Folk horror master Robert Eggers' latest feature Nosferatu focuses on one of the oldest and most iconic movie monsters, and introduces a modern scream king as the latest incarnation of the unsettling Count Orlok. Bill Skarsgård's mustachioed Transylvanian nobleman is a terrifying and well-envisioned modern interpretation of the typically bald, pale vampire, and noticeably different from the other actors who have portrayed the character. While Count Orlok originated in F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent German Expressionist film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, the character has been seen in multiple movies over the last century.

While the character of Dracula has been adapted ad nauseam, Count Orlok hasn't generated the mainstream appeal of his more debonair counterpart. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is itself an adaptation of Bram Stoker's original gothic horror novel Dracula, and is distinct in a number of ways. Count Orlok is unique among vampire depictions, and...