Count Orlok - Definition and Overview

Count Orlok from Nosferatu

Graf Orlok (Count Orlok) is the character performed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu.

In the movie, Count Orlok is a nobleman from Bremen (Germany) who moves to Bonn and brings death with him. He kills every single person in the ship that transported him and then terrorizes Bonn until the night when a virgin decides to sacrifice herself to the vampire. That night, Orlock attacks her in her room and stays there until the sun comes out and kills him.

Orlock is the main model of the nosferatu-like vampire. Unlike Dracula, the "Nosferatu" vampires were neither attractive nor aristocratic at all. They had the appearance of a rat, brought disease and plague wherever they went. In terms of horror movie stereotypes, they are creatures bordering between the vampire and the mutant monster.

The looks of Orlok served as inspiration to many creatures in cinema and in TV series. The most recent one being the underworld devils in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series.

There´s also a clan called Nosferatu in RPG game Vampire: the Masquerade. The main stereotype of the Nosferatu Clan vampire is the exact image of Count Orlok as portrayed by Max Schreck in the 1922 movie.