In Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, Count Orlok kills his victims by sucking their blood, but rather than going for their necks, he feeds from their chests, and this difference actually has a lot more meaning than audiences might think. Based on the 1922 movie, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which itself was based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Eggers’ Nosferatu centers on Ellen, a young woman who suffers from horrific nightmares as her husband goes to meet the mysterious and terrifying Count Orlok. Soon enough, Ellen’s night terrors begin to have real-life effects on those she loves.

Eggers has long been known for his dark, atmospheric filmmaking and his affection for folklore, so remaking Nosferatu isn’t completely out of left field for the director. As previously mentioned, 2024’s Nosferatu follows in the footsteps of several other, much older stories. In this way, Eggers had to decide which elements of the original Nosferatu story that he wanted to keep, and which details would have to be changed so he could stake his own claim in the tale. Ultimately, Count Orlok’s blood-sucking habits are seemingly minor aspects of the movie, but actually have real significance.

Count Orlok’s Blood Drinking Method In Nosferatu Is A Reference To Old Folklore

How Orlok’s Blood Drinking Changes Nosferatu

According to Eggers, Count Orlok drinks blood from his victims’ chests rather than their necks because that was the belief in old folklore. In an interview with GamesRadar+, Eggers revealed that “in folklore, when people are experiencing vampiric attacks it’s similar to old hag syndrome [a colloquial term for sleep paralysis] where you have pressure on your chest, so people interpreted it as vampires drinking blood from their chest.” In this way, going for the chest rather than the neck makes Eggers’ Orlok parallel the vampires of folklore rather than the movie monsters audiences are familiar with.

No matter where Orlok attacks his victims, this detail doesn’t truly change much for Nosferatu, or at least not on a big scale. Either way, his victims are being abused and killed due to his actions. However, Orlok’s use of the chest does act as a slight dissonance from what viewers might have been expecting from a Hollywood vampire, and this helps Eggers’ Nosferatu stand out. In reality, Orlok subverts expectations in countless ways. From his choice of chest over neck to his mustached face, Count Orlok makes himself deeply memorable in all aspects.

Nosferatu Drinking Blood From The Chest Doesn’t Make Sense (& Robert Eggers Knows It)

Orlok’s Blood-Sucking Logic Doesn’t Really Matter

The only problem that really stands out about Count Orlok’s blood-sucking is that it would be impossible for someone to suck blood from a human’s chest. Even Eggers knows this and admits it in his interview. He says, “Now obviously you can’t pierce a breastbone, so it doesn’t really make sense. It makes much more sense to drink someone’s blood from their neck.” Because of this, some could argue that Orlok’s preference for the chest isn’t realistic, and should have changed. Yet, a fantasy horror movie like Nosferatu, doesn’t really need accuracy to be good.

It is easy to poke holes in the logic of Nosferatu’s blood-sucking, but at the end of the day, this is not a movie that is going for realism. Orlok is able to suck his victims’ blood from their chests because he is a being that is beyond the human world, and who has powers that defy reality. He isn’t supposed to be authentic, but horrifying. Arguably, countless other elements of Nosferatu aren’t entirely believable either, from Ellen’s night terrors to Dr. Von Franz’s mysticism, but they evoke strong emotions, and that is the true point of the movie.

Nosferatu Changing How Count Orlok Drinks Blood Is Tied To Robert Eggers’ Approach

Eggers’ Movies Are Better For His Attention To Detail

Ultimately, Eggers choosing to make Orlok drink blood from the chest is simply a testament to his filmmaking style. Eggers is deeply concerned with folklore, and he only makes these small, discreet choices in order to be closer to the source material. Orlok’s blood-sucking is not just an arbitrary change to make Nosferatu stand out, but is a thoughtful piece of work that adds to the character and the story as a whole. It might seem like a tiny detail, but it proves Eggers’ commitment to his own projects and their authenticity.

In the end, this is only one way in which Eggers makes his movies better. Nosferatu has plenty of details that make the film feel so much deeper and more evocative, aside from the blood-sucking. For example, Bill Skarsgård’s voice modulations for Count Orlok made him so much scarier, and the cast’s period-specific costumes helped set the tone for the rest of the film. All in all, Robert Eggers succeeded at building a thought-provoking world inside of Nosferatu.