Nosferatu skips over what could have been the most action-packed and potentially horrifying sequence of the entire movie. Nosferatu is the most recent of several adaptations of the 1922 silent film of the same name, which itself was an unofficial adaption of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. Therefore, even though the vampire in Nosferatu is named Count Orlok, rather than Count Dracula, the film adapts the main story beats of the iconic horror novel. However, Nosferatu largely ignores one specific chapter in the novel, which was the basis for an entire movie which came out in 2023.

Instead of focusing on action, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu focuses on the dread that these characters feel as a result of the haunting relationship between Count Orlok and Ellen. Orlok’s evil pursuits lead to the death of many characters in Nosferatu. However, characters like Ellen, Thomas, and Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz remain alive to eventually kill Orlok at the end of Nosferatu. Long before Orlok perishes in Ellen’s arms, he terrorizes the crew members working on a ship, which was depicted in detail in the 2023 film The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

Nosferatu Doesn’t Show Count Orlok Traveling By Boat To Wisburg

Count Orlok Travels From Transylvania To Wisburg In Nosferatu

After Thomas sells Count Orlok an estate in Wisburg, the city where he lives with his wife, Ellen, the evil vampire arranges for himself to be transported from his castle in Transylvania. In the middle of the film, Orlok is transported on a ship called the Empusa. This is Nosferatu’s stand-in for the ship called the Demeter, which was featured in chapter 7 of Stoker’s Dracula. The chapter тιтled “The Captain’s Log” tells the horrifying voyage of the Demeter from Varna, Bulgaria to Whitby, England.

In the chapter, the captain writes in his log as the Demeter’s crew members begin to go missing. Once he is the only person left on board, the captain ties himself to the ship’s wheel with a crucifix. Once the Demeter arrives in Whitby, the captain is found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, and of course, Dracula is nowhere to be found. Instead of adapting this whole chapter, Nosferatu only reveals what happened to the Empusa after Orlok already arrived in Wisburg. Furthermore, Orlok is only shown murdering one crew member of the Empusa in the film.

2023’s The Last Voyage Of The Demeter Is An Entire Movie Based Around This Dracula Story

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter Portrays Its Vampire Differently From Nosferatu

While Nosferatu mostly ignores this Dracula chapter, the 2023 film The Last Voyage of the Demeter depicts “The Captain’s Log” in extreme detail. The Last Voyage of Demeter begins with the Demeter washing ashore in England and the police finding the captain’s log, before jumping a month into the past. Since the entirety of the movie depicts the events of chapter 7 of Dracula, The Last Voyage of the Demeter takes the time to get to know the crew members of the ship, which makes it all the more tragic when they die.

While Nosferatu doesn’t really include any action at all, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is meant to be an action-packed and utterly terrifying monster movie. Therefore, in many ways, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a great companion movie to Nosferatu, since they have two distinct takes on the iconic vampire story. However, The Last Voyage of the Demeter was a critical and commercial failure. The film has an underwhelming 50% on Rotten Tomatoes (via Rotten Tomatoes) and only made $21.7 million at the box office on a budget of $45 million (via Box Office Mojo).

Nosferatu Was Better Off Skipping The Voyage Of The Demeter Story

Nosferatu Is A Slow Burn Horror Movie

One year after The Last Voyage of the Demeter failed to bring audiences to the theaters, Nosferatu was a mᴀssive box office success. Nosferatu grossed $178 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing movie of Eggers’ career (via Box Office Mojo). Additionally, Nosferatu has been praised by critics, and has an impressive score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes (via Rotten Tomatoes). If Nosferatu did adapt “The Captain’s Log” chapter, it would have drawn more comparisons to The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which ultimately wouldn’t have been good for Eggers’ film.

Adapting this Dracula chapter would have added more action and scares to Nosferatu, but it would have felt out of place since Eggers was focused on telling a different kind of story. Instead of making a vampire movie with a lot of jump scares, Nosferatu successfully focuses on the dread and hopelessness caused by Orlok’s evil. Following the crew of the Empusa for a chunk of the movie, and shifting focus away from characters like Ellen and Thomas, ultimately would have made Nosferatu a worse move. Therefore, it is good that Nosferatu didn’t properly adapt the voyage of the Demeter.