Ellensferatu

Gothic education

[oldartss]

Angel of death by Evelyn De Morgan (1881)

[ellensferatu]

@darklinaforever

[nosferatu-roberteggers]

Nicholas Hoult on Thomas Hutter’s ambition: Nosferatu 2024 Q&A: Robert Eggers, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe on Retelling a Horror Classic!

[ellensferatu]

“Is it our another haunted castle?”

[ellensferatu]

Despite how much I adore Nosferatu (2024), I’ve actually read very few fanfics based on the film so far. Not because I don’t enjoy reading fanfiction, but because I’m a bit of a coward when it comes to this.

I’d rather not stumble across stories that portray Ellen and Thomas as “the perfect marriage ruined by Orlok,” which is absolutely not canon. I’m not interested in the mainstream version of the story; I’d much rather see the plot and characters portrayed in a way that is closer to the director’s vision.

I’m looking for works where Orlok and Ellen are depicted as a couple, with a strong attachment between them—even if that attachment takes the form of a twisted, unhealthy passion.

I might even write about a fanfic on this blog if the author would like me to. So please, send me your Ellen/Orlok fanfics. Any language is welcome.

[didanagy]

NOSFERATU (2024) dir. robert eggers

FRANKENSTEIN (2025) dir. guillermo del toro

[ellensferatu]

Some people collect stamps. We collect tragic women and their eldritch boyfriends.

[ellensferatu]

#nosferatu 2024 script

This is what the kissing scene in the Hardings’ parlour should actually have looked like: Ellen hurting Thomas; the frightened children screaming that there is a monster in the house… Monstrosity and sexuality intertwined — exactly what Eggers was trying to say. The sexuality of the protagonist, which both she and society perceive as something terrible, something that carries an inevitable threat.

Instead, we got a sterilized scene of an almost chaste kiss: Instagrammable, perfectly capable of pushing many viewers into sympathizing with the newlyweds while completely missing what the film is about. Two beautiful people kissing beautifully in a Victorian interior — and trusting viewers, accustomed to plastic, standardized romance, immediately gave them their hearts and decided that Thomas and Ellen were “the main couple.” No “you’re hurting me.” No children screaming in the background. I don’t know why the scene was changed so drastically; most likely, the studio interfered. So instead of complex, ambiguous scenes, we are forced to swallow standard pink goo, the kind that can so easily be turned into a TikTok reel.

[nosferatu-roberteggers]

@ellensferatu I disagree with everything, and that’s not Eggers intention with that scene, at all. Ellen’s fingernails dig into Thomas chin and neck, and Thomas lets out a grunt of pain as she does it. There’s no need for unnecessary dialogue, when it’s clear she is, indeed, hurting him. Ellen’s hand position even parallels Orlok feeding on Thomas later (“It’s not me. It’s your own nature”); in both scenes, Hutter is at Ellen and Orlok’s mercy (Orlok as Ellen’s shadow self). The music grows eerie, setting the tone of the scene. There’s nothing romantic or “beautiful” about it; it’s all about “devourence” and Ellen as a metaphorical vampire (“He is my shame!”).

The children say “there is a monster in the room” as Ellen is brought into the scene by the camera work. The concept of “monstrous femininity” is very present, as Ellen takes the active role, while Hutter is in a passive/submissive position, which is a clear subversion of the period’s gender roles, when women had no sexual desire and every expression of it was seen as deviant, which is why this scene is presented this way to the audience.

[ellensferatu]

@nosferatu-roberteggers

Your comment actually shows the difference between how the film is perceived by a prepared audience and by a mainstream viewer. I’m not trying to devalue Eggers’s work — I’m talking about what I see happening in the reception of the film.

A viewer with no context for Eggers’s visual language comes to the cinema; they don’t know what the film is really going to be about, and this may be the first Eggers film they have ever seen. They see a young couple kissing passionately in a parlour — and to them, it does not read as frightening, but as hot.

And this is exactly the scene that will later be used as “proof” of how deeply Ellen loved Thomas, and that “she will wait for him in heaven.” This is exactly the kind of clip that gets comments on Instagram like “I want what they have,” “me and who?”, “what a couple,” and so on.

The film is not really made for a mainstream viewer — and yet it was released in cinemas all over the world. You know how much I myself have been struggling with the mainstream reaction to it. And I think that if the scene had been just a little clearer for the general audience, the film would only have benefited from it.

[nosferatu-roberteggers]

NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF HORROR (2023) dir. David Lee Fisher

NOSFERATU (2024) dir. Robert Eggers

[ellensferatu]

Yes, she's exactly from here

"Ellen seemed to somehow recognize this woman’s face, but, at the same time, did not know who she was. They were now extremely close, nose to nose, the woman’s arms around her shoulders, her dark eyes locked in her face, as she gently bit her lower lip, ravenous. Ellen could almost smell the lilac perfume on the woman's neck; a sweet, powdery scent. And they came together for a kiss. 

