WEBVTT - The Monstrefact Redux: Count Orlok 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters. In

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<v Speaker 2>time at last, I can speak to you of the

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<v Speaker 2>most recent cinematic treatment of Count Or Locke, the off

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<v Speaker 2>brand Dracula from nineteen twenty two's Nosferatu, a symphony of horror,

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<v Speaker 2>who went on to become a horror icon in his

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<v Speaker 2>own right. We have to remember that in nineteen twenty

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<v Speaker 2>two Bram Stoker's novel Dracula was only thirty five years old.

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<v Speaker 2>In fact, F. W. Murnow's unauthorized adaptation drew the ire

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<v Speaker 2>of Stoker's widow, whose legal actions threatened to see all

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<v Speaker 2>copies of the now legendary silent film destroyed. Luckily, of course,

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<v Speaker 2>Murnow's masterpiece survived, as horror film historian David J. Skahl

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<v Speaker 2>points out in his book Vias for Vampire, The a

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<v Speaker 2>to Z guide Do Everything Undead. The German expressionist picture

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<v Speaker 2>can largely be seen as a quote metaphor of the

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<v Speaker 2>plaguelike destruction of Germany in World War one. He also

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<v Speaker 2>points out that in its initial release, it was far

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<v Speaker 2>from the silent, black and white nightmare that we think

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<v Speaker 2>of today, and was actually elaborately colored, tinted, and accompanied

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<v Speaker 2>by a modernist orchestra score. The film influenced not only

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<v Speaker 2>subsequent Dracula adaptations, but horror cinema as a whole. While

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<v Speaker 2>Dracula deservingly enjoys the greater following and has seen countless

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<v Speaker 2>screen and TV incarnations, count Orlock has enjoyed his own

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<v Speaker 2>cinematic legacy as something of a deeper cut. Klaus Kinsky

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<v Speaker 2>famously played the bald, cadaverous vampire in Werner Herzod's Nosferatu

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<v Speaker 2>Fantom der Nacht and then once more sort of and

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<v Speaker 2>with a full head of hair, in nineteen eighty the

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<v Speaker 2>Yates Vampire in Venice. Versions of the character were subsequently

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<v Speaker 2>played by the likes of Willem Dafoe, Doug Jones, and

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<v Speaker 2>on SpongeBob SquarePants Alexander Ward. The originator, however, was German

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<v Speaker 2>actor Max Schreck, who lived eighteen seventy nine to nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>thirty six, a man whose gaunt features and expressive eyes

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<v Speaker 2>works so well with the makeup to summon the specter

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<v Speaker 2>of a hideous corpse like vampire, one more in keeping

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<v Speaker 2>with Stoker's original vision for Dracula, but somewhat distant from

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<v Speaker 2>the mainstream cinematic visions popularized by the likes of Bela Lagosi,

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<v Speaker 2>Christopher Lee, and Gary Oldman. Robert Egger's twenty twenty four

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<v Speaker 2>remake cast Bill Skarsgard as the bloodthirsty count, this time

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<v Speaker 2>with a full regal mustache. As pointed out by Jazz

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<v Speaker 2>Tenke in the twenty twenty five Variety article Creep Show,

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<v Speaker 2>the Nosferatu makeup artists worked magic to create the King

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<v Speaker 2>of the Undead. David White's makeup effects for Orla included

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<v Speaker 2>sixty two prosthetic pieces, including both a penis and a

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<v Speaker 2>tongue soak to cover everything but the souls of Scarsguard's

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<v Speaker 2>feet and of course, his expressive eyes, though even those

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<v Speaker 2>benefited from contacts. Quoted in the Variety article, Eggers pointed

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<v Speaker 2>out that the prosthetic penis was necessary, especially as Orlock

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<v Speaker 2>rises from his coffin naked quote that in itself is

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<v Speaker 2>a bit of a phallic act, as is most of

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<v Speaker 2>everything that Orlock does in the movie. If you've seen

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<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty four's Nosferatu. You're well aware that the entire film,

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<v Speaker 2>and especially its villain, walks a line between eroticism and repulsion.

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<v Speaker 2>In this, the filmmakers explore a common realm of inquiry

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<v Speaker 2>in vampire media, the mingling of sex and death. When

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<v Speaker 2>we see Orlock feed in the film, he feeds naked

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<v Speaker 2>and writhing, his whole body seeming to function as a

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<v Speaker 2>blood pump in a most alarming fashion. Now, of course,

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<v Speaker 2>one can go much deeper than this in analyzing the

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<v Speaker 2>sexual nature of vampires in general. Skall, for instance, in

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<v Speaker 2>his book, references Freudian interpretations in which a vampire's sexual

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<v Speaker 2>energy is displaced into oral feeding, the fluids of living

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<v Speaker 2>reproduction and deathly predation confused and or substituted in death

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<v Speaker 2>denied sex, they feed, spawning undeath, not life, in the

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<v Speaker 2>bodies of their victims. As for the word nosferatu, cited

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<v Speaker 2>in the film and indeed in Stoker's original novel as

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<v Speaker 2>a Romanian word for vampire, it apparently means nothing at all.

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<v Speaker 2>Askall points out the word is likely a corruption of

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<v Speaker 2>the Romanian adjective nesuferite, which means not to suffer. As

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<v Speaker 2>in vampires are insufferable. The error appeared in Emily D.

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<v Speaker 2>Lazawaska Gerrard's eighteen eighty five essay Transylvanian Superstition, which Stoker

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<v Speaker 2>consulted in writing Dracula. Tune in for additional episodes of

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<v Speaker 2>The Monster, Fact, The Artifact, or Animalius Dupendium each week.

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<v Speaker 2>As always, you can email us at contact at stuff

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<v Speaker 2>to Blow your Mind dot com.

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