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Count Orlok
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Graf Orlok | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Race | White Vampire |
| Allies | Knock |
| Enemies | Thomas Hutter Professor Bulwer |
| First appearance | Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens |
| Created by | Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau |
Graf Orlok (ger. "Count Orlok") is a fictional character portrayed by Max Schreck in the silent movie Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens. He was based on Bram Stoker's character; Count Dracula.
In Nosferatu, Count Orlok is a vampire who poses as a nobleman from the Carpathian Mountains who moves to Bremen, Germany, and brings death with him. He lives in a vast castle high in the mountains, which is badly neglected and has a highly sinister feel to it. Local townsfolk refuse to go anywhere near his castle. Orlok is visited by the film's protagonist, the young Thomas Hutter, the assistant of a Bremen estate agent, who travels to his castle to show properties for sale in Bremen. Orlok conceals himself in one of his soil-filled coffins and is loaded onto a ship bound for Bremen. On board the ship, he kills every crew member until only the captain and his first mate remains. Later when the first mate goes to the cargo hold to check it out Count Orlok rose from his coffen scaring the first mate who jumped overboard. The captain tied himself to the wheel of the ship when Count Orlok creep up on him and killed the captain. Upon his arrival in Bremen, he spreads disease and plague, forcing the local authorities to declare a quarantine and provoking hysteria amongst the citizens. At the end of the film, Orlok attempts to attack Hutter's young wife in her room, but is caught unawares by the rays of the rising sun, which burns him away in a cloud of smoke.
Orlock is the main model for a style of fictional vampire that is often nicknamed nosferatu after the movie. Although based upon Count Dracula, Orlok possesses none of his predecessor's aristocratic charm or seductiveness. He resembles something between a rat and a spider and is much more analogous to historical accounts of vampires. He sleeps in soil infected with the Black Death, and brings plague and disease with him. He is followed everywhere by rats, traditional carriers of the feared Black Death. In terms of horror movie stereotypes, other vampires based upon this character are creatures bordering between a vampire and a mutant.
There are several examples of later film makers basing their vampires upon the Orlok-style vampire. The original Salem's Lot mini-series (based on the Stephen King novel of the same name) portrayed the master vampire, Kurt Barlow, as looking very much like Orlok. Eli Damaskinos, Jared Nomak and the entire Reaper race in Blade II also resemble Count Orlock. The Master from Buffy The Vampire Slayer as well resembles Count Orlock. Is possible too that the character Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events was inspired on Orlok.
The 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire presented a fictional account of the filming of Nosferatu in which Schreck (played by Willem Dafoe) is actually a vampire.
Orlok has also been featured on several occasions in the popular Castlevania video game series. Firstly, he served as a boss in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, in which he is referred to as Orlox. Also, in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Orlox's Suit can be equipped as armor. Additionally, the California grindcore band Graf Orlok took their name from the character.