And it just wasn't any kiss. It was hungry, and passionate, insatiable. A kiss of pure evil her doctors would say, yet in this vision there was none of that. They kissed until they were out of breath, and once Ellen opened her eyes, the mysterious woman was no longer in front of her. In her place, there was a man. And Ellen was that very woman".

"Dream of Me, Only me" (c)

Nosferatu fanfiction by CartaEscarlate

[enchantedbook]

"Mélusine" from Les grandes Sataniques de l'histoire de la Légende by Roland Brévannes, 1907.

[ellensferatu]

Another version of Thomas and Ellen Hutter ⏫

(It’s the same old story: a chronic heroine and an average man)

[ellensferatu]

#nosferatu 2024 script

This is what the kissing scene in the Hardings’ parlour should actually have looked like: Ellen hurting Thomas; the frightened children screaming that there is a monster in the house… Monstrosity and sexuality intertwined — exactly what Eggers was trying to say. The sexuality of the protagonist, which both she and society perceive as something terrible, something that carries an inevitable threat.

Instead, we got a sterilized scene of an almost chaste kiss: Instagrammable, perfectly capable of pushing many viewers into sympathizing with the newlyweds while completely missing what the film is about. Two beautiful people kissing beautifully in a Victorian interior — and trusting viewers, accustomed to plastic, standardized romance, immediately gave them their hearts and decided that Thomas and Ellen were “the main couple.” No “you’re hurting me.” No children screaming in the background. I don’t know why the scene was changed so drastically; most likely, the studio interfered. So instead of complex, ambiguous scenes, we are forced to swallow standard pink goo, the kind that can so easily be turned into a TikTok reel.

[darklinaforever]

I think they should remake the movie Legend 1985 with the original idea of ​​Lily and Darkness together. Like we had a remake of Nosferatu with Ellen and Orlock. Except in Legend, the basic premise was literally that the princess slept with the devil. And since gothic romances and monster-lovers are making a comeback... it would be perfect. Let's keep our fingers crossed that one day this miracle will happen.

@ellensferatu

[ellensferatu]

Recently, many creators of films and TV series have been trying to emphasize their solidarity with women in the fight for their rights. We have already received a multitude of female protagonists — some well-written, some not so much; female characters in all kinds of roles: warriors, leaders, pilots, police officers…

All of this is undoubtedly good: at the very least, women have stopped being mere appendages to the main-boy-hero.

However, they all forget that fighting for women’s rights is not simply a matter of putting a sword in a girl’s hand. One also has to take the needs of the audience into account. Dark romance, gothic romance — this is precisely a female kind of romance, precisely what we girls need.

You cannot, with one hand, try to fight for women’s rights — and with the other, try to preserve the main-boy-hero as the only character the audience is allowed to empathize with. In the case of Nosferatu, we saw that for many people, all this talk about respecting women’s rights remains nothing more than pretty theory. Viewers continue to look at the story through the prism of the male protagonist.

We need gothic romance. We need real gothic romance. We need Lily ending up in the arms of Darkness.

[ellensferatu]

“Come on, take a photo before the universe implodes!”

[ellensferatu]

#nosferatu 2024 script

Friedrich Harding is one of those characters who understands Ellen very well. He has figured out her passionate nature — because he is exactly the same. And in this scene, of course, he is right: he senses that Ellen’s “fancies” are connected to her sexuality.

This is the moment in the film when Ellen still has no idea who Count Orlok is: to her, he is still only a shadow, a “presence.” She thinks she loves her newlywed husband: he is handsome, sweet, and gives her sex — which is what she needs… Not in the quantities that would actually satisfy her, of course, but still.

But that is exactly the point: this is not enough to call Ellen and Thomas’s marriage “great love.” The motives of both are more or less transparent — and it does not look like tantric unity in eternity, or a union of energies.

Rather down-to-earth motivations.

[mayhemchicken-varneyposting]

https://www.threads.com/@raminnasibov/post/DPa4nrtCmQ_/nosferatu-by-ami-thompson saw this eggers nosferatu fanart and thought of you saying that the people crave dumas' og death-and-the-maiden vampire story because yes the film has eroticism between the vampire and ellen (and her husband) but, well, this vampire here is not count orlok

coward for not drawing orlok's shiny bald head /j

but Yeah. for real. the people crave kostaki

[ellensferatu]

Yes, there is some kind of eroticism between Ellen and her husband… But the initiative always comes from her. It’s her sexuality what the movie is about - her insatiable hunger that can’t be fulfilled by Thomas.

