Nosferatu is based on Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's classic silent film Nosferatu, the Vampire. Played by Max Schreck, Nosferatu was Murnau's take on the Brom Stoker's Dracula. At the time, the Stoker Estate had control of the Dracula intellectual property and Murnau was not able to acquire the rights to make his film based directly on the book. Unlike the sophisticated aritrocrat of the Universal Studios Dracula or the sexually charged Hammer Films rendition, the original Nosteratu was more of a monster - more akin to the bat and rat than to man.
