Just as the characters here have no control over their destiny.

Spoilers and gross generalizations below.

We are first introduced to a young Ellen who is described as if she lived in heathen times she might have been a Great Priestess of Isis. She is sad, lonely, desperate, depressed and calls for help, from anyone. She summons Orlok who tells Ellen “You awakened me from an eternity of darkness. You… You… You are not for the living. You are not for human kind.”

Against Orlok’s will and against Ellen’s expectations, she awakens Orlok from where he laid within the darkest pit (Orlok’s not eternal afterlife). She cursed him, for he was resurrected as a vampire. Forced to avoid all sunlight and sleep in a coffin. Forced to feed on blood. Forced to stench with rot. He is overpowered by his appetite and only Ellen can ultimately sate him.

I particularly enjoyed the themes of control in the film. Orlok has no control but to be an appetite. Ellen is repeatedly constricted, drugged, poked & prodded. And what of Thomas? Poor Thomas. Duped into traveling to release Orlok from his imprisoned castle and from his nuptials. Poor Thomas to witness the end of his wife’s tale. Poor Thomas.

I love the scene selected here showing a showdown to 2 characters that want to be released from their bonds. This scene cemented for me how these 2 souls are so depravedly abused.

While Ellen and Orlok were tortured in life, this movie is their happy ending. No more suffering:

“And lo, the maiden fair did offer up her love unto the beast and with him lay in close embrace until the first cock crow. Her willing sacrifice thus broke the curse and freed them from the plague of Nosferatu.”