And yes, coward for not drawing Orlok )

[ellensferatu]

“Hush!—hush!” she said breathlessly—“You must forget that kiss,——it was too bold of me—it was wrong—I did not mean it, ... I, ... I was thinking of something else..."

Marie Corelli, "Sorrows of Satan"

(This is what the protagonist’s wife said in the novel, because she actually wanted another man)

[darklinaforever]

This needs to be said. Underworld are good films.

Mind you, I'm only talking about the original trilogy. The other films don't exist for me.

I see a lot of people saying that these films have no story and no moral message, and that they're just an excuse for cool fights. But that's not true.

The films are literally about inequality. You have the wolves living underground, the vampires in their grand mansions. There's slavery with the situation of the Lycans, especially in the third film. There's also a form of this through Selene, molded to essentially be a killing machine by Victor. You can literally see it as a form of brainwashing. Something that lessens as Selene finds her independence. It's also about abuse (especially parental abuse with Victor's character through his relationships with Selene, Sonja, and Lucian). It's almost about eugenics with the whole hybrid aspect that the vampires see as an absolute abomination. Not to mention the revisionist aspect of history we see in the first film.

Underworld is actually about many things interesting when you stop focusing on its dark, action-packed form.

Also, most of the main characters are interesting. Selene, Lucian, and Victor completely carry the three films.

And even though I find Michael "boring," the fact that he's this completely normal, innocent, and kind guy fits perfectly with the story. He had to be like that to be with Selene. It's just a shame the actor really lacks charisma...

I also like how the story forms a perfect loop with the trilogy. It's clear there wasn't supposed to be a sequel.

The story has real narrative coherence.

Also, the fact that the heart of the story is literally the concept of Romeo & Juliet is very appealing. The romance between Lucian and Sonja in particular is quite iconic.

Also, the fact that Selene and Lucian have a lot of parallels. Selene is ultimately a female, vampire version of Lucian, beyond her resemblance to Sonja and her relationship with Victor. Selena is like the perfect mix of Lucian and Sonja, and she will finish and accomplish what they couldn't: kill Victor and go live with their love.

My only real criticisms of these films are (as I've already mentioned) the actor playing Michael. When a character is intentionally written in such a simple way, even if it fits the story, you need an actor who brings charisma to create a real connection with the viewer, and honestly, the actor playing Michael doesn't allow for that, in my opinion. And also the fact that the fight scenes in the first film are very (perhaps too) reminiscent of The Matrix.

Also, I've seen many people complain about how the vampires are portrayed in this film. But I loved seeing a version where the vampires were weaker.

@lizzie-queenofmeigas

[samcatthorneswalkingcorpse]

No small part of why the story works as well as it does is because the actor who played Raze (Kevin Grevioux) also wrote Lucian's backstory, based off his own personal experiences with interracial relationships.

It is literally about racism.

Honestly, if you look closely at the fight scenes, the power difference between vampires and Lycans is slim to none. Because the power difference isn't the point. The vampires didn't subjugate the Lycans because they were stronger, but because they assumed they had the right. They just decided that the Lycans were beneath them, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Victor, in his bigotry, cared more about a hypothetical child than he did about his actual living daughter. He literally wiped her from history to avoid having to deal with the "shame" of her love for Lucian.

One of my favorite details about the first movie is that, when Lucian finally talks about Sonja, he only ever grieves her. He misses her, even centuries later. He never wanted anything but the woman he loved. It's Victor who brings up the pregnancy. He's the one obsessed with the child. Even all these years later, he carried more hate for a child that never existed than he did love for his daughter. He even used Selene as a "replacement," swapping Sonja out for a new model that he assumed he would have more control of.

Despite how much it dated itself by trying to be the "cool and edgy update" to classic movie monsters, Underworld's story did manage to age quite well. Specifically because the racism allegory was (at least partially) written through a Black lens.

[darklinaforever]

I agree with everything you said. Underworld is truly a trilogy with profound and well-executed messages. My personal favorite is still the third film. But I love the first two almost as much. I was crazy about these movies as a little girl. I've seen people say that the racism in the trilogy was superficial and barely a real message, and I really wonder how they could miss something so big and obvious. Not to mention that many critics claim the films try to portray the slave wolves as the villains. Which isn't the case at all.

@ellensferatu

[ellensferatu]

Wow! I’ve heard about Underworld one or two times but never seen it. Thanks for recommending!

[nosferatu-roberteggers]

Happy Pride month! Don’t scapegoat a vampire to cope with your homoerotic desires. Embrace the queerness.

[ellensferatu]

🎉🍾🎊

[nosferatu-roberteggers]

Robert Eggers and Willem Dafoe on Nosferatu and Working Together

[ellensferatu]

А love triangle with a third wheel 😆 (Thomas)